How not to market

[zuben el genub]

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013...ch-product-just-for-women-use-this-flowchart/

It's getting too damn offensive with the inferences. With this mindset, it's another reason I hate marketing. STOP ASSUMING!

 

[Xyro]

Hah, this reminds me of a particular episode of Dragons Den (the UK equivalent of Shark Tank). One woman came in to present her product, and notably focused on the angle that her product was empowering to women in a market otherwise dominated by male orientated products. Specifically, her business sold bottles of de-icer for women.

How were they suited to women? How was she pushing the boundaries? The bottle was smaller and pink. That was it.

 

[mikedt]

Seems to me like the story's writer has something personal against pink products. If people didn't want pink cellphones, tablets, laptops, etc, the companies wouldn't make them. Sony makes and sells many pink Vaio PCs and laptops. Not everyone wants black. Same with curvy, I prefer smooth curves rather than sharp edges and corners. Also same with complexity, not everyone wants to be a rocket scientist just to use their tablet or whatever.

Problem 3: Works like a “woman’s product”

The ArsTechnica writer might be sexist?

It's Conde Nast, publishers of GQ and Vogue, never pay their stuff much heed anyway.

 

[zuben el genub]

Ads are geared to the sexes. The trade mags were full of the nuances of how to do it.
Radio stations had sheets that tracked the age and sex of listeners. They used to poll on the phone with surveys and post the surveys to ad marketing companies. Then they ran the ads suited to the clientele.

 

[mikedt]

IMO there's nothing really new here, companies have been doing market research and targeting their ads to particular demographics for decades. Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they don't. e.g. showing car ads to people who don't drive or ads for female hygiene products to a male audience, etc. They might have done market research that indicates more ladies prefer pink computers than men, so they target their ads accordingly, e.g. ads for pink Vaios are more likely to appear in Allure than in GQ.

 

[bjacks12]