My day-job is a PR Consultant. I am used to hearing the term ‘PR poppie’ and have my profession referred to as the ‘boobs and balloons’. People dumb down Public Relations all the time and I can’t help but wonder whether it is because it is a female dominated industry.
The thing is, since I’ve started contributing to Tech Girl, I’m starting to see a similar trend when it comes to gadgets marketed to women. The piece of tech gets dumbed down. Let’s be honest, most gadgets aren’t even targeted at women. They’re marketed to men. If it’s a phablet then it must be ideal for the businessMAN right? A recent advert for a television that incorporated new technology featured a father and son combo watching some sort of fight scene with mom coming in at the end holding a tray of food and grinning. Really?
If a gadget could possibly be targeted at women it automatically needs to be pink or sparkle.
Now, I don’t hate pink. I like pink. But is this the only way we can distinguish between a gadget aimed at women or one aimed at men? It’s like a few people sat around a boardroom table and thought, we’ll make it pink and add some bling. Then we’ll tell her how easy it is to use app XYZ to make grocery shopping lists, or track hubby and the kids’ schedules. Alternatively, LOOK IT CAN TAKE A SELFIE.
Marketers definitely shouldn’t disregard the buying power of women. No one is asking their husband for an allowance anymore. Women are now managers, CEOs and bosses. We’re competitive and we know and want all the cool gadgets too. I think most women get bored with the “specs” (but that doesn’t mean we don’t understand them). What we want to know is how it fits into our lives and makes them a little bit easier.. in the boardroom AND in the kitchen (because we’re now ruling both).
We found this clever flowchart from ars technica – marketers take note:
