Dear Vibrant Marketers,
I know that many of us—women 50+ who play a role in the marketing industry—read the VN blogs. And so, after attending a number of events centering around the topic of marketing to women, I feel compelled to share a story with you from my first real job with the media. I was a cub editor for “Datebook,” the San Francisco Chronicle’s weekly calendar and arts magazine.
We did highbrow things, like run reviews of local opera and ballet productions. And we did low-brow things like promote automobile shows. This was the 1970’s, mind you—at the dawn of women’s liberation. And I was a young and feisty woman in my 20s who went to battle against the mostly male editorial staff’s tendency to bury the dancers in their tutus towards the rear while putting full-page photos of scantily clad models draped like hood ornaments over sports cars on the front cover.
I only lasted three months before packing it in and heading off to Europe with a backpack where I did, indeed, find more meaning. Funny thing is, shortly after I left, the Chronicle stopped the practice of running semi-nude women on their magazine cover, and for that, I take a small, modest bow.
But the bow is not the point of this story, and why I’m sharing it with you today. The real pertinence here is what came before I spoke up–the weeks I huddled with the other twenty-something women on the staff griping about the denigration of females. We gave each other courage. We helped one another recognize that our incredulity and righteous anger at not only this, but many other commissions, omissions and irrational inconsistencies relating to depictions of women was not something wrong about us. Rather, it was a call to mission.
So here’s the deal. It’s thirty years later and we are the same cohort of women who bravely marched to the front lines to implement the theory of women’s liberation. Of course, time has passed. In fact, many of us are in positions of power now. But whoops, while the subject matter has changed, we’re still huddling.
Onstage, we are commanding. We take up more than our fair share of the slots offering advice to marketers on reaching the desirable female demographic. For a number of clients–and even a larger of percentage of presentations–that most desirable of female consumers centers around the woman who is in her twenties or thirties—teens is even better—and/or a young Alpha mom. (Apparently once one hits midlife, one is no longer any kind of mom, as far as most brands are concerned.)
Offstage, we grumble about the fact that so many clients demand that we ignore the hard core evidence that women 50+ are not only power marketers–but power consumers. While women marketing conferences revel in the size of the female marketplace–not only over half the consumers overall, but 80 per cent of car sales, for example–they leave out the critical fact that the lioness’s share of net worth and discretionary income is held by the midlife and beyond female consumer.
Immediately after one particularly bothersome presentation, in which the speaker measured the brand’s success not only by market share but age (as in lack of), I was approached by a fellow vibrant marketer, understandably perturbed. “Did you catch that this presenter flat out said that the younger the female consumer, the more coveted she is? Isn’t it irritating that all the while knowing how the numbers play out in our favor, we still have to play the youth game?”
So, once again we huddle with one another, this time griping about the denigration of vibrant women. We give each other courage. We help one another recognize that our incredulity and righteous anger at not only this, but many other commissions, omissions and irrational inconsistencies relating to depictions of women at midlife and beyond is not something wrong about us. In fact, once again, it is a call to mission.
Will we succeed? See many unclothed women draped on automobile hoods on the covers of mainstream arts and entertainment magazines lately?
ReginaLove, that is SO great to hear! As for soy, it may help with menopause symptoms -- it it controversial. The best way to use soy is in the form of whole fermented soy foods (miso, tempeh, tamari and natto). Non-fermented soy foods such as soy mi
Agreed. I never thought I was vain until I had a mastectomy at age 39. I was devastated and told the doc I wanted to wake up with implants. Now at age 60, I am lopsided and wondering if I was just avoiding the inevitable. You get what you get and you
Sounds very interesting.
Spike, you are awesome! Love your perspective, thanks for sharing.
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