Author Archive for belindaparmar

Women know your place: The Boardroom

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I feel like a Russian doll. I get smaller and smaller as the testosterone in the boardroom gets bigger and bigger. I tell myself I am a confident woman yet the environment I am in makes me feel I must change my persona and adapt to my ‘male’ surroundings. I must cut across people when they speak. I must hammer my point home with authority. I must emit an odour of superiority. I must show the world I am King.

So many women behave like men in the Boardroom. They feel they must emulate men to be successful. Many of the senior women I work with are not women I would aspire to be like. More like men in drag. This lack of appeal is one of the reasons why only 6% of women make up company board members. Cranfield’s survey finds Alliance Trust, AMEC and Marks and Spencer as the companies with the most women on their boards.

I want to propose a new style of Boardroom where women can openly use the traits they have: femininity, intimacy and authenticity. To create an agenda that is open, transparent and supportive. The Boardroom should not be a place for corporate politics but a place for productive intimate business.

Gestalt talks about how boards of directors tend to operate in ways that seek to minimise ineffectiveness. Trevor J Bentley, in relation to Gestalt, says

“Relationships on boards are often tenuous, superficial and dishonest. They are quite often transitory subsytems of people who support each other out of personal interest. The best that most boards achieve often through share option schemes, is to align the self interest of individual directors with the interest of shareholders. This approach tends to create a short term price focus that is nearly always to the detriment of the long-term sustainable growth and well-being of the business.”

This pretty much sums up why we are in a financial crisis. A group of money hungry men had short term personal goals of becoming richer without thinking about the long term consequences of their actions.

I want a far more ‘intimate’ and ‘authentic’ environment: Bentley states that there are 2 parts to working in an intimate system.

The first is knowing what I am prepared to offer others is what they want.

The second is knowing that what I want is what others are prepared to offer me.

My experience is that most people in meetings are never clear or open about what they want. It takes a series of long pointless and frankly ineffective meetings before you start to find out the other party actually wants. You have to “play the game” (countless times I have been asked to “play the game”-each time I am told this, I feel myself revert back to my Russian doll).

Once you are finally clear about what the other parties want, the quality of contact increases and people relate to each other with a degree of authenticity. Its a bit like when you have the frank conversation with your new boyfriend about what you want from the relationship. Once the hazy fog of second guessing has been lifted and everything is so much simpler and more enjoyable.

Today in the boardroom, I watch women emulate men, leaving the men to dictate the rules of the boardroom. Women must be prepared to use their feminine skills in a productive way and men must be prepared to build cultures that thrive on diversity and tolerance not conformity.

A feminised boardroom is not one where you would pink up the environment and dumb down the agenda. A feminised boardroom is a supportive place where both women and men feel safe in revealing what their intentions are upfront and then get on with the job at hand. How refreshing.

Being Digital Conference Tues 9th June

I will be joining a top line up at Being-Digital ’09 on 9th June at Centre Point in London. We will be bringing together some of the best digital minds and demos. The conference focus is on debate and discussion; both in person and via SMS or Twitter feedback. I plan to be about most of the day – so hope to see you there.

Links for the programme, registration and website are below:

Website: http://www.being-digital.com
Programme: http://www.tinyurl.com/beingdigital09
Tickets: http://www.being-digital.com/register/
Twitter: @mashupevent

PC World not selling PC’s

It seems that the UK is falling out of love with the kings of out-of-town box-shifters, PC world. This is a typical comment that I found on YouTube.

The sad truth is never purchase any computer, laptop, or components from PC World. They are the cowboy’s of the computing industry, who over charge, mislead, and sell awful products often to those who know no better. Thankfully, I’ve heard they are in some deep brown stuff financially. Source: YouTube

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These days almost nobody has a good word to say about this troubled retailer. The company has built-up a reputation for low standards of service and an unimaginative lack of innovation. Do they have what it takes to re-invent themselves for the post-crunch era? Yes, if M&C Saatchi continue to have their way:
However, their latest TV ad and print campaign by is a real creative departure because it presents an actual business strategy (TV is much better than the print). The campaign is all about home-media and entertainment. It shows a PC user who loves films and how he can use his PC to download movies and other kinds of entertainment. PC World is positioned as a company that can help him design his media-centre, and it positions the PC as the new focus of the living-room.
Its a smart realisation on 2 counts: Firstly. that the PC market is totally commodified. It’s no longer profitable to sell generic “beige-box” PCs as there are hundreds of web-retailers who can sell a similar product cheaper than PC World. Secondly, that people, in particular women, do not buy technology in a functional way. Its an emotional decision. It may often be justified by a set of rational criteria but that is very rarely why people purchase technology. People need to be given a reason to want a new PC.
For a DSG company to realise and act on this is a paradigm shift. For a long time, we have been led to believe that people buy technology akin to how they buy technology in a vending machine. My research found that its the opposite. Its emotional, intuitive and for women, often impulsive.
As to how the store experience will change in line with the more emotional and human campaign, I am yet to be convinced. Today’s PC World looks more or less as it did a few years ago. But if DSG were to believe in their new positioning they could use it as a basis to transform themselves into a place of computer-driven entertainment. They could finally move away from their current ‘cowboy’ box-shifter image. PC World’s goal should be a champion of trust akin to what Martin Lewis has done for financial services.
When I shop for technology, I want an authentic experience not a functional per-functionary transaction. I want to be spoken to in a way that does not make me feel stupid but gets to the heart of what I need. I want an environment that is akin to my home and the place where my technology will live. I want to know and understand the magic that this technology will bring for me and my family. And not trying to flog me a PC on its spec is a good start!

Della; doomed to fail or destined to succeed?

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My WARC conference presentation stressed that the best way to market to women is to be inclusive rather than to simply overtly exclude men. Nevertheless, most marketing activities aimed at women do so simply by shutting-out the other gender. It’s a mirror-image of the current marketing worst-practice. Della, the new netbook sales portal from dell is a pastel-pink feminized counterpart to the unapologetically ultra-masculine Dell.com. It’s a perfect example of the current trend of exclusion marketing.

I remember interviewing one Lady Geek who told me in no uncertain terms that the ‘Dixons Women’s Only night’ was her idea of hell.

“What are they going to do, give me cheese and pineapple on a stick and tell me how to turn the telly on?”

Not exactly the response that Dixons were looking for, and in my experience a strategy which never works quite as well as the men who invented it might expect.

Marketing to women should not feel like “an initiative” i.e that a group of 40 something balding marketing men have been sitting in the boardroom and some bright spark says ‘We need to appeal to women. I know, lets create a portal for women, pink up and dumb down our products…we could even call it Della…(guffaw guffaw)

I admire Dell’s intent. Its brave. It shows that they recognizes that in the current environment, its a smart strategy to improve your bottom line by targeting women. I’m skeptical that Dell will achieve their objectives for two reasons:

Firstly,  do they really have a long-term commitment to growing the female market? Dell has a history of superficial and short-term business strategies such last year’s half-hearted flirtation with Linux . Is there any commitment to go beyond the shell of rebranding and create something which will profoundly appeal to this new market? As Elisabeth Kelan states, when you open the Inspiron artistic shell, its just an ordinary dull Dell laptop underneath.  How much of the products and community parts of the site have been specifically developed with women in mind rather than been re-skinned to appeal to women?

Secondly, I do not think that Dell have achieved a depth of understanding of their new female audience. Evidence of this is the handy lifestyle tips which state the excessively obvious. We also find the usual marketing copy cliches such as ‘giving extension to your digital life’ (I don’t want a digital life, I want a life with technology in it) and ‘enhance your life with technology’ and the ‘giving’ section - it’s the kind of vacuous text that means absolutely nothing.

From a product perspective, the site makes a big deal of their pretty new Inspiron Netbooks, however there’s not a whole lot else on the site - yet another echo of Dell’s failed Linux strategy which also presented an absurdly limited subset of Dell’s quite massive portfolio of products.

My research conducted with Jupiter found that a third of British women are frustrated, alienated and bored by the way tech companies market to them. Despite this most tech marketers are in denial about what must be done: There is plenty which can be done- it just needs to be executed and approached in the right way.

Strategies tech brands need to apply;

1) Go for an implicit strategy appealing to women rather than creating an overt exclusive ’silo’. Overt branding such as Della, Dixon’s Women’s Only nights and Comets Angels give out wrong signals. Nintendo spent hundreds of dollars understanding women and their fitness regimes but never overtly positioned Wii Fit as ‘gaming for girls.’

2) Make women the heart of your strategy not the icing on the cake. Nike Women has invested millions and is part of a strategy which demonstrates Nike’s long term commitment to women. It goes beyond flogging products and starts to offer real benefits.

3) Develop an authentic understanding of women and what they want before you embark on women only strategies. Employ experts such as the Lady Geeks (shameless plug) who will help you go beyond the superficial and can deliver your proposition in a way that is not going to get women irritated. Dell have lost touch with the reality of those women its trying to sell to.

4) Position technology as entertainment rather than a female or male pursuit. Jeremy Clarkson, has equal appeal and ratings amongst both sexes. Rather than talk about the technical aspects of a car in a dry way, he has used humour and entertainment as a way to make cars appealing.

Della is a somewhat superficial step in the right direction. Lets just hope Dell listen to their customers and radically overhaul Della the concept before it becomes yet another of Dell’s six-month flirtations.

WANTED: Lady Geeks for post in Sydney

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Our client, one of Australia’s most successful boutique trading firms is looking for C++ software developers with the following experience:

* 3+ years C++ Software Development
* Having worked on fast-paced C++ / C# Development Projects
* Contact with latest Technologies: Front Office Trading Applications

We are keen to hear from Australians who want to return home, and who already have the required PR or citizenship status.

This opportunity will see you working as a productive member of an extremely talented Sydney-based software development team, working with cutting edge technologies and joining in with numerous social activities designed to keep you happy, alert and energised.

Duties involve working very closely with traders to produce algorithmic applications to support their electronic trading activities. You will be part of a close-knit team of highly skilled developers and will also liaise directly with traders to better understand their needs.

Culture is very important here; enjoy a family-friendly work/life balance and casual dress code. Candidates who are returning from maternity leave / paternity leave can feel confident that they will be able to return to their families at close of business without worrying about overtime!

If you are a smart software developer who wants to further develop your career in a supportive, engaging environment, do not hesitate to get in touch.

For more information email Lady Geek Nadia Priestley:  nadia@stodge.org. Nadia will be in London next week and able to meet candidates.

Every Brand needs a Moral Contract to attract Women

The latest N-vision data highlights 50% of women buy fair trade products compared to 35% of men. Women are 10% more likely than men to boycott those manufacturers who contribute to pollution. Women are 5% more likely to consider themselves as ethical shoppers compared to men. Younger women (under 35) and older women (45-64) are far more likely to disagree or disagree strongly compared to men with the statement ‘Most companies in this country are fair to consumers.’

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There has been a change in the nation’s mood over the last 30 years: In 1980, only 12% of women and 15% of men agree with this same statement about fairness. By 2008, it was over 40% of men and 42% of women.

There is now a sense of injustice about the way women feel companies treat them. A feeling of being cheated by those corporations who have power. A sense that they should be ‘doing their bit’ for the people and their ‘bit’ should be much more significant than it currently is.

I predict women will lead the movement from a ‘me’ society to a ‘we‘ society. Women no longer want a society with naked greed at its heart. They want generosity as its core value and will seek out brands that offer this.

Brands which are seen to lack this moral dimension are loosing out on more than just a sales opportunity: Brands which are known for their morality are more easily forgiven, or at least given the benefit of the doubt in the event of rumors and bad-news. Take the opposite extreme: Brands such as Monsanto which have allowed themselves to be known for doing things which are not entirely ethical are more easily embroiled in yet more whispering campaigns. There’s a huge cost to appearing immoral.

Brands such as Kiva.org (the micro-lending exchange) are leading the way with a moral contract at the heart of their proposition. Technology brands,with the exception of Google’s “Dont Be Evil”, are trailing way behind with moral propositions.

But why should tech brands care? We are used to buying our tech-products from anonymous sounding foreign brands of whom we know very little about. What could these companies benefit from being seen as ethical? I think there is still a great deal to win in a world of undifferentiated products in commodity markets. You might as well flip a coin when choosing between an Asus and an Acer, but what if the manufacturers could find a way show their differences which appeal to the “slacktivist” sense of moral consumers?

The cynical amongst us will call it green-washing, but the fact remains that people will often choose a higher-priced product if they feel that it is more ethically sound, even people who’d never attended a protest march in their lives. Shopping is a form of passive-activism.

Tech brands must take the advice of Bill Bernach and:

Stop believing in what we sell and start selling what we believe in.”

The fact remains women are still more loyal to companies than men. Men are approx 10% more likely to agree with the statement ‘I am less loyal to companies that I previously was’. If tech brands want to attract and retain the most loyal sex, they must start with a moral contract and set of values.

This is no longer niche idealism but corporate realism.

Women are reassurance addicts

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The latest research I have conducted with Syracuse university
highlights some interesting findings. Whilst most younger women
under the age of 21 feel comfortable with technology and rate
themselves at 6 out of 10 on a tech literate scale, they are not
confident to buy technology without seeking reassurance from others.
They will rely heavily on the advice of either the sales assistant or
a friend.

Women want to know they have made the right decision when they buy technology. They want to see the product. Touch it, feel it, imagine using it. Is it going to enhance my life? How does it fit into my life?

Men do not rate themselves much higher than women, 7 out of 10 on the
tech literate scale but do not need any reassurance at point of
purchase. They are more likely to have researched products online and
checked out online reviews. Men are willing to take a gamble. They more likely to take risks when it comes to technology.

The process is completely different both in terms of perception and
behaviour. Yet tech brands know nothing about these gender
differences and neither do they spend any time conducting ‘decent’ research.

Tech brands support a very male and traditional buying process. A great emphasis is placed on traditional review sites such as CNET and IGN. These sites are almost exclusively read by men.

Currently the retail experience supports what men
want: a transaction. Stores like Game and Dixons continue to be a “vending machine” which relies on you knowing and be confident about
what you want. Rather than provide encouragement and expertise, the
sales assistants try to flog you a certain game or piece of kit that
only increases need for reassurance. And I wont even mention PC World
as I will come out in an allergic rash. I need therapy to get over
the ‘experience’ of trying to buy a hard drive there.

Tech retailers must create a culture of reassurance which is present in the attitude of the staff and the way women buy.

Forget the Genius Bar, bring in the Reassurance Bar where you can sit and have coffee with a member of staff. Have a Try Before you Buy section where you can see your kit in action. Make the stores feel like women’s ideal
home, not their idea of hell.

And last but not least, recognise that men and women are different in their wants and desires from technology.

Carrotmob anyone?

People come to together in a time of crisis. The Internet is enabling the spirit of mutuality but more interestingly the recession is driving people towards collective buying.  A strategy that people have little time for when the economy is good. In harsher times collective buying could turn tables on companies who are seen to be greedy.

Last week’s Economist describes how the residents of the San Francisco have been signing up enthusiastically for a new green energy campaign called 1BOG- short for “One Block off the Grid”. It asks homeowners to switch solar energy one block at a time by organising them into buying-clubs. The more people who sign up, at any time the bigger the discounts. Finally the contract to supply, install and maintain the system is put out to tender the “Carrotmob” outsources the work to the most competitive bidder.

Marketers have long harped on about the shift of power moving from the company to the consumer, but it’s not actually happened until now in any great measure (with the exception of a few groups on Facebook).  The fact remains that the majority of technology companies are still interested in what interests them rather than what interests their customers.

So many women tell me that technology is “way to complicated” “designed by men for men” “lacks any intuition” “is frustrating and dull.”

Imagine another world, where women Carrotmob for intuitive and sexy technology.  Technology that was made with women in mind.  Where substantial numbers of women gather together and say what they want. Where ten-thousand women were to draw up a list of their ideal next phone/TV/PVR/console and pledge to buy it. Where tech brands bid to build and support this product knowing that they had guaranteed buyers, and in return women would have to honor their contract.

It’s about time we carrotmobbed for intuitive, human technology that reflects what we are interested in.

What would your ideal phone/TV/PVR/console/piece of kit look like?  How would it feel using it?  How would it be different from whats out there now?

Tech Porn is dead

This is the 21st century right?. I pick up the T3 2009 calendar and can’t believe what I am seeing. I check it is 2009 and I have not found a vintage copy of the 1979 edition. Each month has a gadget of the month with a erotic shot of a girl ‘wet’ with excitement holding a strategically placed gadget in her legs, arms, breasts. January we have a woman with a see through slip on in water holding an android phone. February we have a women kneeling in hot steam holding an ‘eco gadget’. March shows us a women with a touchscreen strategically placed in her bikini. Do I need to go on?

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In my previous post, I demonstrated that women are a growth market while male markets are saturated. Marketers missing out on a £5billion pot of gold (a conservative figure according to Jupiter), I predict T3 will be out of business in a year. Their magazine relies on its core audience of “sexually repressed nerds” according to Wikipedia. All of whom have the skills to download real porn from bit torrent and don’t need this half-hearted house tech-porn.

Showing the calendar to some male colleagues, one told me the only place he could see the calendar was “on the wall of kwik fit”. Hardly an aspirational image for your average man with disposable cash. If you are trying to woo a girl, and she walks into your bedroom and see a copy of T3 or worse, the T3 2009 calendar, what sort of signal does that send? Even a sexually repressed nerd can think that one through. Some of the advertising in T3 is no better, this Asus ad being a good example.

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Rather than default to a out of date, lazy way of selling technology to men at the expense of attracting women, technology brands need to be more innovative with their media strategies. Technology has become so accessible and embedded into our culture, that the hard sell of technology is no longer needed. There is no such thing as Early Adopters.

Tech brands need to think innovatively about to communicate to both men and women and buying a media strategy of tech porn like T3 just ain’t going to cut it. What brands need to do:

1. Leverage the blogging community as they are the key influencers. Panasonic are doing this at CES. Who are you more like to trust for a product review- a blogger or a paid for reviewer?

2. Connecting your audience to like minded people is a great way to earn their respect and ultimately their trust. Hewlett Packard used ‘brandalists’- legal grafitti artists to get their HYPE message across and generated so much positive WoM.

3. Be brave. Be rebellious. And dont waste money on advertising in magazines like T3. Goodbye T3 and Good Luck.

Goodbye Men, Hello Ladies

Jerry yang, Yahoo’s ex chief exec announced that the advertising industry was facing the toughest downturn in decades. The age of extravagance is gone. The age of the hangover is here. No more big marketing budgets with money to trial and test cool ideas. Its about ROI. Its about bold, strong brands having a clear positioning. Tough times need solid, focused leadership, a lesson that Woolworths learnt the hard way.

Napoleon declared the essence of strategy is sacrifice. Never has this been more true than in the current climate. And the sacrifice should be allocating marketing spend to men- a well saturated market. Lad’s mags are already pregnant with tech-brands competing for their attention. Women are the financial opportunity and Jupiter estimate marketers are missing out on £0.5billion by not marketing to women.

Out of every 10 gadgets, 4 are bought by women. And no before you ask we are not talking about fridges and washing machines. More women than men play games between the age of 24-35 than men now And we are not just talking the Sims. World of Warcraft now has 50% female players.

The research I conducted with Jupiter highlighted (now Forrester), ownership is on a par with men in most categories. Couple that with the fastest growing segment on social networks is married women with children. And according to an N-vision survey, December 2008, approx 40% of women are transacting on the Internet (ie spending money rather than just using the Internet for communication, information and entertainment) compared to 30% of men. Hence, Women are no longer a niche audience - they are the budget-holders and drivers of growth.

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The editor of marie claire is right when she says:

“When it comes to tech brands and women, technology companies are in the same place the cars industry was 20 years ago.”

With the exception of Nintendo and it’s Wii, Apple, no other brand is talking the female language. I agree with Hilary Chilura when she says:

“Like nervous teenage boys at a junior high-school dance, tech marketers haven’t figured out how to talk to women”.

Ask any family who was in charge of buying the Christmas gifts, and you’ll find out its women not men. Women are not only buying technology for themselves, but as the Chief Household Officer, are buying for kids, husband, gran and friends. Women are in charge of the house, but more importantly are in charge of the living room (see Battle for the Living Room) where many of the technology lives: PVR, console, HD TV…. In my house, its my husband who lives in ‘his’ world but its me who lives in the ‘real’ world. I am deciding what we should cut back on, how much we can save and what we will buy when it comes to technology.

If tech brands want to be successful, they should focus on women at the expense of men. Women are no longer ‘the Second Sex. ‘ Rather the most profitable sex.