Monthly Archive for January, 2009

Tech Porn is dead

Published on January 20, 2009 in Articles and Electronics. 4 Comments

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Rather than default to a out of date, lazy way of selling technology to men at the expense of attracting women, technology brands need to be more innovative with their media strategies.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.

Designed by Women for Everyone

Published on January 18, 2009 in Articles. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Belinda mentioned in one of her recent posts that the consumer tech industry is now at a stage the car industry inhabited many years ago. Many car manufacturers have indeed started to take women as consumers seriously. For a long time, most cars are implicitly or explicitly designed for men and by men.

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At London Business School, I have conducted some research with Volvo. A group of women at Volvo thought it was about time to show the world what a car designed by women may look like. This produced the first concept car designed by an all women team to provide the world with a practical example of how women would design a car. The car was presented in 2004, but there are some valuable lessons to learn here.

The task was to design a car that would not be futuristic but realistic in terms of the needs of women as well as men. Their research has indicated that in the premium car segment women are the hardest group to please and building a car that meets their expectations also means to build a car that will please men.

The team conducted an external and internal study to explore what women want in cars. The central idea about the project was to ask questions in a different way.

Research found for instance that women like an easy to park car not because they cannot park but because they park a car much more often during a day.

The team also challenged the idea that cars are designed with men in mind fitting their bodily features much better than those of women.

The concept car was very innovative because the team re-thought fundamentals of car design such as where the hand breaks or the washer fluid were situated or how the doors should open.

In addition a new concept of headrests was introduced allowing people with ponytails to sit comfortably and the layout of the car was a 2 by 2 version with the rear two seats being moved in slightly to allow the driver to see the rear passengers.

The team wanted to create a car that felt more like a living room and decided to include having movable cushions and different fabrics for the upholstery of seats.

Although it was never intended to be built, the concept car provided a lot of thought provoking ideas which influenced the design of other cars. Tasking women’s perspectives into consideration challenged how things had always been done. The result was a concept car that was built by women for everyone. 

Where Computing is Not for Men

Published on January 18, 2009 in Interesting. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

In most Western countries studying computing has long been seen as a male endeavor. However this is not the case across the world. Vivian Lagesen’s research in fact shows that in Malaysia computer science is populated by women. In her summary report for Women-nomics, she stresses that in Malaysia computing is not seen as masculine but instead a good employment for women. In fact, faculty in computing degrees is often female. There are perceived to be plenty of jobs in computing and the office environment of IT jobs is seen as safe.  Vivian’s research shows how flexible the social construction of computing can be. 

The laptop that thinks it’s a handbag

Published on January 16, 2009 in Uncategorized. 9 Comments
Vivenne Tam HP digital clutch

Vivenne Tam HP digital clutch

 It’s a tough decision, right? You want to take your laptop out with you but – horrors! – it’s dingy, metallic and it doesn’t match your frock. But never fear, here’s ‘the world’s first digital clutch’, an innovation from HP that looks set to end the war between computing and looking stylish. Or at least that seems to be what the aim of this pretty but perplexing product is.

Good-looking gadgets are great – no one wants to tote devices that look as though they were crafted from Bakelite by a short-sighted Aeroflot engineer. But fashion designers and technology can be uncomfortable bedfellows – LG’s first Prada phone looked fabulous but it proved to be an abomination if you actually wanted to send a text or make a call. Armani and Dolce & Gabbana have also launched themselves at the mobile market without making much of an impact. And last time I looked, cutting-edge laptops looked pretty good to me – understated, shiny and nice and computer-y. Surely a designer clad-computer is simply a case of gilding the lily?

More annoying still is the idea that women can be coaxed into buying tech by making it pink and flowery. When the ‘high fashion meets high tech’ HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam edition was announced at New York fashion week back in September, no specs were available, but more attention was paid to its hue - ”The HP Mini coordinates perfectly with stunning Vivienne Tam pieces!” gushed the promotional material. Thank god it matched – how embarrassing would it be if there’d been a clash??

But perhaps I’ve been broken by too may press releases trumpeting technology for ‘the ladies’ that are illustrated by average gadgets updated with nothing more than a rosy tint. I asked my female colleagues what they thought about the digital clutch. Two thought that while it looked quite cool, they’d rather buy a laptop that could fit into their handbag rather than investing in something that’s trying to look like one. Another work mate liked it, but thought she’d quickly get bored with it while another simply rolled her eyes and dubbed it patronising.

The digital clutch, which is actually a great mini laptop is available now, though, like all so many other over-hyped designer tie-ins, it’s limited edition so if you’re in the market for a machine that’s al la mode, get your order in now. Suffice to say that I won’t be picking one up to go with my peony-print party dress – I’ll stick to a nice Macbook or Asus instead.

Goodbye Men, Hello Ladies

Published on January 9, 2009 in Articles, Electronics, Games and Home Entertainment. 1 Comment

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.

What this woman wants

Published on January 2, 2009 in Articles and Games. 2 Comments

My soon-to-be step daughter craved one for Christmas. My taxi driver on New Year’s Eve regaled me with tales of her daughter staying in for the night with hers, along with a bevy of mates and plenty of booze. My work buddies spent the festive season playing with theirs and my fifty-something female friend has finally got her hands on one too. I’ve got two and my little sister would love to have her own which she needn’t share with our brother.

The Nintendo Wii has got to be the most female-friendly games console ever to have gone on sale, with the possible exception of its stablemate the DS. The Wii seems to have it all – the silly name, the small size (so unlike the threatening bulk of the po-faced and high-priced PlayStation3), the innovative control system and games that make people laugh rather than want to shout at the screen or shoot up suburban shopping malls, or so the Daily Mail would have us believe. Nintendo has even created a convincing fitness title that’s makes working out not only less of a chore but even, whisper it, something entertaining.

The Wii has captured people’s imaginations and is showing them that video games can be relevant to anyone. Sure, the graphics are terrible and, even now, two years after its launch, games developers are only just beginning to explore the possibilities its control system has opened up for them.

The only fly in the ointment, other than the inevitable stock shortages that have become the unfortunate hallmark of any successful piece of hardware, is the ad campaign that flooded the nation’s bus shelters, billboards and TV screens in the run up to Christmas. Impressive in its scope and in the amount of cash that Nintendo threw at it, the sight of the Redknapp’s larking around playing Mario Kart and seeing Ronan Keating and sprogs having a family moment in front of their Wii made me shudder. And on the DS side – Girls Aloud claiming they spent their time on tour playing Nintendogs? Do me a favour.

Forget paying through the nose for unlikely celebrity ambassadors next year – instead, spend the money on getting more Wii Fits shipped (they’re still as rare as hen’s teeth and I know 10 people who’d like one) and invest in making some great games with universal appeal. The Wii could be the device that turns gaming from a past time seen as child’s play into a leisure phenomenon that will change the way women live. Viva la revolution.