Its official. Ladies, get your pink handbags out. The new ad from PC World and Dell is officially the most patronising ever. It starts with the line
“My world is fashion. I just have to colour co-ordinate everything. Even my laptop. That’s why I love the new Dell laptop.”
If Microsoft can do it then I can go one better: My three year old son is reviewing the latest touch-screen laptop sent to me by HP: The HP Touchsmart TX2. I had reservations about a touch smart screen as why would you need a touch screen on a laptop when you have a keyboard, but my son really loved it. So did his favourite toy Serena…
I have to admit that I was in a state of giddy anticipation when I
got home to find that the courier had delivered a shiny new Nokia N97:
It came in a under-stated black box which resembled a treat from a
Regent Street boutique. It was a pleasure to unbox, as I appreciated
the way it feels comfortable in my hands.
I am loving the evolution of the I am a PC campaign. Its warm, personal and positions Microsoft as a champion of humanity rather than a cold, distant high functional technology brand which mainly appeals to men. Women use technology as a means to creativity and to provide meaningful human interaction in their life.
Women want brands that offer certainty and trust. Tesco have levels of trust reaching 70%,
higher than any financial institution. Previously I talked about how
women are reassurance addicts when it comes to technology- they will
rely heavily on the sales staff or “phone a friend” before they buy
technology.
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.
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 – I am speaking on a panel in the afternoon which looks at how tech companies can improve their bottom line in a recession. I hope to see you there.
Links for the programme, registration and website are below:
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
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.
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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