How Do You Diffuse Office Bullying? Mary Lou Quinlan On The CBS Early Show

by Libby Kane
Published April 21, 2011 in Media

“It’s not the screaming in the conference room. It’s the sabotaging of ideas when no one else is there. That’s a little scarier.”

– Mary Lou Quinlan

Is work feeling a little like high school lately? We’re not surprised– a new survey by CareerBuilder.com found that over a quarter of the 5,000 respondents had been bullied in the workplace. Chris Wragge of the CBS Early Show discussed this disturbing pattern with Just Ask a Woman Founder and CEO Mary Lou Quinlan.

Find out from Mary Lou why women are the more common victims of bullies and whether you should confront a workplace bully HERE.

Tags: CBS

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Groupon: The Good, The Bad, And The Risky

by Libby Kane
Published April 20, 2011 in Media

After describing how Groupon ruined her group-ohm, Just Ask a Woman CEO and Founder Mary Lou Quinlan continued the discussion with radio host Jim Blasingame on his show, The Small Business Advocate, where she dissected the whole truth about social networking, word of mouth, and Groupon: the good, the bad, and the risky.

Didn’t get a chance to tune in? Check out the segment below.
(And don’t miss the first part of the segment HERE!)

Want more insight? Catch up with Mary Lou’s previous interviews HERE.

Tags: Internet, Online Shopping, Social Networking

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Whose Word Of Mouth Can You Trust?

by Libby Kane
Published April 15, 2011 in Media

Just Ask a Woman CEO and Founder Mary Lou Quinlan joined radio host Jim Blasingame on his show, The Small Business Advocate, where she dissected the whole truth about word of mouth, social networking, and transparency in marketing.

Didn’t get a chance to tune in? Check out the first part of the segment below.

Want more insight? Catch up with Mary Lou’s previous interviews HERE.

Tags: Internet, Online Shopping, Social Networking

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Television for Women vs Television with Women in Mind

by Jen Drexler
Published April 13, 2011 in New Ideas

For twelve years we have been trying to help companies gain women’s loyalty by truly understanding them and creating products and services that truly fit their needs. Not once have we recommended to a client that they build a product or service that is exclusively FOR women. That kind of segregation does not boost bottom lines.

We strongly believe that by listening to women you get human solutions not pink ones that are made just for her. When Westin listened to women talk about what they wanted from a hotel room the Heavenly Bed (and its Heavenly cousins) was born. They never had to say that their hotel aimed to be the favorite of women, especially business travelers, but making changes like the clean, fuzzy bed, the curved shower rod and the signature scent showed that the brand had women in mind. When Toyata’s Sienna listened to mothers talk about their mini wagons the famously successful Swagger Wagon viral video series was born. Its brilliance was that it included both parents in the joke truly reflecting how Gen X families operate.

I share all of this to lead into today’s example of why marketing with women in mind is more successful than overtly marketing to women. As the upfronts approach, The New York Post explains that American women are not choosing female focused channels like Lifetime or Hallmark (Lifetime’s rating dropped 17% in the first quarter and Hallmark’s audience drew 17% fewer women than a year ago). They are choosing MTV, Bravo and even the History Channel and ESPN instead. My thesis is that these channels have done a great job defacto marketing to women. There is no doubt that Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise is intended for women’s audience (and that all women want Andy Cohen to be their best friend) yet Bravo never has to say they are telelvision for women. And their numbers are up 37%. Even “grown up” women want to watch Jersey Shore and The Real World and as obnoxious as I find Snooki mania you can’t knock the 67% jump in viewership for the quarter. Besides the more unisex programming of shows like Top Chef there is also the husband/boyfriend factor at play. Bottom line, you can probably get your husband to watch something on Bravo but ask him to tune into Lifetime and he will find something that needs his immediate attention.

The jury is still out on OWN but Oxygen, Lifetime and Hallmark have their work cut out for them to compete with all of the cable channels that are stealing their audience by being inclusive.

Tags: Bravo, Lifetime, marketing with women in mind

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Facebook, LinkedIn, And Little White Secrets

by Mary Lou Quinlan
Published April 7, 2011 in Media

Half Truth: Women divulge details of their lives via ubiquitous social media outlets and opportunities to share.

Whole Truth: Women divulge only the details that that portray them in a chosen light.

Do women really keep secrets anymore? In this culture of confession, with Oprah as high priestess, why would anyone keep a secret when telling them is so easy? In a real-time, digital, Twitter world, where every private thought can be broadcast in a split second, are today’s women just more calculating about what they reveal and what they conceal? How many women post their most flattering (if out of date) pictures on Facebook? Ever read someone’s supposedly accurate profile on Match.com?

The Whole Truth is that women share those secrets, online and off, that portray them the way they like to be perceived and support the personalities they aspire to. Conversely, they safeguard the secrets that damage that image.

Secrets don’t have to be damaging. They can be ‘little white secrets.’ Ask a beauty marketer how many women play down their sins of self-inflicted sun damage while bragging that they wear SPFs all the time. Ask a pharmaceutical marketer how many female consumers promise compliance, yet double down on dosage based on their own doctoring. Ask a furniture marketer how many women claim to have modern, simple taste, yet actually fill their houses with overstuffed furniture and knickknack collections?

You say you don’t keep secrets? Is there a small blip on your resume that seems to have been deleted? Was there an event in your life you’ve never confessed to your spouse? Ever eat a cookie in the bathroom? Keeping secrets is something we learn to do when we are as young as three or four years old. Holding some things inside is part of human nature.

So if you think women don’t keep secrets from you, you’re in for an awakening. We’ve certainly exposed more than our share of them.

Want to learn more about half and whole truths? This post is straight from our book, What She’s Not Telling You: Why Women Hide the Whole Truth and What Marketers Can Do About It. Read the first chapter online HERE, and grab a copy for yourself from Amazon.

Tags: Half Truth

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Go Green(er): Odwalla And Dasani Make Plastic Eco-Friendly With PlantBottle

by Libby Kane
Published April 5, 2011 in Food

We talk a lot about living “green-ish,” and the balance it strikes between modern convenience and assuaging our overactive ecological consciences. Therefore, we love products that make it even easier for us to live the “ish” life. The latest? PlantBottles.

Unfortunately neither leaf-shaped nor growing in your backyard, PlantBottles are the first 100% recyclable bottles. Both Dasani and Odwalla are now using versions of the leafy container—PET plastic for Dasani, HDPE for Odwalla. Let’s not get too technical though—the bottles are created using a large proportion of plant materials and consequently may now hold court with the insipidly virtuous Sigg.

While PlantBottles have been around since 2009, the heavy marketing we expect to see from Coca-Cola for its high-profile products this April will certainly up their public profile. Reportedly, PlantBottles are already estimated to have eliminated the massive carbon dioxide output from three million gallons of gasoline usually used in bottle production, with only more reductions to come.

They’re eco-friendly, convenient, and absurdly green-ish. But one question remains: After purchasing your bottle of water, toting it to your meetings, and spilling half of it into your purse, will you actually recycle it?

Tags: Green-ish

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It’s Not About Anger… It’s About Ego

by Mary Lou Quinlan
Published April 4, 2011 in Media

Half Truth: Women are demanding customers.

Whole Truth: Women don’t like retailers who take advantage of their perceived reticence.

Women, who may be mild or diplomatic under most circumstances, will whip out their evil twin when it’s time to duel with errant sales and service people. When we’ve asked women to describe their identities as shoppers, they are proud to claim their power. As one woman told us, ‘I’m a ‘you’ve got one chance to screw up’ shopper.’

Another woman we interviewed demonstrated her revenge technique on a salesman who made her feel he was too busy to take her call. In what was clearly an oft-repeated performance, she mimicked her best imperious voice, as she raved at the hapless receptionist, ‘You tell your boss, this is an escalated phone call, use that word and tell him I want service right now!’ As the other women in the group applauded, I could see her relax into the knowledge that this story only got better with the telling, securing her place as queen of customer

Marketers of services faced with an irate customer like this can figure out whether her anger is real or manufactured by starting with the magic words, ‘You’re right. Now, how can I make this better for you?’ Play to her ego; all she’s really wanting is the respect she deserves and to not be seen as the cowering, customer chump.

Tags: Customer Service, Ego Protection, Half Truth

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Can Real Women Finally Sell Dove?

by Tracy Chapman
Published March 31, 2011 in Fashion, New Ideas

It’s no secret that Just Ask a Woman has been critical about Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. In fact, we wrote an entire chapter about it in our book, What She’s Not Telling You, Why Women Hide the Whole Truth. Why? While women publicly cheered for the campaign, Dove’s sales slowed and then flatlined. Our conclusion: Women want to know that when they put their money on the beauty counter they are getting a product backed by science and technology and of course, results. It’s hard to sell ‘Love the Skin You’re In’ .

So I was excited this morning as I was going through my own beauty routine and watching the Today show (before I had to give the TV over to Elmo), to see Dove’s new commercial for VisibleCare Body Wash. The commercial reveals a photo shoot with real women getting close-ups taken by a fashion photographer. Then the women are asked to use the body wash for a week and are brought back to see their close-ups…what do they find? Close-ups of their skin…before and after shots, and the difference is dramatic.

Dove got it right – they bring us real women which stays true to their brand image but they promise us results, in only a few weeks, backed by technology that is clinically prove to visibly improve skin (“highest concentration of Nutrium Moisture™” – I don’t know what that is but I want it now!) The website provides visual proof and information about the science behind the product.

Women love before and after pictures and we love results. The Whole Truth is that real beauty is on the inside and the outside. I love that Dove is finally focusing their message to what matters most with women and I bet they’ll love what it does to their bottom line.

I just downloaded my $1 off coupon from the website and will be headed to Duane Reade on my way home tonight!

Tags: Advertising, Dove, Real Beauty

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Going Green Is Great, But Will It Lead To Sales?

by Tracy Chapman
Published March 24, 2011 in Media

Half Truth: “Green-ness” is a crucial factor when women consider purchasing products.

Whole Truth: “Green-ness” is secondary–it’s more important that a product work well than benefit the environment.

Thanks to the strength of their convictions, women often make marketers think trends are bigger than they are. The green trend, for example, is a case of women being selectively honest. Women will spout their green credentials effortlessly because it presents them as more conscientious consumers. ‘I only buy organic.’ ‘My home is healthier because of green products.’ Saying you’re exclusively green or that you are scrupulously earth conscious is accurate for some, but we have found it’s claimed more often than it’s true. Women know that green is good and waste is bad, so after adopting a green behavior or two, they will start to talk as if they’re actually growing their dinner and recycling the plates, even if their only green gesture is a bottle of Method tile spray in the shower.

We don’t mean to underestimate the power of the green movement and the growing number of consumers who try to make choices that sustain the planet. Niche, squeaky green brands like Seventh Generation have penetrated the cleaning aisles of the biggest chains. But mass brands like Clorox Greenworks cleaned up by offering a dose of feel-good green clean with the silent but mighty hero name of Clorox to assure germ killing. By securing the imprimatur of the Sierra Club and others, the brand has managed to tread the narrow line between green and effective. And we’ve heard that many women are displaying their Greenworks products on their countertops, a giveaway to their badge value.

Green, organic, natural, locally grown, no matter what the language, intent to purchase is often overturned when pricing comes up. Our take on the Whole Truth? She’s ‘green-ish’ and can be more practical than purist. Women are still figuring out their green ground rules. Be careful that you don’t assume that the green game she talks will end up as cash in the register at the end of the day.

Tags: Green-ish, Half Truth

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“Marketing Extraordinaire” Jen On Green Living, Whole Truths, And Winning

by Libby Kane
Published March 22, 2011 in Media

The internet is full of tips to make going green the easiest, most enjoyable, most socially responsible thing you’ll ever do. So why hasn’t everyone done it already? Jen has been all over the news lately, shedding light on the new consumer pattern of “greenish,” a more manageable version of the decidedly virtuous and increasingly attainable green lifestyle.

In an interview for Green Prophet, Jen notes that the pattern of “greenish” behavior on part of the consumer is a result of perception, availability, and cost. From her interview:

You note that one of the solutions is to become “greenish.” Can you explain this to our readers?

I wouldn’t say being Green-ish is a solution but rather that it is an inevitable truth for real women living in a real world. Women want to do the right thing by their families and their environment but have to make daily compromises because of their financial resources. Green products generally cost more so women will prioritize the areas in her life where they are the most important.

What, in your opinion, is so hard about going “green”? Is this a marketing failure? A government failure to provide adequate resources to make smarter choices, or is this good ol’ fashioned laziness?

I think it comes down to cost and quality. Do organic cleansers work as well as the ones filled with chemicals? Not usually. And even if they did Americans have been trained to associate the smell of products like bleach with cleanliness and with the absence of that sensory signal they doubt the efficacy of their green cleaners.

To read the rest of Jen’s interview at Green Prophet, CLICK HERE.

To read about why being greenish is a worthy goal, CLICK HERE.

Tags: Approval Seeking, Green-ish

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