In The News

by Jen Drexler
Published December 3, 2009 in Retail

This has been a busy week in the press for us.

On Tuesday I appeared on Fox Business Morning to discuss the results of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The interview (link to come – fingers crossed) with Connell McShane and Ashley Webster focused on what the numbers really said about the holiday season. For instance 31% of shoppers were at the stores by 5am on Black Friday but the sales were only up .5%. We think that much of the phenomenon is about the bragging rights not about the doorbusters. Women told us that they were cutting back this holiday season but the whole truth is that more than 60% of Black Friday shoppers bought something for themselves! The urge to splurge after a frugal year won out!

Tracy was the featured guest on Purse Strings with Maria Reitan. Her great Webmaster Radio show features different angles of marketing with women and she and Tracy had a great conversation about the book and about the pitfalls of market research.

A shout out to our friends at PME for their review of our book in their Members Only – M2W-HC (Marketing to Women Healthcare) newsletter. As I may have told you (ahem… bragged) that Mary Lou was the winner of their best speaking award for a presentation in early November.

Tags: Black Friday, Fox, M2W-HC, PME, Purse Strings, Shopping

share the love:

Prescription for Clarity

by Mary Lou Quinlan
Published November 9, 2009 in Media

Last week, I spoke at the inaugural M2W-Healthcare Conference in Washington, DC where leaders in healthcare communications, marketing and policy (from Dr. Nancy Snyderman to Dr. Barry Sears) weighed in on the critical role of women and the mandate for the healthcare industry to start listening to their number one caregivers.

We were just blocks away from the halls of Congress and I have to say that I wish that some of the folks debating our national healthcare reform initiatives had stopped in. I shared some of the Half Truths of health, like “I try to be healthy” (if so, what’s up with 32 mm overweight American women) or “I speak up to my doctor”, (yet women back down when faced with disapproval from a beloved doc.) We have such a long way to go to get women to feel listened to and until then, it’s just easier for them to hide the real story.

The inadequacy of care, insurance coverage, straight talk and simple solutions for women is a huge deal. Though there have been some recent motions to raise healthcare as a women’s issue, it’s a whisper compared to the reality. One of my favorite quotes at the conference came from Peter Pitts who said that the only way to gain trust is through transparency. With all the red tape and mumbo jumbo in this category, we’ve got quite a ways to go to telling the Whole Truth to women in terms they can comprehend.

No wonder there’s so much she’s not telling.

Tags: Dr. Barry Sears, Healthcare, M2W-HC

share the love: