Back to school shopping can be stressful, particularly when you have a picky fashion conscious tween.  My nearly 13-year old son has a very strong sense of his own personal style, and refuses to stray far from it. And while I appreciate his independence, I wish he were more open-minded to trying new things, like mixing patterns and layering.

But boys in middle school know what they want to wear, and that’s usually what the rest of their peers are wearing.  And if that’s only khaki, black and camouflage for the entire year, well, that’s what they want to wear. Having clothing that’s similar to others at school is one way they feel they can avoid embarrassment. At the same time, they want to establish their individual needs and style, and this is the time they will begin do so.

My son’s favorite place to shop is Tilly’s, a store that markets clothes with the west-coast lifestyle look and feel.  He likes Tilly’s because they “get” him. There is as much space dedicated to boys clothes as there is to girls clothing. And there are lots of accessories and products to sample, smell and experience.

This year’s fashion winners and losers for him are:

• Shorts – solid colors only
• T-shirts – no yellow and absolutely positively NOTHING close to the entire pink family
• Socks – the biggest priority.  Lots of them and only of the highest quality (Who knew Nordstrom socks have smaller, more comfortable seams at the toe?)
• An umbrella for rainy days – absolutely no way!
• Backpack – in “no one can tease me” solid gray
• Accessories – belts, hats, etc. – turns out the clothes are simply a backdrop for the accessories
• Grooming supplies – loves them: the more the better!
• Shoes – not sure why his back-to-school shoes need to cost more than the pool maintenance man, but there you are

And my best kept secret for getting my son to embrace something that I like?  I tell him I hate it.

So you’re in Banana Republic and see a to-die-for camel coat for fall.  But before you make the purchase you check with Gap and J Crew to make sure they don’t have something similar at a better price.  Instead of getting into your car and going across town or heading home to your computer, you use your smartphone to get the answer in a matter of seconds – saving you both time and money.

According to a recent survey by miBuys, women are overwhelmingly open to mobile marketing and shopping.  Respondents said they love using the mobile web overall; 94% said they use their phones to surf even when they’re at home and can access much more powerful devices, such as laptops and desktop PCs.  The survey results send a clear message to advertisers that women are already engaged and eager to explore new cell phone services, and that cell phones and portable devices can play a significant role in helping brands build relationships with their female customers.

That certainly makes sense, as mobile is easy and accessible. New apps such as Twemple (a location-based service for products which transform a users city into a giant store) allow users to share purchases with friends, earn points and become opinion leaders within their social networks.

Here are some other findings from the survey:

•                85% use the mobile Internet almost daily.

•                70% expect their mobile Internet usage to increase in the future.

•                84% notice mobile advertising.

•                67% are interested in receiving mobile coupons or vouchers.

•                93% are always on the lookout for bargains.

Do you agree with these findings? Do you like the idea of using your phone for more shopping, or do you have enough social media in your lives already?  Are retailers moving in this direction quickly enough?

THE GIRL EFFECT, n. — The powerful social and economic change brought about when girls have the opportunity to participate.

The focus of this blog has been on women’s consumerism and marketing to women.  But in looking at the power of today’s women, we can’t ignore the power of the next generation of women around the world.  I recently connected with a wonderful program called The Girl Effect – perhaps the greatest untapped solution for young girls in developing nations.

An adolescent girl is uniquely capable of raising the standard of living in the developing world and the community in which she lives: she will reinvest her income and knowledge back into her family and her community. As an educated mother and an active citizen, a girl will break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.  That’s The Girl Effect.  But despite her proven potential, she is also more likely to be uneducated, a child bride, and exposed to HIV/AIDS. Less than two cents of every international development dollar is directed to adolescent girls.  And excluding these girls doesn’t just impact them, but the world at large.

The Girl Effect is the powerful social and economic change brought about when girls have the opportunity to participate. It’s an untapped force in the fight against poverty, and it’s driven by champions around the globe: the Nike Foundation, the NoVo Foundation, the UN Foundation, the Coalition for Adolescent Girls, CARE, Plan, the Population Council, ICRW and the Center for Global Development – and many others.

THE GIRL EFFECT DATA

Little research has been done to understand how investments in girls impact economic growth and the health and well-being of developing communities. This lack of data reveals how pervasively girls have been overlooked. For millions of these girls, there have been no systems to record their birth, their citizenship, or even their identity. They are virtually invisible.  However, existing research suggests their impact can reach much further than expected.

• Today, more than 600 million girls live in the developing world.
• She’s the economic backbone of her family: the chore doer, the caretaker, the insurance policy.
• She’s the mother of the next generation. She will reinvest 90 percent of her income into her family, generating a powerful ripple effect. Her brother? Thirty to forty percent.
• When she’s educated through secondary school, she’ll bring 25% more income into her family.
• When she’s healthy, her community’s health will improve as maternal mortality and child malnutrition drop, and HIV rates decline.
• When a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children.
• An extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent. An extra year of secondary school boosts wages by 15 to 25 percent.  But one-quarter of girls in developing countries are not in school.
• More than one-quarter of the population in Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa are girls ages 10 to 24.
• One girl in seven in developing countries marries before age 15, and 38 percent marry before age 18.
• One-quarter to one-half of girls in developing countries become mothers before age 18; 14 million girls aged 15 to 19 give birth in developing countries each year

What can you do? Help make these 600 million girls visible by becoming a fan of The Girl Effect on Facebook. Tell the world that you think these girls deserve better – for themselves, and for the end of poverty.

The 2007-2008 recession has hit men so much harder than women that it has even coined a new phrase:  the Mancession, according to a recent Newsweek article.

Men are the victims of two thirds of the 11 million jobs lost since the recession began, primarily because they work in industries like construction and manufacturing that were most severely impacted by the recession.  According to economists, they also will face a much more difficult road to recovery than their female counterparts.

American women already are the breadwinners or co-breadwinners in two thirds of their households, and it is predicted that by  2024, the average woman in America  will make more money than the average man.

American women are responsible for 85 percent of all consumer purchases; they hold 93 percent of U.S. bank accounts, 51 percent of all personal wealth, and are worth more than $7 trillion in consumer spending power—more than the entire economy of Japan.  On a global level, women are the biggest emerging market in the history of the planet—more than twice the size of India and China combined. It’s a seismic change, and by all indications it will continue: of the 15  job categories expected to grow the most in the next decade, all but two are filled primarily by women.

Such a drastic shift hopefully will result in corporations sitting up and taking notice—and ensuring their products and services appeal to female consumers. Brands need to pay close attention to how they’re marketing to women, because ultimately it may be the female consumer that pulls us all out of this “mancession.”

The other night I got together with several of my friends for an evening of girltalk. One friend is a mom and business owner who recently bought a new car.  Another is an empty-nest mom who just purchased a refrigerator and dryer.  A third is a recently-divorced healthcare industry executive who just bought health insurance for herself and her daughter.  And finally there’s me: the CEO of a marketing company who last month purchased new office equipment and a widescreen TV.   All of these purchases were made by Boomer women, without input from a spouse or significant other.

Because I’m a Boomer woman and specialize in the marketing-to-women space, I’m particularly conscious of how I’m treated by brands.  And while I am of a certain age, I’m certainly not ready to be stored in the attic.  And neither are my friends.  Yet, as Boomer women we’re continually marginalized by brand managers (primarily male) who don’t think any women of value exist over the age of 39.  What they must realize is that those inconsequential 45+ women are the ones that have the most money to spend on everything from vacations, to new homes, and from cars to cosmetics. Some interesting statistics on the purchasing power of Boomer women:

• Boomer women buy 65 percent of new cars, and 53 percent of used cars
• Boomer women spend more than $55 billion per year on consumer electronics
• Boomer women control a net worth of $19 trillion and own more than 3/4 of this country’s financial wealth
• Disposable incomes are highest for women aged 45-54
• Boomer women are at the peak of their careers, and statistically are the least impacted by the recession

In addition, this group of women will experience the largest population growth over the next 10 years, and the largest transference of wealth from inheritances left by parents and husbands. Yet rarely if ever does one see a marketer’s target audience that extends beyond the age of 49 unless it’s for the senior market.  Why?

Marketers and the media need to finally realize that the women most ignored are the ones who can do the most good in an economy that continues to struggle.  The time of patronizing ads and ignorance is long gone.

Does your brand ignore the largest and fastest-growing spending segment of women?  Or are you one of those women that are being ignored?

A few posts back I touched briefly on how the book What She’s Not Telling You highlights an interesting behavior by the female consumer –– the habit of telling the “half truth” vs. the “whole truth.”  Understanding this concept is so important to marketers that I decided to revisit.

Buying into a woman’s “half truth” can cost marketers billions of wasted dollars; not just in concept development and market research, but in the marketplace where it really matters.  A half truth is what a woman is willing to admit, while the whole truth is what she really believes, does and buys. For example:

“I am happy with my looks”  (half truth); “If given a choice, I’d like to look better than I do”  (whole truth).

An example of how a half truth can negatively affected a brand is Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty.” This campaign broke the rules of the beauty business by putting less-than-perfect women in their plain white undies all over billboards, the media and the Internet.  Talk shows went crazy and Dove was hailed as the brand that “gets it”.  The PR value of the Real Beauty campaign was unparalleled.  But soon after,  Dove’s sales slowed and eventually flatlined.  Why? Because Dove fell for the half truth that women want to feel good about their natural looks.  But the whole truth is that women really want to look better than they do, which is why they spend $7 billion annually trying.

On the flip side, Procter & Gamble’s Oil of Olay identified this whole truth:  “Just because I’ve earned these facial lines doesn’t mean I want to wear them,” and marketed their Pro-Age Regenerist product based on the whole truth that women want beauty products that really work.  They marketed Regenerist as an alternative to invasive cosmetic surgery, and the launch became the biggest skin care launch in the mass market.

Are you identifying the whole truth when marketing to women consumers?  What half truths have you told a brand?

Here it comes – the annual tryout season for club hockey.

Even for those who have been on a championship team the previous year, it’s still a time of nerves, pressure and stress.  While I know tryouts are stressful in all club sports, it’s especially stressful in Southern California hockey, where limited ice results in a limited number of teams and in turn, a limited number of players.  The first time I attended one of these tryouts, I swore I’d never go again.  Kids outnumbering the available slots 10 to 1.  An hour-long wait before the final roster is posted.  Kids (and parents) sobbing when they’re not selected.   Coaches trying to explain to parents how the decisions were made.

As parents, we must prepare our children for both success and failure, because nothing in life is ever guaranteed.

Tryouts teach many lessons, mostly about how actions speak far louder than words.  A coach may have raved about how talented an athlete your child is. You may even have a letter from clubs recruiting your child to play for them. These words mean little for some programs, and a lot for others –– it is the integrity of the people delivering the words that make the difference.

And so to each athlete: you can only control what you can control –– your unrelenting hustle during practice, your passion for the game, and your attitude and commitment to your  teammates and coach.  Whether you make your first choice team or not, continue to become the best player you can be, and have an amazing relationship with a sport that you love.  And remember: no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

Guest Post by M. Nicklin

Tar balls reach Key West.  BP Says Tube is Containing One Fifth of the Spill.  BP Spill: The Equivalent of One Exxon Valdez Every Four Days.  These are just some of the many recent headlines about the oil disaster in the Gulf.  I read them daily.  And alarmingly, the news is not getting better.  It’s filled with pathetic finger pointing (BP-Halliburton-federal regulators) and excuses.

So who is really at fault?  I think there’s enough blame to go around — greedy oil companies, greedy politicians, greedy rig owners.  But back to my question:  who’s at fault? At this stage of the game, it doesn’t reaslly matter.  What does matter is a solution.  And a fast one at that.

They call it a leak but that’s really a misnomer.  It’s actually a massive, gushing environmental disaster.  And as a mother, I think about the world we’re leaving for our children.  A world where they will be left cleaning up and living with our messes.  That’s simply wrong.  So, as Washington and the billionaire oil companies continue to talk in circles about who’s to blame and what kind of crazy scheme we can use to plug the mess, I wonder what moms can do.

This Girltalk blog is about the strength of women.  So what can we do now to voice our concern and disapproval?  What can we do to help ensure that this kind of disaster is not repeated?  What can we do to protect the earth our children will inherit?

It’s well-known that women control more than 85 percent of consumer household spending.  They dominate the marketplace when it comes to referring products and services to their social networks via word of mouth.  Ask any woman how she found her hairdresser, doctor, or favorite wine, and she is likely to tell you that it was from a friend. Women are natural word of mouth spreaders –– they’re wired that way.  With four times as many connectors between the left and right hemispheres of the brain as men, women tap deeply into that area that is responsible for bonding and connecting with others.

However, there are subtle differences in how marketers should present information when marketing to women influencers if they want them to pass recommendations along to their friends.  Marketers need to enable a woman’s ability to spread the word about their brands.  They shouldn’t tell women what to offer or what to say – they need to let women create their own offers or pitch themselves.  Women are very protective of their relationships, and if a brand impresses them enough to make them want to tell their friends, women will find a much better way to spread the word than a marketer ever could.

So ask them about their lives.  Ask for their opinions.  Touch them personally.  It doesn’t have to be fancy – just something to get their attention and touch their hearts.

Image from here

With nearly 40 million U.S. moms expected to be online by 2012, they are one of the Internet’s most desirable groups.  New communities and content sites marketing to moms continue to pop up daily. Marketers and advertisers are constantly trying to reach this powerful group, who are not just strong in number, but in purchasing power as well.  Although many attempts have been made to use Web 2.0 tools to engage mothers, only a few have been successful. The key to success lies in the approach. Here are a few tips to help you attract and engage moms online.

Do Your Research

In addition to being strong online shoppers, moms also spend a great deal of time researching health information, banking, watching video, and even playing games online. Moms are on Twitter, Facebook, and even social bookmarking sites like Digg and Delicious.  They also are reading and writing blogs.  But not all moms are created equal, and their online usage patterns vary depending on their life stage (new moms, young moms, moms of teenagers, etc.), geographical location, and interests. So it’s important to do your research because the more you understand the audience and how they are currently using the Internet, the more you can create campaigns and utilize tools that will interest and attract moms.

Make It Easy For Them

If you’re trying to reach out to mothers, you’re not alone.  A recent Google search for “moms online” yields over 25,400,000 results.  So make it easy for them to find you and engage with you, by keeping your content fresh and providing user-friendly tools.

Good Housekeeping is an example of a website that skillfully balances traditional and user generated content, as well as user-friendly tools.  Not only does the site offer a wide variety of articles and interactive tools, but it also provides a user-generated element with their “On Your Mind” question and answer community, where moms can interact with one another as well as with experts.

A mistake many websites make is requiring mothers to register before gaining access to content or part of a site. Moms are busy and they have a lot of options on the Internet. High drop-off rates occur when making them register, so only require registration if it’s absolutely necessary and even then limit how much you ask of them.

On One Likes a One-Way Conversation

Many social media campaigns aimed at engaging moms fail because they’re talking “at” moms – it feels too much like advertising. Create added value by providing information that is both useful and interesting. Then, provide the tools that allow moms to interact not only with your brand, but with each other.   Listen to their feedback and make changes accordingly.

What tips do you have for reaching moms more effectively?