In this era of demographic hairsplitting, brands and marketers are focusing their efforts on communicating more exclusively to each gender. While it might be risky to talk about genders having certain characteristics, it’s helpful from a marketing standpoint to identify some of those inherent qualities.

Besides, if men really are from Mars and women from Venus, wouldn’t it make sense to speak their language? That’s the fundamental mission behind Frank About Women, a consulting division of Mullen based in Winston Salem, N.C., and Sullivan, Higdon & Sink (SHS), an agency based in Wichita, Kan., whose focus is on marketing to men.

LESS HISTORY, MORE HERSTORY
According to Jennifer Ganshirt, comanaging partner of Frank About Women, females hear, see and communicate differently than males. “Women notice nuance,” Ganshirt says. “And they appreciate nuance, [such as] stories and campaigns that are complex and focused on key messages, that still are going to build a brand, but do so in a multilayered and textural kind of way. Women generally react to that.”

Ganshirt cites automobile campaigns focusing on safety and dependability as good examples of what appeals to women. “Storytelling generally works well for women—campaigns that really speak to [the] core of a woman’s sense of herself and her [responsibility] to the well-being of her entire family.”

Frank About Women has been working with TJX Companies, operators of the T.J. Maxx and Marshalls stores, for approximately six years. Regarding a recent campaign, Ganshirt says, “Our Maxx Moments campaign is about understanding that there is a sense of ‘score euphoria’ when a woman scores in T.J. Maxx, and she can’t help but talk about it.” In each Maxx Moments television spot, a woman is so giddy over the brand-name bargains bought at T.J. Maxx that she can’t help but tell someone every chance she gets.

Getting women talking is another tip of the iceberg, Ganshirt notes. “Women are nine times more likely to talk about a product than men are in their natural day-to-day conversations,” says Ganshirt. “If you can stand out and do it differently, you are going to have an impact. But it’s much more challenging if you aren’t willing to throw out the stereotypes.”

TJX Companies
In its six years of working with TJX Companies, Frank About Women (www.frankaboutwomen.com) discovered shoppers like to brag about their bargains from T.J. Maxx and Marshalls. This “score euphoria” is captured in spots for T.J. Maxx called Maxx Moments. “We wanted each scenario to be a situation in which it would be inappropriate for someone to talk about how much they saved on their T.J. Maxx find,” says Vanessa Witter, art director. The “inappropriateness” leads to some surreal and memorable moments.

Maxx Moments campaigns for T.J. Maxx
The spot opens inside a plane. The passengers are all seated and the flight attendant is just beginning her infl ight speech.

Attendant: “Passengers, please look up to the front for some important information about this patent-leather belt I got for just $15 at T.J. Maxx. And if you’ll look to either side of my head, you’ll notice I’ve also saved on these gorgeous sterling-silver earrings.”

This second spot opens on a wedding reception on a lovely spring day. A guest at the back taps her glass and stands to give a toast.

Guest: “I just wanted to say, I got an amazing deal on this entire outfit at T.J. Maxx.”

She is overcome with emotion and continues:

“I always do this! It’s just, this is a real designer, not a made-up one. I mean, some people go their whole lives without finding value like this. I feel like the luckiest girl in the whole world!”

Method cleans up
Jennifer Ganshirt, comanaging partner of Frank About Women, says Method is a great example of a company that has leveraged design to stand out in the ho-hum category of cleaning products. “Good design, whether in (marketing) messages or in product innovation, gets women talking,” she says. She believes Method’s tagline, “‘People against dirty’ is a great platform” for marketing to women.

Endust
People sometimes use old T-shirts as dust rags. So Frank About Women recommended that Endust use a buzz-building giveaway—featuring a T-shirt with a skull and crossbones—to reach a list of “cleaning enthusiasts.” Witter says, “We thought using the skull and crossbones was a quick way to get our ‘say no to T-shirts’ message across, as well as be cool enough for someone to actually wear it.”

MEN BEHAVING … RESPONSIBLY?
While women are the more complex gender, men have typically been portrayed as predictable. In fact, marketing directed at men often seems much more stereotypical than marketing to women.

According to John January, vice president and director of brand voice at Sullivan, Higdon and Sink (SHS), there are currently two prevailing stereotypes in marketing to men. “The first of [these] is the narcissistic, over-sexed Peter Pan who seems to have a lot of money, but no responsibilities,” January says. “The second is the sort of sad-sack dad who, if he isn’t reviled by his family, is maybe ignored by them, and seems to be so helpless and out of touch that he can’t find cat food at the grocery store.”

January says it’s a mistake to think there’s only one way to talk to men. “I think there’s a danger in assuming men won’t respond to anything that isn’t funny or that would dare to make them think or feel,” he says. “At a certain point, they take their lives and what they’re trying to do pretty seriously, so I think the brands that can understand that and can get deeper with them are going to benefit.” January says men are more complex than marketers often give them credit for: “I think the biggest trap is that marketers tend to think all guys want that bad-boy fantasy played out for them and again. It’s not that [the approach] can’t or doesn’t work, particularly for some demographics, but it’s only one way. And to get a deeper relationship, you need to go farther.”

One way SHS has honed its own marketing process is by identifying five universal truths about men, which include: men seek enlightenment, they seek experience, they seek success on their own terms, men happily define themselves as principle-driven and men identify themselves as family-centric.

This philosophy is visible in SHS’s work for Helzberg Diamonds. “We like to say men would be more comfortable free swimming with tiger sharks in a wet suit made of meat than they would be walking into a jewelry store,” January says.

In campaigns for Christmas and Valentine’s Day, SHS chose to focus on attention-getting print ads and multimedia components. The multimedia component captured the attention of shoppers with short animated films shown on a billboard in Times Square. The challenge was to communicate without the benefit of sound. “Those sort of little romantic scenes [presented in the ads] clearly take advantage of what animation can bring to the party,” January says.

Sullivan, Higdon & Sink’s prowess in marketing to men is also seen in its work for Cessna. SHS developed several elements to the campaign marketing two different aircraft: the Caravan and the Citation X. The Caravan is Cessna’s most versatile plane and can land virtually anywhere, including on water. The Citation X is simply the fastest private-passenger airplane in its category commercially available, according to Cessna.

The two different aircraft required two different approaches. “Interestingly, we find that entrepreneurship and pilot licenses tend to go together, and we try to take advantage of that anytime we can,” explains January. To appeal to the experience-seeking mentality of men, SHS shipped postcards about the Caravan in bulk so they could be mailed with postmarks from exotic locations to a prospect list.

The Citation X campaign highlighted the very reason for its existence: speed. January says, “We sent particular prospects a radar speed gun in a large box to try to demonstrate the speed story. Again, it’s all about trying to engage men beyond what they may be expecting.”

The presence of the unexpected in marketing campaigns often works for both genders—such as the widget Sullivan, Higdon & Sink created for Helzberg Diamonds counting down the days until Valentine’s Day. “We found that not only did guys download it, but loads of their significant others downloaded it as well,” January says.

And just in case you’re still wondering about the soccer-mom stereotype, guess how many women have been to a soccer game in the past six months? According to a recent Frank About Women survey, the answer is only about 2 percent … and that was probably because of David Beckham … pish, could it be because of Posh?

Helzberg Diamonds
John January, vice president at Sullivan, Higdon & Sink (www.wehatesheep.com), says its Helzberg Diamonds campaign contained different segments designed to help men buy diamonds. The first campaign was released during the holidays. January says the company got feedback from many women about the ads, thanking the agency for saying what they’ve always wanted to say. “The piece we probably got the most reaction from was the poster that had the headline, ‘Women Don’t Cry When They Open Lingerie,’” says January.

The second Helzberg campaign was designed for Valentine’s Day. In addition to print ads, Sullivan, Higdon & Sink created a widget for computer desktops that counted down the days until prior to Valentine’s Day. “It is a universal truth that Valentine’s Day sneaks up on guys every year,” says January. "Thus, the two days prior to Valentine's Day are huge sales days in general for nearly every category, but particularly for jewelry.”

Cessna Citation X
Sullivan, Higdon & Sink’s (SHS) work for Cessna was devoted to two aircraft: the Caravan and the Citation X. Cessna says the Citation X is the fastest plane in the world in its category. So the focus of SHS’s ad campaign for the Citation X was on the need for speed. John January of SHS says, “This is a story about success. ‘This aircraft allows you to define success on your own terms. You can get there faster. You can get there first. This will waste the least amount of time.’ Those tend to be very competitive-oriented headlines—all based around this notion of speed and the advantage speed provides.”

Cessna Caravan
Since the Caravan is the lighter, more versatile of the two planes, SHS chose an approach that would capitalize on the experience-seeking mentality of men. SHS sent ads to prospective buyers from far-out travel destinations to reinforce a “go-anywhere” mentality. “We shipped postcards [advertising the Caravan] to exotic locations and literally just mailed them to a prospect list so they would have the actual postmark of those locations,” says January.

Big Rick’s BBQ
Big Rick’s is a regional product for fans of Midwestern BBQ—known for its big flavor. You can see Sullivan, Higdon & Sink wanted to emphasize Big Rick’s flavor. What better way to achieve that than the illusion of a cow on a bun?