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Section Editor: Fiona Harkin, SVP - Content
Nowhere is the need for empathy and intelligent
perspectives more crucial than when engaging
with women. Brands need to recognise the
dominating presence of women online and a new
language of femininity that is developing.
Current affairs are driving a movement of
powerful female voices both online and in
traditional media. Look to blogs such as Jezebel,
The Hairpin and The Vagenda, which are acting
as leading voices for this demographic. Social
media and web platforms are allowing women to
join together to heighten awareness of female
misrepresentation, extolling or condemning
brands and their marketing material.
As many brands have experienced, patronising,
belittling or misrepresentative products, campaigns
and opinions can now provoke an immediate
backlash that is often vocal, spirited
and devastating.
But Stylus notes that this wider sea change in
attitudes about representations of women in the
media is part of a shift, particularly in advertising
and the media, towards a more feminised world
picture; a world of conversations and emotional
connections, an outward-looking perspective – a
world with empathy at its core (a topic we explore
in the Outrospective Thinking section).
Any business helping consumers to feel more
in control, to redefine images of success and to
disconnect in order to reconnect has the potential
to tap into the new feminism opportunity,
whether they’re targeting men or women.
168
Redefine
Consumer Engagement