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Women’s Intuition

Jan 11, 2009  •  Post A Comment

The principals of the latest marketing agency: Maria Bartiromo, Meredith Vieira, Tori Spelling and Susan Lyne.
They, along with 22 other estimable names, including Ogilvy & Mather Chairman-CEO Shelly Lazarus, aren’t forming an agency in the traditional sense, but will be part of a panel offering marketing and general business advice to NBC Universal and its clients on how to reach women.
The group also will blog, write and appear on-air for the media company’s women-oriented properties and contribute to a quarterly newsletter, “Power of the Purse,” covering marketing to the demographic and the latest trends among women.
The panel will convene for the first time Feb. 10. In effect, it could become the most powerful female-focused agency in the country.
Pulling together this group of high-powered women is Lauren Zalaznick, president of NBC Universal’s Women & Lifestyle Networks, which include Oxygen, Bravo and iVillage as well as Green Is Universal, the company’s environmental initiative. She will chair the panel, which will allow NBC Universal to “think like a marketer instead of a programmer,” said Ms. Zalaznick and help advertisers reach various segments of female consumers.
Advertisers still will need to retain creative and media agencies to put their marketing plans into action, Ms. Zalaznick said. But no media owner ever cops to the idea that they might be cutting out the agencies, and her assemblage of prominent advisers marks the latest effort by a media outlet to adopt some of the duties more traditionally associated with an ad agency. It also threatens to tack another layer of competition onto an industry already dotted with big global networks and a raft of independent upstarts.
The trend of media outlets offering agency-like services has been spreading for several years.
Rolling Stone, Maxim and Vogue have helped clients tailor their print promotions. Vogue’s in-house agency, known as Vogue Studio, even became agency of record for a fashion designer in 2006. Time Warner in 2004 set up a corporate marketing unit headed by former Young & Rubicam executive John Partilla to try to secure additional dollars from clients by devising marketing programs that could work across the media giant’s many assets.
For media properties, “it was becoming more important” to have such services in-house, and “now the process is accelerated by the economy,” said Rob Gregory, a former Rolling Stone and Maxim executive who is now president of network sales and marketing at Plum TV.
The basic-cable outlet targets residents of high-income communities such as Sun Valley, Idaho, and Aspen, Colo., and helps marketers such as American Express devise ads that fit the network’s environment.
Ms. Zalaznick’s venture won’t necessarily make the women available for hours of one-on-one consultation. In addition to actress Ms. Spelling, “The Today Show’s” Ms. Vieira, CNBC’s Ms. Bartiromo and Gilt Groupe’s Ms. Lyne, the group includes author Candace Bushnell; Lisa Caputo, executive VP, global marketing and corporate affairs, Citigroup; Laura Caraccioli-Davis, executive VP, Starcom; American Express’ Nancy Smith, VP of global media, content and continuity, and Cara Stein, co-chief VP of global media, content and community; Marti Barletta, president-CEO, TrendSight Group; Cara Stein, co-chief operating officer, William Morris Agency; and Linda Wells, editor in chief of Allure magazine.
“I don’t think it is the equivalent of ‘The doctor is in,’ and you put up your shingle and you come by,” Ms. Zalaznick said.
Instead, the idea is to convene the panel several times a year on a formal basis and “a lot more frequently on an informal basis,” she said, so clients can use it “as a sounding board” and “to discuss the issues of the day.”
Journalists and other members of the group will be able to recuse themselves as necessary to avoid conflicts.
Members of the panel see the group as a way to add some extras to the traditional relationship between media outlet and advertiser. “Everyone is looking for differentiation and doing things that will add more value to clients. I think we’re all kind of exploring,” said Ogilvy’s Ms. Lazarus, who heard about the idea because she is on the board of General Electric.
But will the marketers really clamor for advice from the likes of Ms. Bartiromo, the so-called “Money Honey”? And will that result in NBC gaining new business?
“There’s no harm in [creating the panel]. Maybe it can give them a leg up,” said Andrew Donchin, director of media investment at Aegis Group’s Carat. “If we can come up with some integrations or some concepts to add to our schedule, then maybe it will be very helpful.”
The panel is expected to convene four times a year, Ms. Lazarus said she was told, and members can attend via phone if they wish.
“There are enough women who are involved with this that if you had to miss a meeting here or there, there would be more than enough participants who would be engaged,” she said.
Ms. Lazarus does not envision marketers bringing specific assignments to the group.
Rather, “It’s going to be discussing broader issues relating to marketing to women, and then the conversations about these issues will be shared with the clients of NBC,” she said.
The purchasing power of women is well known. What’s less easy to understand is how to market to different kinds of women, suggested Peggy Green, vice chairman of Publicis Groupe’s Zenith Media and a member of the advisory board. “What kind of woman you are [depends on] how much you make, where you work, where you live,” she said. The panel could help clients better shape their pitches to different segments of female consumers.

24 Comments

  1. Please dump Tori Spelling – if you want any respect – we were stuck down the road from her in Fallbrook, Ca during the few days each couple and weeks they filming her fake show. This town has a Barrymore and Capra legacy and many other star’s -unknown to most- have settled here. I also live in Aspen.
    I worked for a production company that has won many Oscar’s – including Best Director and Best Picture. So have over 15 year’s in the biz.
    Tori Spelling is not to the level of the other in your group.

  2. How can we help out? I am co-owner of a women-owned recruiting firm/staffing firm (call it what you like) in Chgo. and we would love to help your venture out with hiring needs. We think your concept is a great one and recruiting talent for you would be amazing and challenging at the same time. We are relaunching our website “corporateladderllc.com” (so it’s currently under construction, darn, wish you could read about us)at the end of this month. You may contact us in the interim, we definitely want to hear from you. “Girls supporting Girls” all the best… Lidia

  3. How in the hell is this fine? If there was a company that only hired men what would happen?

  4. Well it’s about time! But what about appealing to ALL women and that includes ethnic women as well. I’m a Voiceartist with the William Morris Agency in Los Angeles and there just doesn’t seem to be enough advertising aimed at “Baby Boomers” that isn’t about Drugs, Life Insurance or Anti-Wrinkle creams! Why can’t more women do Voice Overs for automobiles, WE buy them! Why can’t we see more ads geared toward the women that DO spend the dollars in this economy. I would love to sell more products with my voice toward the women that ARE shoppers.
    Sincerely,
    Wandachristine

  5. while the concept is fantastic, why not include up and coming women in the industry? as a young woman with a few years of advertising and marketing experience in both small and large firms under her belt, i think it can only be beneficial to utilize young female talent to the best of their abilities. so many brilliant young women are still being passed over and wasted in near entry level positions, while position with more leeway and creative freedom are being handed out like a rights of passage to young men, who may or may not be equipped to hadle the challenges these position entail. it would be great if “girls supporting girls” was a reality instead of a pipe dream. however in this industry not much as changed since the 1950’s. it’s time women take an opportunity like this and use it to help other women reach their potential, especially in an industry that is majorally male dominated.

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