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NBCU Takes a Look at Women and the Recession

Apr 29, 2009  •  Post A Comment

NBC Universal has advice for marketers looking to reach women during the recession: Consumers now are looking for both value and optimism, and those messages are intertwined.
With assets including cable networks Bravo and Oxygen and the Web site iVillage, NBC Universal thinks it has a pipeline to women. It launched Women@NBCU to help advertisers reach them.
Last week, Women@NBCU held the first meeting of its advisory board, composed of senior-level professional women drawn from a number of industries. The advice from these big thinkers is a little added value for advertisers doing business with NBC Universal.
At the meeting, Tony Cardinale, senior VP for research and strategic insight at NBC Universal’s Bravo Media, Oxygen Media and Women@NBCU, provided the advisory board with a sneak peek at a “recessionista study.”
The study shows there are segments among female consumers who are resistant to the economic downturn and who continue to buy goods and services. Those women obviously are somewhat optimistic, but they also are seeking value.
The subject was discussed by the members of the advisory board.
“You just can’t separate the notion of value and optimism. … They would have to go hand-in-hand,” said Monica Halpert, head of content, community and communications at Bluefly. “And no, value doesn’t really mean financial value anymore—value is more about value systems. … Consumers seem to be opportunists right now and realize that it’s a buyers’ market.”
Linda Wells, editor-in-chief of Allure magazine, said the skin care industry is a good example of where value is selling, unlike the make-up industry, which is more affected by the economy.
“In skin care there is value because there’s innovation, because it’s based on ingredients and research,” Ms. Wells said. “Consumers are seeing it as an alternative to the dermatologist and things that are both scary, painful and less expensive.”
Peggy Green, vice chairman of Zenith Media, said it was important for marketers to continue to advertise in this economic climate.
“You won’t move the economy unless you advertise,” Ms. Green said. “We have told every one of our clients that in a downturn, as long as you’re fiscally solvent, you should be spending money to keep your message out there. But unfortunately Wall Street says your profits are down 3.5%, or whatever they’re down, and you can’t prove that advertising works because advertising is expendable. So what we really need to do is have better metrics to prove that it works.”
From a programming point of view, the recession appears to be driving record viewers to shows such as Bravo’s “Real Housewives” franchise.
These types of shows represent “an opportunity to escape” and “another big opportunity to laugh,” says Cara Stein, co-chief operating officer of the William Morris Agency. “As sports is to men, these reality shows—these competitive reality shows—are to women.”
Ms. Stein also said advertisements in these types of programs “shouldn’t break from the tone of the show,” because they have committed viewers.

4 Comments

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  4. Hey how are you doing? I just wanted to stop by and say that it’s been a pleasure reading your blog. I have bookmarked your website so that I can come back & read more in the future as well. plz do keep up the quality writing

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