2013 Sessions/Speakers

Your Turn To Weigh In on Lean In

We end the 9th annual M2W® Conference with a panel that focuses on the “Lean In” topic. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and author of New York Times Best Selling book, Lean In…Women, Work and the Will to Lead has ignited a hot national dialogue that we think our M2W® community should have a chance to weigh in on. Fara Warner, Editorial Director, AOL Business, Technology and Entertainment Group will moderate a panel of leading marketing to women experts including Bridget Brennan, Marti Barletta, Bonnie Ulman, Laura Maness and Pepper Miller. Add your own expert voice to the conversation. We will keep the mics open to include attendee participation in true Town Hall style!

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Who Has Time To Shop For Groceries?

As we face a “new normal” in America – one fueled by the recent recession and more oriented around services, healthcare and redefined families – women’s roles are changing. Increasingly, we’re seeing more and more women serve as the main breadwinner or even the sole income earner in their households. This shift is quite literally changing the landscape of families – not only in how they look (hello, Mr. Mom), but also in how they live, work and shop.

This TRIS3CT workshop will examine how these changes have affected the way women and their families have adjusted to this rebalanced landscape (think shopping roles, family responsibilities, etc.) and how brands can fit into the bigger picture of this new family portrait.

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Guest Emcee

The 9th annual M2W® is proud to feature Pepper Miller, President of The Hunter-Miller Group as Guest Emcee! An expert on Black American consumers, Pepper is author of Black (Still) Matters In Marketing, co-author of What’s Black About It, and one of the most impressive presenters ever to appear on this conference stage. In both 2006 and 2012 she was the recipient of the prestigious Take The Cake Best Speaker Award. As one person wrote, “Fantastic presentation! I'm still thinking about this.”Pepper is unforgettable. Today we welcome the intelligence, insights and grace she will bring to the 2013 stage as marketing-to-women Expert and Emcee.

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Up, Down and Sideways: How Cross-Generational Brand Loyalty is Driving Sales

Have you noticed?! Kids are now engaged in adult activities and adult brands more than ever – the kind you once upon a time had to grow up to get! During this engaging presentation, Bridget Brennan will examine the new phenomenon of cross-generational brand loyalty, and explain the global demographic shifts driving this trend. She will discuss how and why specific brands are successfully capitalizing on this opportunity, across industries of all shapes and sizes. You already know the power that women have on the consumer economy, and these days, they are willing to spend adult-size money on their kids. What does this mean for the potential of your brand or business? When done correctly, it means increased brand loyalty and sales, and an entirely new generation of customers.

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BTW (Brands, Technology and Women): How to Optimize Your Touchpoint Communication Strategy with Women

Women are starting to dominate the digital world. Did you know that women make up 58% of online purchases and are more likely than men to purchase tablets, laptops, and smartphones? They are also more engaged online than men and visit more social and community sites. Why? Not only are women interested in staying connected with their friends and family, but they are using technology to stay in touch with the world – including your brands.

Are you considering women’s technology and social media behavior when it comes to your brand? How can you optimize your touchpoint communication strategy to get more women engaged with your brand? In this interactive workshop session, you’ll be immersed in the new digital world of women and will learn how to apply it to your brand by uncovering the best ways to talk to your target and which touchpoints to pursue.

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Billions in Her Briefcase: Engaging the Women Business Owners’ Market

Ten million women in the US own businesses today, and their rate of starting businesses is twice that of men. These women are estimated to contribute $3 trillion to the US economy and small business is a key sector for future economic growth.

In this presentation, we’ll explain what women business owners expect from the companies they do business with, how best to engage with them, and how even mainstream, non-B2B brands can benefit by building relationships with this high-growth market.

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What Women Really Want from Health & Wellness

Health and wellness is a popular topic for marketers and consumers alike. According to an Anthem Worldwide study, 82% of women agree that “there will be negative consequences if I don’t take care of my health”, and 74% of them are motivated to be healthy. For these reasons, amongst others, we wanted to better understand what women really want from Health & Wellness across three generations of women, Millennials, Generation X, and Boomers, and how brands can help them realize the benefits, from functional to emotional. What we found is that women are open to and are in fact seeking brands to motivate them to be healthy and well so they can reach their goals at any life stage. Understanding the true motivations of these three generations of women provides insight for brands to build stronger, long lasting connections with women. Learn how your brand can partner with women to lead stronger, healthier lives.

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Designing Endearing Brands

The human brain (female and male) sees shape first. Color second. Words third. But, science has proven that they process the same experiences differently. Knowing that women consider significantly more factors when making purchase decisions than men, it makes sense that if you can design a visual language to tell your story in a way that resonates with the way she sees the world, you are automatically more likely to break through the clutter and gain her attention. Willoughby Design, a 35-year-old brand strategy and identity design firm, will discuss the power of using human-centered design thinking, an innately female process, to build brand identity systems that resonate with women on multiple levels to build enduring loyalty.

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The Evolution of Women´s Lifestyle in a Global Economy

Women today are presented with an unprecedented breadth of choices ranging from how they want to live their lives to the products that they want to purchase. This freedom has led retailers and brands to re-evaluate who their customers are.

Statistics and demographics alone do not tell us about a woman's style preferences. Whitaker International has developed a unique methodology and approach to conventional marketing, a total new vision of defining consumers by style rather than fashion, age and income. In this session, Fatima Whitaker will introduce the most important global lifestyle segments and how to anticipate women’s needs and aspirations accordingly.

Fatima's presentation will be packed with practical ideas on how to create and develop products and concepts specifically targeting those lifestyles, values, behaviors and choices.

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I Am More Than My Age & Life Stage: Using Psychological Profiling to Better Understand Her

Who we are as people is not easily defined by our gender, age, life-stage or income… there is much more to us than meets the eye! In this interactive workshop, Insights in Marketing, LLC’s i-on-Women™ team of social scientists and marketing research experts will discuss how the overreliance on demographics can lead you astray and how a deeper, more holistic understanding of your female target can lead to more impactful marketing.

Join us as we explore the various psychological and behavioral dimensions of women. Learn critical female behavioral drivers and key criteria for determining who she is and why she makes certain decisions. Lastly, leave the workshop with a clear understanding of how to identify, prioritize, and use meaningful female insights, as well as how to avoid common female segmentation and targeting pitfalls.

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Love, Like and Why They Share — An In-Depth Look at Brand Advocates and What Makes Them Tick

It's no secret that women today spend a lot of time consuming social media and women who are brand advocates are even more "social" than the rest. In this session, House Party will reveal the highlights of proprietary research that explores not only how these women use social media but when, why and their channels of choice. Perhaps most importantly, the findings reveal what inspires them to share on social networks and how social media has motivated them to purchase.

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Your Brand is More Than a Name on a T-Shirt: Connecting Your Brand with Event Sponsorship that Works

As the number of women participating in outdoor events like 5Ks, 10Ks, marathons and triathlons continues to increase, so do the opportunities for brands to remain relevant with these consumers – even in these budget-cutting times. Event sponsorship is the one of the few marketing disciplines that taps into all five senses to surround the consumer with a brand’s name, image and message – and is often a chance to physically put the product in the consumer’s hands. In this workshop, Iron Girl’s Judy Molnar will showcase how brands need to have a sponsorship plan, how to activate sponsorship opportunities and how sponsorship can fit successfully into a larger marketing and advertising plan.

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WWWomen Connecting and Building Brands Through Social Media

Social media has opened up massive opportunities to connect with targeted groups of women and share knowledge as never before. Genuine engagement is essential to attracting and retaining customers, gaining credibility and nurturing trust, but if you are your brand, questions about privacy and identify arise, along with issues surrounding the evolution of your brand as personal circumstances change. Julie Cole will share her company’s award-winning social media strategies and the role her brands (successful entrepreneur, mom blogger and parenting expert) play in its social media approach. She’ll discuss how these roles intersect through social media and provide actionable tips and ideas on building brand communities with women.

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Can’t Buy Me Like – How Authentic Customer Connections Drive Superior Results

Brands face an apparent choice: slash inefficient advertising, or put blind faith in social media. As the Beatles wrote a half century ago, money can’t buy you love. But in today’s desensitized world, money can’t even buy you like.

Enter the “Relationship Era,” where long-term success means creating authentic relationships. This doesn’t mean focusing on social media and blizzards of micro-targeted ads. These tactics, which disguise outdated thinking, often don’t work long term.

Where do “authentic customer relationships” come from? Honesty. Values. Purpose. Women in particular are critical. Because women influence 85% of purchasing decisions, they are key components in tapping the market’s full potential. High-quality products and services are required, but no longer enough. The world is becoming more transparent. You can’t persuade or flatter customers into loyalty, and they are more than data on a spreadsheet.

Join us to see how to thrive in the Relationship Era.

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Leaning Forward: What is the Myth and Reality About the Women’s Landscape Today, and Where Is It Going Tomorrow?

In the five year period between 2006 and 2011, the number of women in the US earning a greater share of income than their husbands rose from 13% to 16%. The “Great Recession” accelerated a lot of trends that were already starting to emerge in the early 2000’s – increased participation in the labor market, higher levels of education attainment and substantially more purchasing power in the marketplace. These dynamics have led to heightened focus on women as consumers, as well as a lot of debate around the political and social implications of whether women can have it all – and if they can’t, whose fault is that?

This presentation will look at four decades of trends in the United States to understand just how much things have changed, and point to where the women’s marketplace is likely to be going. Issues to be explored will include:

1. The new fluidity of gender roles – what exactly is happening and how does this translate into what you need to be doing in marketplace?
2. Are women more or less satisfied today – and what does that mean for your business?
3. Innovation – is there a different path when speaking to women?

This presentation will be based upon the latest research from GfK Roper Reports®. Now celebrating its 40th year, GfK Roper Reports® interviews over 11,000 Americans (half of them women!) every year to understand the why behind the trends that are emerging in the marketplace, and what this means for positioning their brands, products and services for profitable growth.

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Start the Conversation: Financial Literacy – With Women In Mind – Begins Here

When AOL decided to redesign DailyFinance, they tore apart everything the financial industry believed it knew about how to attract an audience to business and financial information. Too many sites assume a high level of financial literacy. Others talk down to new investors – including women. So they worked to create a place where anyone, no matter their level of financial literacy, would feel welcome. This session will walk you through their design and editorial process – what it can mean to brands looking to reach women – and most importantly, how to start your own conversation about your finances with a deep dive into thier new planning tool, Savings Challenge. Speakers include Fara Warner of AOL's Business, Technology and Entertainment Group, and other experts from the world of finance.

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Hustle: Marketing to Women in a Post-Recession World

American women weren’t surprised when they began seeing the economy dip in 2007. But by 2008, they were t-boned – blind-sided by the severity and duration of one of America’s worst economic downturns. Brand new research reveals more than 80 percent of women say the Great Recession has had a negative impact on their lives. And as a result of the economic downfall, 64 percent of women have lost trust in companies and brands. As women adjust to a Post-Recession “New Normal,” is your brand speaking to her in a supportive way? Are you solving, and not just selling?

Hustle: Marketing to Women in a Post-Recession World is the new book from author and communications strategist Bonnie Ulman (with Sal Kibler) and the first to examine the long-lasting effects of the Great Recession on women’s relationships with brands – today and for the future. Hustle will be launched at M2W®, giving conference attendees a first peek at this brand new research and important insights that can make or break a connection between your brand and the women who matter to your success.

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Let’s Go To The Mall! Women and Shopping Today

This presentation will focus on different female consumer segments and how they are interacting with malls. This is an important subject because among customers visiting a typical mall, 66% are female. The core female consumer segments in shopping malls today will be discussed, with a focus on moms and millennials. For all the consumer segments, we will highlight their shopping behaviors, as well as patterns that are observed while they are in malls. We will also discuss how retailers and mall owners communicate effectively with female shoppers.

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Latina Rising: The New American Woman

If you’re still talking about census data you’re likely overlooking what really matters: Contemporary Latinas are the women of today. They are more bicultural, bilingual, educated and affluent than ever before. Their influence extends to every corner of American society and their youth ensures that the trend will accelerate.

Endearing brands to these women requires greater dexterity than ever before. Put away the chips and salsa and learn about who these empowered women really are and how to effectively connect with them.

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Marketing To Women In Spain Today

“Ellas deciden…(Pero ellos todavía mandan)” – or - ”Women decide… (But men run the business)”. This is the provocative title of the first book to be written in Spain on the topic of marketing to women, and the first book to be written in Spanish as well! Gemma Cernuda-Canelles, Founder & CEO of Peix & Co. is the author and a familiar face at the M2W conferences. Her voice in Spain, a country now in the midst of a severe economic downturn, is fearless and focused. Her blog, “Ellas deciden” is also the first blog on feminine branding in Spanish. Gemma sees the need and fills it with “how to” advice that can be used immediately. She suggests that even acknowledging that the “economy is traditionally Masculine and that purchasing decisions are overwhelmingly Feminine” can be the first step brands take toward being more “women friendly”. But Gemma is about action, and her book reveals some solid keys to success with female consumers.

In this session, Marti Barletta interviews Gemma on her new book and marketing to women in Spain today.

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