Forget the focus group for uncovering the whims of female consumers. ‘Friendship groups’ now help Leo Burnett define women in relation to their homes. LeoShe – a research division consisting of cross-functional women from across the Leo Burnett network – organized get-togethers for 15 women, and six to eight of their pals, to find out how North American women feel about their homes.
‘We wanted to go deep fast,’ says Rachel Lai, strategic planner at Toronto-based Leo Burnett, which counts Procter & Gamble and Visa among its clientele. ‘It’s easier to get women to be honest in front of their friends, because they are already comfortable with them.’ Plus, the meetings were held over dinner, making conversations easy.
But that’s not all. This year-long research initiative also included an online component involving 40 males who talked about what it was like to live with the women in their lives. LeoShe posted questions on a bulletin board for the men to discuss. ‘It’s easy to get women to talk about their feelings in front of each other, but men tend to find that more difficult. Doing it online allowed them a bit of a safety net.’
So what did the guys say? That they often feel they’re being bossed around inside the house, yet not acknowledged for all the work they do outside the house.
However, the major learning from the research, which also included a cultural audit, was this: ‘Marketers have not done a good job of understanding women; they tend to think about them as a mass group,’ says Lai. ‘[But] the way to position your product or brand to them should be different depending on who you are talking to.’
Having wrapped in fall, the research uncovered four groups, defined by how women function in their homes. The largest segment at 37% is ‘House Proud.’ These women resemble Martha Stewart and have a ‘picture perfect’ home. Twenty-nine percent fall into the ‘Treading Water’ category. They’re more like Roseanne and are too tired to care about the state of their digs. The last two segments are ‘Keep It Simple’ (22%) – comprised of women who value experiences over things – and the self-explanatory ‘Keeping Up With The Joneses’ (12%).
Adds Lai: ‘If I sell a couch to ‘Keeping Up With The Joneses,’ I’m going to talk about the handcrafted legs and beautiful leather, whereas a ‘Keep It Simple’ woman would want to hear about how she can take naps on the sofa on a Sunday afternoon.’
LeoShe also uncovered some interesting trends: the fact that clutter is the new fat; growth of the service sector as 50% of women now outsource at least one home-related task; a return to the simple life; and a shift from cocooning to hiving (lots of activity in the home). ‘This project offered a more holistic, richer picture on women’s lives than a segmentation study, because we approached them as human beings instead of users,’ says Lai.
