“Women: ‘Material Girls’ or Looking for Something Deeper?”

This past June, I was walking through the airport on one of my many trips of the year. As always, I visited Hudson News to get a magazine to keep me occupied during my travels. This trip, I decided on Time Magazine, since the cover headline caught my attention: Nip, Tuck or Else. What did the editors mean and who were they talking about?

As it turns out, they were talking about women — their penchant toward plastic surgery and how it’s on the rise — and why more and more woman are falling into the “vanity trap.” I didn’t take as much issue with the headline as I did on how the article depicted my gender as vain and unsophisticated. It got me thinking in general about how the media portrays women. Sure, from time to time, you’ll hear those “I am woman hear me roar stories,” but inevitably those are still few and far between the vast majority of stories portraying women as material and simple.

That article lingered in my mind ever since, and inspired the premise for doing a study that could get underneath what women really want. Is it really plastic surgery, handbags, shoes, and vacations – or is there something deeper that is driving us as women?  It drove me to initiate a partnership with SheSpeaks, an influencer marketing and media platform with the reach of 100 million women, on behalf my agency, Makovsky, and in lock step with the launch of our Consumer Brand Marketing Practice, to explore this issue.  What we found was astounding [to some…not me] and made me proud to be a woman now and as we move into 2016 – our year…the year of the woman!

The reality is that our study showed women mostly care about two things: health and finance. Moreover, despite the selfie craze, 56% of women think the trend of taking selfie photos is narcissistic. And, even though Time Magazine evidently believes plastic surgery is the way of the future, when we asked, only 7% of women said they’d use an extra $5,000 for cosmetic treatment like Botox or plastic surgery. The majority of women would rather invest that money in their future. Further, our study found:

• 51% of women would rather hire a fitness trainer or nutritionist than an interior decorator or personal shopper in the year ahead
• 41% of women rate health and wellness goals as the most important to them in 2016
• 63% of women anticipate increasing their focus on personal financial management in 2016
• 43% would choose to put the money in a savings or retirement account if given an extra $1,000

You can check out the full infographic Makovsky’s created here http://makovsky.com/insights/blogs/m-k-consumer/55-insights/blogs/m-k-consumer/812-2016-what-women-want.

These survey results make me extremely relieved to know that women are not as materialistic as some would like everyone to think. This is important food for thought for marketers to consider: Even if they are trying to sell a pair of shoes, the way products are presented to women will make a difference in how many pairs are sold. I’d recommend a marketing theme that emphasizes empowerment. Women are spiritually minded and physically attentive to who we are, and this survey data truly proves where our interests and priorities lie. When marketing to women, enter the conversation by showing you understand who we are and know we are more than just clothes, handbags and jewelry. We are deep, intellectual and care about our futures, families and careers.

I can’t end this conversation without saying I love shopping and I love nice things. Don’t get me wrong.  A nice pair of shoes has brightened many of my days, and I have my fair share of designer handbags, too. But such possessions do not define who I am, and I certainly don’t buy them to make a statement about who I am. My purchases are unrelated to who I am as a person, what I value, and what I bring to my career, relationships and life. Like the women we surveyed, I share in the prioritization of health and finances in 2016. I want for myself personally and all women to make 2016 the year that the media and the world around us understand what really matters to us. It’s about health, wellness, finances, family, career and stuff like that.