iVillage Launches New Food Site For Women

iVillage has launched its new food site (www.ivillage.com/food), a modern online food destination specifically designed for women and moms who want to simplify meal planning, eat healthier, and spend more time with their families around the table. This marks the second phase in a site-wide relaunch, which takes a new approach to women’s media and caters to the needs of today’s busy women who live their lives online. McCormick, a global leader in the sale of spices, herbs and seasonings, will be the launch advertiser for the new food site. “iVillage is the only place where women’s everyday needs are met with tools and a community to support them. Food, a topic central to all women, is a key component in delivering experiences around the things that women care about most,” said Jodi Kahn, EVP, iVillage. “We know women are the primary shoppers and cooks in the home, and have designed the new site with a real-life approach to how they consume, shop and integrate food into their lives.”  According to new iVillage research conducted by GFK Roper just this week, 73 percent of women online already rely on the Internet to plan family meals. Tapping into this trend, iVillage is unveiling a highly personalized set of tools with over 139 categories to help women manage their shopping lists, food preferences, health needs, dietary needs and even allergy considerations in innovative ways.  Kahn also announced a partnership with Time Inc.’s MyRecipes.com, which will deliver a special array of dishes from top brands such as Real Simple, Cooking Light and Southern Living. This marks the first time Time Inc. has shared its recipes with an outside company.  To help advertisers become fully integrated with a woman’s daily routine and leverage the thousands of conversations happening in the iVillage community, there will be a host of partner-driven programs available at launch.

As the launch advertiser, McCormick will promote our spices and signature recipes. “McCormick is a brand women trust for all of their cooking needs, and we are thrilled to have a digital partner like iVillage Food to extend our brand online to a key target audience for us,” said Laurie Harrsen, Director of Consumer Communications at McCormick.  iVillage will continue its relaunch with next month’s Astrology debut, followed by Health, Beauty and Family throughout the first half of 2010.

AXA Equitable Gives Women On-The-Go Access To Financial Tools

AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company just launched two new applications for Apple’s iPhone and iTouch. The free apps, available for download from iTunes, provide women consumers on-the-go access to financial calculators to help them keep track of financial objectives. The company released the iPhone apps in support of its education and empowerment program, “The AXA Equitable Connection: Women, Wealth and Wisdom.”  “Women are pulled in many different directions and they often do not have the time to focus on managing their money,” said Barbara Goodstein, EVP and Chief Innovation Officer for AXA Equitable. “We launched these applications to help women take control of their finances whenever and wherever they want to.”  Users can download the apps from the iTunes App Store by searching for AXA Equitable directly from their iPhone or iTouch devices, or from iTunes on their computer. The two apps currently available include:

• Retirement Income Calculator – Users can estimate how much monthly income their retirement savings plan may provide.
• College Savings Plan Calculator – Individuals can determine the monthly savings amounts needed to help meet their education funding goals.

Additional apps expected to be released in the coming weeks include:

• Retirement Shortfall Calculator – Individuals can project financial shortfall or surplus at retirement, as well as understand how long their retirement savings may last.
• Life Insurance Calculator – Consumers can understand how much coverage they would need to protect their families should they die.
• Life Expectancy Calculator – Users can estimate their life expectancy, based on current age, smoking habits and several other important factors.
• All-in-One Calculator – Combines all AXA iPhone apps for individuals who want to get a singular view of multiple aspects of their financial situation. 

President of Women-Drivers.com Addresses Chrysler Women’s Forum

Anne Fleming, President of Women-Drivers.com, was recently asked to address the Chrysler Women’s Forum at the company’s Auburn Hills headquarters.  Fleming pointed to the need for women to increasingly own their voice and power when negotiating and bargaining outside of the professional workplace.  Fleming, who was invited to appear by Judith Wheeler, Director of Global Advertising and the President of the Women’s Forum, said “It was an honor to speak to this prestigious group of women in the automobile industry. The Forum’s mission dovetails well with Women-Drivers.com, which is to encourage women to be engaged in industry and business by nurturing and leveraging their buying power. Together, they can help grow the viability of Chrysler and acceptance of its products, an integral part of the Forum’s objective.”  Fleming, who once struggled negotiating her own car purchase, is an advocate for women speaking up and embracing their purchasing power. “Women control $6 trillion dollars of consumer purchasing power,” she said, “Yet we still make $.78 cents on the dollar. It’s a rather interesting paradigm. Frankly, with women being the gatekeepers to so many brands and consumer spending in our economy, you would think women would make $1.25 to men’s $1.00.”  She asserted that the keys to women negotiating and bargaining effectively for themselves is simply culture. “When women practice negotiating and being more direct, they become more comfortable tackling these conversations in all areas of life, not just in the workforce,” she explained. “The result? Women are empowered and have more money in their purse, offering them even more freedom and opportunity.”

Neutrogena Launches Holiday Shopping Site

Neutrogena® had launched Neutrogena Holiday (http://holiday.neutrogena.com) where consumers can shop this season’s best beauty buys for family and friends. Offering a range of the brand’s best-selling and favorite cleansing, acne, anti-aging and body care products, Neutrogena Holiday is a convenient and easy-to-use beauty gifting resource to help simplify holiday gift purchasing and giving.

Shoppers can browse the Neutrogena Holiday Collection now through January 2010 for gift ideas that fit all ages and lifestyles on their gift lists.  And to keep everyone on budget, Neutrogena Holiday has seasonal offers including:

• Free shipping on orders over $25
• 25% off when you buy 3 or more products
• Free samples with every purchase

Study Looks at How Women Are Engaging with Brands in Social Media, Apps

A new study from Q Interactive and Social Media World Forum found women are actively engaging with brands as they dabble in Facebook favorites like Farmville and Causes. Furthermore, women are passionate and competitive about (Lil) Green Patches and Happy Aquariums, stocking up on “virtual currency” perhaps more often than they hit the ATM.  The study of U.S. women, of whom 50 percent play online games according to Pew Internet, sought to offer a clearer picture into this growing group and where brands do and can fit in. “As brands seek relevant and natural ways to shake hands with women via social media, the gaming and application marketplace holds tremendous potential to integrate in a consumer-friendly, meaningful way,” said Matt Wise, President, Q Interactive. “Women seek a partner to support their entertainment, which is exceptionally important given their busy lives.”  Some key findings:

• 85 percent of those surveyed use five or less games and/or apps regularly, indicating an inclination to be loyal to a handful of favorites; approximately 15 percent regularly invest in six or more games/apps at a time
• More than half (57 percent) are earning/spending virtual currency daily
• Introduction to new games and apps rest heavily on word-of-mouth: Nearly three-quarters (74 percent) got involved in a game or app due to “a recommendation” by family or friend or because they “noticed a friend or family member’s score”
• In interacting with games and apps, 57 percent feel virtual gifting – for example, giving a bag of virtual makeup from Sephora – is as meaningful as real life gifting
• All but six percent (97 percent) of women prefer to earn virtual currency through either winning more or accepting a branded offer – versus paying for it with “real” money
• While they game and app quite regularly, only one in ten women have actually used “real” money to purchase virtual currency; of that, 85 percent have spent under $100 in their gaming and app’ing activities – ever
• Of women who have signed up for branded offers to get more virtual currency, 67 percent found the offer useful
• 37 percent of those women chose the branded offers based on “content”; 17 percent went for offers with free products or services

Discover Spending Monitor: Women are Decidedly More Pessimistic Than Men about the Economy

The Discover® U.S. Spending Monitor, a monthly index of consumer spending intentions and capacity, found that in October, 58 percent of women rated the economy as poor, a Monitor record 9-point increase from September. Men rating the economy as poor actually dropped a point to 53 percent. Forty-seven percent of women also said the economy was getting worse, a 3-point increase from September, while 44 percent of men felt the same way, a 2-point increase from the previous month.  Women weren’t able to find comfort in their financial situations either. Twenty-eight percent rated their finances as poor, a 5-point increase from September. However, women who felt their finances were getting worse remained unchanged in October at 49 percent. “The Monitor has always shown that women tend to be less optimistic than men about the economy and their finances,” said Julie Loeger, SVP of Brand and Product Management for Discover. “But the record jump in the number of women rating the economy as poor and the pessimism over the current state of their finances may indicate a weak holiday shopping season ahead.”

 

 

M2Moms® Speaker Named One Of The ‘25 Most Influential Women In Social Media’

Wow—we just saw Jessica Smith, VP of Fleishman-Hillard, on a workshop panel at M2Moms®-The Marketing To Moms Conference (the topic was how to successfully mix the online and offline to activate ‘Momfluentials’) and now we find she is one of the “25 Most Powerful & Influential Women in Social Media 2009”.  Congratulations, Jessica—and the other smart and innovative women who are leading the way in social media! 

http://immediateinfluenceblog.com/25-of-the-most-powerful-influential-women-in-social-media-2009/

Study Shows The Real Influence Of Gen Y Women

Who do Gen X women think is most influential when it comes to defining trends in pop culture?  The women of Gen Y.  According to a new report from PopSugar Media (www.popsugar.com), Gen Y women are a major force in determining cultural trends and setting the pace for style.  The “Why Y Women” survey found that 92% of Gen Y women consider themselves to be trend leaders—and Gen X women tend to agree with 67% of them identifying Gen Y as the trend leaders as well.  Gen Y women are also influential brand advocates.  When they discover a brand they love, 61% “share it with as many friends as possible”—using such platforms as email, social networks, online reviews, blog comments, SMS/MMS, phone and face-to-face.  This well-connected and influential niche of women holds great opportunity for brands, but also presents some new challenges.  “Gen Y women represent a challenge to marketers. The results of this study underscore how much marketers must think and act differently when addressing this generation of women online. It shows they want to be addressed as individuals, they can be skeptical of marketing messages, and they are inundated by media and advertising,” said Brian Sugar, founder and CEO of Sugar, Inc. “As this study and our experience proves, it’s crucial for brands to create a trusted relationship and earn their loyalty through honest dialogue about their brand. Once they have a personal connection to a brand, Gen Y women will be passionate advocates and ambassadors. Our goal has been to work closely with brands to help facilitate that relationship.”

Women’s Health Launches Branded Fitness Kit

Women’s Health has launched a new branded fitness kit designed to get women back in shape quickly.  Women’s Health “Lean Body Workout” has been specially designed by the editors and staff of Women’s Health and combines carefully selected fitness equipment with cutting-edge exercising programs that strengthen, sculpt and tone the entire body over the course of six weeks.  The kit includes select exercise products, a customized workout program and a free one-year digital subscription to Women’s Health and a three-month free trial offer to Women’s Health “Fit Coach”, a subscription-based online fitness and nutrition program.  The kit developers, EB Sport Group and Rodale, Inc., have also launched Men’s Health “Ultimate Total-Body Workout.” “Our research shows that while many people desire to get in shape, they frequently struggle with exactly what products to buy and then what to do with them. These kits eliminate that confusion and deliver a clear path to success for individuals of all fitness levels – and at a very reasonable price,” said Brian Anderson, president of EB Sport Group. “Men’s Health and Women’s Health have provided millions of people with the best fitness content available. Now, consumers will also have the tools they need in these two powerful kits.”

M2W®-HC™ Is All ‘A Twitter’

Attending this week’s M2W®-HC™…The Conference for Marketing Healthcare to Women? Be sure to “tweet” about your experience using the hash tag #M2WHC so everyone can follow the conversation. And, don’t forget to follow the PME® Events team on Twitter to get the latest M2W®-HC™ E-ssentials headlines, conference updates and inside scoop before everyone else! @maryengvall, @pattiminglin, @lizfongemie, @amyomalley, @robinzaleski