Can Jane walk like Johnnie?

To attract more women to drink whiskey, Diageo recently rolled out Jane Walker, with a woman in a hat and boots on the label, vis a vis the iconic hatted man who has long graced bottles of Johnnie Walker. Part of a campaign to appeal to a broader audience, the move was also an attempt to pull more women towards scotch and ironically push towards gender equality.

Preceding Jane Walker was the hysteria surrounding Lady Doritos, a specialised pack of “low-crunch’’ and ”less sticky” chips for women. Much before Diageo and PepsiCo’s attempts to woo women with curated offerings, the market has time and again buzzed with products positioned for a specific gender. From Cadbury’s Crispell chocolates for women to Emami’s Fair and Handsome and Fair & Lovely’s anti-marks creams for men; the products have been far too many.

But do such brands make the cut in consumer minds and drive in the expected sales and revenues? ‘’Most certainly”, says Mukund Malagi, co-founder and director of ND Commerce, a brand estore and omnichannel specialist. “A one size fits all theory is now passé, more so when it comes to consumer needs and consumer connect. The biggest challenge for marketers is to satisfy the ever-increasing demand of consumers for better, differentiated and segmented offerings.”

According to Aditya Jagtap, co-founder and operations manager of marketing technology company HockeyCurve, filtering the audience as per their gender is a step towards serving the most common user behaviour in that segment. “By introducing gender-specific products, the brands are willing to create a niche in the market, catering to different user segments, while enhancing their experiences.”

Certain categories of products or services make for a better fit for the introduction of offerings positioned for a particular gender. Malaga says financial services was the first to embrace the concept of "special bank account/credit cards for women’’, which gave specially created benefits like offers, discounts, insurance cover, etc. “In beauty care, creams and lotions are targeted towards specific skin types and for particular usage patterns. Brands launch gender-specific products when they look at data and realise there is a sizeable market opportunity for that product in that segment,” says Jagtap.

But what may work in financial services or beauty care might not work in other categories like vehicles (cars/two-wheelers/bikes), confectionaries, food or beverages. Especially in the present times of gender neutrality, which is becoming more relevant in marketing, feel brand experts. “I think regardless of your gender, you tend to have an affinity towards a product. Gender does not define a person as tastes are more individual. For example, there are many women who ride Harley Davidson,” says Akshar Peerbhoy, COO, MAA Communications, an advertising and branding agency.

Peerbhoy says nonconformity and fluidity are now the norms, not the exception. “When the social skyline is changing so much, gender-targeted products would not only be obsolete, they could be downright offensive.’’

Since increasing the customer base and sales is the ultimate objective for brands, instead of introducing well-defined and positioned products for a particular gender, it is a better marketing strategy to introduce innovative campaigns that are inclusive and broader in their appeal. A case in point being Ariel’s dads#ShareTheLoad ads in India which went viral. “Ariel didn’t change its detergent’s look or feel or features to sell to men,” says Peerbhoy. Ariel’s was just an intelligent communication.

Experts say often, there aren’t too many advantages for products such as a packet of chips or a bottle of scotch for women. Peerbhoy says that on the flipside, there are several disadvantages. “Firstly, you could end up isolating potential consumers, which is a loss of precious potential revenues. Secondly, the brand could annoy the group they are targeting because they don’t want to be stereotyped. Thus a brand could actually end up losing market share, instead of gaining it. With social media, the backlash could be worse,” says Peerbhoy.

KEEP WALKING

• Certain categories make for a better fit for products positioned for a particular gender
   
• In the present times, gender neutrality is becoming more relevant in marketing
   
• An alternative to introducing a new product is an inclusive marketing strategy