Tips for marketing men’s products to both men and women in GCI magazine

In the March 2015 issue of GCI magazine, SKIM’s Scott Garrison and Sourabh Sharma share their four tips to keep in mind when creating claims and communications messages for men – and the women who buy for them. These tips are derived from our meta-analysis of messages across a plethora of categories including beauty and personal care.

Sex Appeal: Four tips for marketing men’s products to guys and the women who buy for them

“Women are from Venus and men are from Mars” is more than just a psychobabble catchphrase from the 1990s; it accurately captures the differences in gender appeal when it comes to consumer behavior.

Think of all the ads and messages that portray men as buffoonish (the unkempt beer drinker) or overtly feminized (the waxed seducer in a fragrance ad). In a classic hetero vs. metro world of male marketing, the truth is that most men fall somewhere in between. Gone are the days when all you needed was an attractive woman to sell cars or beer to a macho man…

Read the full article on the GCI website!

Key learnings are:

• Men like to hear benefits that are functional and relevant to them.
• The common theme in marketing to men is a mandate to leverage an emotional connection to preventing a negative.
• Men are not browsers, and tend to focus on the needs of the moment. As such, it is critical to be crystal clear to men, which is why men’s products tend to feature stark contrasting colors.
• Research has shown that men are noticeably more driven to numbers than women.
• Male shoppers decide which product attributes matter and determine what they want through a process of elimination.