Eveolution: The Eight Truths of Marketing to Women (Hardcover)

by Faith Popcorn (Author), Lys Marigold (Author) "When it comes to women, we all know it's time to forget pink think..." (more)
Key Phrases: transparent brand, female consumer, women customers, Multiple Lives, Everything Matters, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Faith Popcorn isn't shy about telling you who she is or what she can share with you: "I am a futurist. A trend-spotter. A cultural detective." Nor does she beat around the bush in relaying the importance of her theory: "Understanding EVEolution and implementing it ... means the difference between building healthy brands and profitable relationships with women ... or building a flimsy, fluffy foundation with no future." Her vision is large and her passion is palpable, and what she offers in EVEolution is an effective way to know and tap into the increasingly important and lucrative female market.

After establishing men and women are biologically and "shop-ologically" different, Popcorn delivers her central message--that there's a huge difference between a customer who buys your brand and one who joins it. The former is good for the moment, while the latter is good for life. Popcorn believes attracting and engaging the lifelong customer requires rethinking traditional marketing methods using her eight "truths" of marketing to women. These include making your brand a contributing and worthwhile member of the community you create; acknowledging that women lead multiple lives simultaneously--marketing to only one at a time is limiting for you and annoying for them; and remembering to be subtle--women think laterally and notice things peripherally. These and the five other "EVEolutionary" truths are followed by dozens of companies, most of which have gotten the point and are reaping the rewards of an effective brand.

Popcorn definitely has her finger on the pulse (or the popper), though this kind of slick analysis of our too-fast-paced modern age can sometimes get a little tiresome--like an extended session of navel gazing. But someone has to do it, and Popcorn's ability to spot the trends and spout the zeitgeist gives her a healthy leg up on the nonsavvy marketers out there. If you're one of them--and don't have a clue about the complexities of women and how to market to them--read this book. Popcorn will get you into shape in no time. --S. Ketchum

From Publishers Weekly
Popcorn's futurist pronouncements on consumer trends are always newsworthy; her previous books The Popcorn Report and Clicking have drawn audiences far beyond those for most business guides because of her knack for predicting social trends such as "cocooning." Spiced with canny, sound-bite delivery, proprietary terms like "BrainTrust" and marketing savvy, Popcorn's latest will surely capture the same buzz. Her BrainReserve, a consulting firm that works with major corporations, now urges clients to cater to female consumers, who have unprecedented earning power and often make household purchasing decisions. Arguing that women shop differently from menAthat is, they respond to different stimuli and employ different standards in decision makingAPopcorn anticipates the need for many small shifts in corporate advertising. Among other things, she advises marketers to imbue their brands with emotional content, to cater to women's multiple roles, to anticipate their needs and to enlist their opinions about product design. Popcorn and coauthor Marigold illustrate their ideas with examples of new marketing strategies for major clients like Nabisco Snack Well's and Kitchen Aid, as well as with examples from other entrepreneurial ventures. Readers may be bemused by the book's self-referential tone: the BrainReserve lingo and the firm's strategic dress code give the impression of a private women's club. Despite the autohrs' rambling presentation and imposing tone (they tend to weight their pronouncements with upper-case descriptions, i.e., Anticipate, Everything Matters), readers who want to be tuned in to trends will find this a valuable source. Agent, Amanda Urban, ICM. 4-city author tour; national TV satellite tour; national radio satellite tour.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1 edition (June 14, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786865237
• ISBN-13: 978-0786865239
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #473,739 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

94 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eliminate Stalled Marketing Thinking -- Become Irresistible, June 2, 2000

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

7 Stars *******

I am a big Faith Popcorn fan. That led me to go into reading this book with high expectations. What a great deal it was to have those expectations well exceeded!

Tom Peters first raised the theme of this book in his book, The Circle of Innovation. The vast bulk of most consumer purchases are either made or strongly influenced by women. Stop marketing generally, and be sure you marketing is gender friendly in the broadest sense. But Tom, as a man, could only take that point so far.

Faith Popcorn has really explained it very well. She has identified 8 key principles:

(1) Women link (the marketer's job is to make that easier for women -- witness the success of women-only Web sites)

(2) Serve all of a woman's needs, not just the ones she has part of the day (if she needs convenient ordering, be sure to offer everything she wants to buy conveniently -- take-out foods for all meals)

(3) Women want their needs anticipated (if she has to tell you what she wants, it's all over -- lots of work, stress, home responsibilities and money mean that home spas are doing well)

(4) Use the indirect approach (women prefer to notice things on their own and apply them, rather than getting a direct, hard sell -- women notice institutional appliances in great restaurants and put them into their own kitchens)

(5) Go to her and make it easy (witness the success of at-home direct selling)

(6) Sell one generation of women, and you get the next as well (see how children now dress like adults at a very young age, because Mom and daughter want to look like each other)

(7) Take on a role as a trustworthy adult to help women, and they will link with your brand (GE Financial Assurance provides a mentor role for women entrepreneurs)

(8) All the details matter (organic foods are taking off because they are healthier, even though very expensive).

As interesting as these points are, Faith Popcorn also deserves praise for the superb way she explains her ideas. In the beginning of the book, she has one example of each concept. Then there is a chapter on each principle. The chapter has many examples, and finalizes with one thorough one drawn from her consulting experience. Then, to be sure you've got the point, she takes well-known brands in each chapter and points out what they are NOT doing that they should be.

The crowning glory is a chapter on all of the things that Ron Perelman and Revlon are doing wrong, and compares it with how the brand was run originally. Faith couldn't find much of anything she likes about the Revlon approach. As a matter of fact, the company has done poorly.

But, at a broader level, this book is also about marketing in the 21st century. Although the focus of the book is women, those who market to men will often benefit from following the same advice. Saturn, a role model she describes, is not just appealing to women. Men like to be treated like people, too, when they buy a car. As a loyal Saturn owner, I know the approach worked well with me.

I can hardly wait for her next book! Have a great time as marketers begin to apply these principles, providing a better consumer experience for customers and more business success for their companies.

One trend she did not explicitly address are the many consumer goods companies that are converting to having mostly women in product design and marketing. That should help, too.

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Faithfatigue!, July 27, 2000

By	Valerie Chase (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I used to look forward to Faith Popcorn's books. This one, like the others, is well-written in her typical chatty, breezy style. But in the end, "EVEolution" is tired and unoriginal in both concept and approach. Even the title appears to be recycled from a 1989 book by Ken Brown entitled "Adam and Eveolution". And it goes downhill from there. Much of "EVEolution" reads like the stale monologue of a middle-aged comic (Women always go to the bathroom together! Women chat endlessly with anyone, even waiters! Women are REALLY, REALLY DIFFERENT from men! ). While this routine may seem insightful to some poor souls, I found it boring and mildly offensive - certainly no basis for seriously addressing the marketing strategies required to attract and keep female customers. There is very little substance behind the anecdotes here. Instead, the reader is force-fed a major serving of highly annoying and rather meaningless Popcornesque marketing jargon. Socioquake. Excuse me? EVESdropping. Oh, please. How about FaithFatigue?

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Stale Popcorn, July 26, 2000

By A Customer

As a woman (and businesswoman), I considered this book offensive. To say I bond with the brands I buy is laughable. I buy products (not brands) for what they can do for me, not what they sell to me. I do not "bond" with them emotionally. And I do not look to them to solve life's problems. Example: The authors tout the idea that the makers of a diet cookie can somehow improve the bonds between mothers and daughters by holding seminars under that cookie's banner. It is a sad day when mother/daughter relationships are facilitated by blatant marketing. This book is wrong-headed and wrong-hearted. End of story.