TED@BCG Mumbai
Gaby Barrios: Why gender-based marketing is bad for business
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Companies often target consumers based on gender, but this kind of advertising shortcut doesn't just perpetuate outdated stereotypes -- it's also bad for business, says marketing expert Gaby Barrios. In this clear, actionable talk, she explains why gender-based marketing doesn't drive business nearly as much as you might think -- and shows how companies can find better ways to reach customers and grow their brands.
Gaby Barrios - Marketing expert
BCG's Gaby Barrios has dedicated her career to understanding consumers across the world in a wide range of industries. Full bio
BCG's Gaby Barrios has dedicated her career to understanding consumers across the world in a wide range of industries. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:13
Like a lot of people around the world,
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earlier this summer
my friends and I were obsessed
my friends and I were obsessed
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with the Women's World Cup held in France.
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Here we are, watching
these incredible athletes,
these incredible athletes,
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the goals were amazing,
the games were clean and engaging,
the games were clean and engaging,
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and at the same time, outside the field,
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these women are talking about equal pay,
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and in the case of some countries,
any pay at all for their sport.
any pay at all for their sport.
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So because we were mildly obsessed,
we wanted to watch the games live,
we wanted to watch the games live,
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and we decided that one of
the Spanish-speaking networks in the US
the Spanish-speaking networks in the US
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was the best place for us to start.
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And it wasn't until a few games
into the tournament
into the tournament
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that a friend of mine
talks to me and says,
talks to me and says,
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"Why does it feel
like everything I'm seeing
like everything I'm seeing
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is commercials for makeup and
household cleaning products and diets?"
household cleaning products and diets?"
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It did feel a little bit too obvious,
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and I don't know if
we were sensitive about it
we were sensitive about it
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or the fact that we were watching
with men and boys in our lives,
with men and boys in our lives,
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but it did feel a little bit too obvious
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01:06
that we're being targeted for being women.
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01:09
And to be honest there's nothing
necessarily wrong with that.
necessarily wrong with that.
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01:12
Someone sat down and looked
at the tournament and said,
at the tournament and said,
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"Well, this thing is likely
to be seen by more women,
to be seen by more women,
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these women are Hispanic
because they're watching in Spanish,
because they're watching in Spanish,
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and this is women content.
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Therefore, this is a great place
for me to place all these commercials
for me to place all these commercials
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that are female-centric
and maybe not other things."
and maybe not other things."
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01:30
If I think about it as a marketer,
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I know that I absolutely
should not be annoyed about it,
should not be annoyed about it,
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because this is what marketers
are tasked with doing.
are tasked with doing.
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Marketers are tasked with building brands
with very limited budget,
with very limited budget,
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so there's a little bit of an incentive
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to categorize people in buckets
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so they can reach their target faster.
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So if you think about this,
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it's kind of like a shortcut.
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They're using gender as a shortcut
to get to their target consumer.
to get to their target consumer.
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The issue is that as logical
as that argument seems,
as that argument seems,
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gender as a shortcut
is actually not great.
is actually not great.
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02:02
In this day and age,
if you still blindly use a gender view
if you still blindly use a gender view
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for your marketing activities,
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actually it's just plain bad business.
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I'm not talking even about the backlash
on stereotypes in advertising,
on stereotypes in advertising,
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which is a very real thing
that has to be addressed.
that has to be addressed.
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I'm saying it's bad business because
you're leaving money on the table
you're leaving money on the table
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for your brands and your products.
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Because gender is such an easy thing
to find in the market
to find in the market
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and to target and to talk about,
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it actually distracts you
from the fun things
from the fun things
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that could be driving growth
from your brands
from your brands
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and, at the same time,
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it continues to create
separation around genders
separation around genders
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and perpetuate stereotypes.
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So at the same time
this activity is bad for your business
this activity is bad for your business
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and bad for society, so double whammy.
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02:43
And gender is one of those things
like other demographics
like other demographics
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that have historically been
good marketing shortcuts.
good marketing shortcuts.
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At some point, however,
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we forgot that at the core
we were targeting needs
we were targeting needs
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around cooking and cleaning
and personal care and driving and sports
and personal care and driving and sports
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and we just made it all a bucket
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and we said, "Men and women
are different."
are different."
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We got used to it and
we never challenged it again,
we never challenged it again,
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and it's fascinating to me,
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and by fascinating I mean
a little bit insane,
a little bit insane,
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that we still talk about this as a segment
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when it's most likely carryover bias.
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In fact, I don't come
to this conclusion lightly.
to this conclusion lightly.
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We have enough data to suggest
that gender is not the best place
that gender is not the best place
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to start for you to design
and target your brands.
and target your brands.
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And I would even go one step further:
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unless you are working in
a very gender-specific product category,
a very gender-specific product category,
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probably anything else
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you're hypothesizing
about your consumer right now
about your consumer right now
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is going to be more useful than gender.
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We did not set up to draw
this conclusion specifically.
this conclusion specifically.
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We found it.
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As consultants, our job
is to go with our clients
is to go with our clients
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and understand their business
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and try to help them find spaces
for their brands to grow.
for their brands to grow.
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And it is our belief that if you want
to find disruptive growth in the market,
to find disruptive growth in the market,
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you have to go to the consumer
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and take a very agnostic view
of the consumer.
of the consumer.
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You have to go and look
at them from scratch,
at them from scratch,
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remove yourself from biases and segments
that you thought were important,
that you thought were important,
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just take a look to see
where the growth is.
where the growth is.
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04:09
And we built ourselves
an algorithm precisely for that.
an algorithm precisely for that.
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04:12
So imagine that we have a person
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and we know a person is making a choice
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about a product or service,
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and from this person,
I can know their gender, of course,
I can know their gender, of course,
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other demographics, where they live,
their income, other things.
their income, other things.
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I know the context where
this person is making a decision,
this person is making a decision,
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where they are, who they're with,
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the energy, anything,
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and I can also put
other things in the mix.
other things in the mix.
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I can know their attitudes,
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how they feel about the category,
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their behaviors.
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So if you imagine this kind of blob
of big data about a person --
of big data about a person --
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I'm going to oversimplify the science here
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but we basically built an algorithm
for statistical tournaments.
for statistical tournaments.
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So a statistical tournament
is like asking this big thing of data,
is like asking this big thing of data,
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"So, data, from everything
you know about consumers at this point,
you know about consumers at this point,
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what is the most
useful thing I need to know
useful thing I need to know
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that tells me more
about what consumers need?"
about what consumers need?"
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So the tournament is going
to have winners and losers.
to have winners and losers.
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The winners are those variables,
those dimensions,
those dimensions,
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that actually teach you a lot
about your consumer,
about your consumer,
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that if you know that,
you know what they need.
you know what they need.
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And there's losing variables
that are just not that practical,
that are just not that practical,
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and this matters because
in a world of limited resources,
in a world of limited resources,
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you don't want to waste it on people
that actually have the same needs.
that actually have the same needs.
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So why treat them differently?
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05:25
So at this point, I know,
suspense is not killing you,
suspense is not killing you,
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because I told you what the output is,
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but what we found over time
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is after 200 projects around the world --
this is covering 20 countries or more --
this is covering 20 countries or more --
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in essence we ran about
a hundred thousand of these tournaments,
a hundred thousand of these tournaments,
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and, no surprise, gender was very rarely
the most predictive thing
the most predictive thing
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to understand consumer needs.
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From a hundred thousand tournaments,
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gender only came out
as the winning variable
as the winning variable
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in about five percent of them.
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This is true around the world, by the way.
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We did this in places
where traditional gender roles
where traditional gender roles
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are a little more pronounced,
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and the conclusions were exactly the same.
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It was a little bit more important,
gender, than five percent,
gender, than five percent,
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but not material.
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So let's let that sink in for a second.
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No matter how you're looking
at a consumer,
at a consumer,
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most likely anything else is going
to be more interesting to you than gender.
to be more interesting to you than gender.
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There's probably something very important
you need to know about them,
you need to know about them,
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and you're getting distracted because
you're doing everything based on gender.
you're doing everything based on gender.
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And that's why I say you're leaving
money on the table.
money on the table.
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Gender is easy. It's easy to design
advertising based on gender,
advertising based on gender,
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it's easy to target people online
and on TV based on gender.
and on TV based on gender.
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But at the end, that's not where
the exciting growth will come from.
the exciting growth will come from.
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If you're a food company, for example,
it's actually much more interesting to you
it's actually much more interesting to you
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to know where people are eating,
who they are eating with,
who they are eating with,
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are they very nutritionally oriented.
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All of those things are actually
significantly more powerful and useful
significantly more powerful and useful
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than knowing if a person
is a man or a woman.
is a man or a woman.
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And that matters, of course,
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because then if you're putting
your limited budget into action,
your limited budget into action,
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then you're better off creating
solutions for different occasions
solutions for different occasions
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than trying to target women
versus young men.
versus young men.
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Another example is alcoholic beverages.
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Thirty-five percent to 40 percent
of consumption in alcoholic beverages
of consumption in alcoholic beverages
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around the world
actually happens with women,
actually happens with women,
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but, you know, "women don't drink beer."
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Those are the things
that we typically hear.
that we typically hear.
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But actually, when a man and a woman are,
for the most part, in the same location,
for the most part, in the same location,
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the emotional and functional needs
they have at that moment
they have at that moment
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are very similar.
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There's only one exception, by the way,
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and the exceptions exist,
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where if you have a man and a woman
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on a date,
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the man is trying to impress the woman
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and the woman is trying
to connect with the man,
to connect with the man,
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so there's going to be
a little bit of tension,
a little bit of tension,
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but that's important to know.
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We'll take a few dates.
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Financial institutions:
that's something where we've heard a lot
that's something where we've heard a lot
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about the difference
between men and women,
between men and women,
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but actually talking about
men and women as different
men and women as different
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is distracting you
from the thing that is underneath.
from the thing that is underneath.
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We made it so simple
as "women don't like to invest,"
as "women don't like to invest,"
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"women hate managing their money,"
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"men are great and aggressive
and risk-takers,"
and risk-takers,"
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but at the end it's not
about men and women.
about men and women.
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It is actually a different narrative.
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It is about, there are people
that are excited and energized
that are excited and energized
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and educated to manage their finances
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versus people that are not.
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So if you change the conversation
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from men and women
to actually what's underneath
to actually what's underneath
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then probably you'll stop being
so condescending to women
so condescending to women
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and you may start serving some men
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that are actually shy
about managing their finances.
about managing their finances.
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I'll leave one more example.
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If I go back to the women
that were playing sport at the beginning,
that were playing sport at the beginning,
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one of the fascinating things we found
over different countries,
over different countries,
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exploring sportswear,
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that if a person is a competitive person
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and they are in the moment of action,
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the needs are not different
between a man and a woman.
between a man and a woman.
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An athlete is an athlete.
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It doesn't matter for men and women,
it doesn't matter for old and young,
it doesn't matter for old and young,
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you are an athlete,
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and in the moment of action
and extreme competition,
and extreme competition,
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you need this gear to work for you.
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So these soccer-playing women have
a lot in common with their counterparts.
a lot in common with their counterparts.
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Out of the field, it doesn't matter.
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Out of the field, they may be
into fashion, into other things,
into fashion, into other things,
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but on the field,
the needs are not different.
the needs are not different.
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So these are just a few examples
on categories where we found
on categories where we found
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that gender was not the best place to go,
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and actually the argument is
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that at this point
it's not even a feminist push,
it's not even a feminist push,
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it's just we got used to it.
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We got used to using gender,
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and it's important for us
to start finding ways
to start finding ways
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to measure other things about consumers
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so that we don't revert back to gender.
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I am not naïve,
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and I know there's still
going to be appetite
going to be appetite
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and certain ease around using gender,
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but at least this warrants a conversation.
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In your business, you have to inquire,
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is this really the best lens
for me to grow.
for me to grow.
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So, if you are, like me,
a person that is in business,
a person that is in business,
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that I am constantly worried
about what is my role
about what is my role
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in the broader societal discussions,
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if you're listening to your business
and you hear things like,
and you hear things like,
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"Oh, my target are women,
my target are men,
my target are men,
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this goes to young girls, young boys,"
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when it's that gender conversation,
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unless you are working, again,
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in a very specific,
gender-specific product category,
gender-specific product category,
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take this as a warning sign,
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because if you keep
having these conversations,
having these conversations,
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you will keep perpetuating
stereotypes of people
stereotypes of people
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and making people think
that men and women are different.
that men and women are different.
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But because this is business,
and we're running a business,
and we're running a business,
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and we want to grow it,
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at least kind of challenge
your own instinct to use gender,
your own instinct to use gender,
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because statistics say that you're
probably not choosing the best variable
probably not choosing the best variable
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to target your product or service.
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Growth is not easy at all.
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What makes you think
that growth is going to come
that growth is going to come
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from going into market
with such an outdated lens like gender?
with such an outdated lens like gender?
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So let's stop doing what's easy
and go for what's right.
and go for what's right.
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At this point, it's not just
for your business, it's for society.
for your business, it's for society.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Gaby Barrios - Marketing expertBCG's Gaby Barrios has dedicated her career to understanding consumers across the world in a wide range of industries.
Why you should listen
BCG's Gaby Barrios is a partner and associate director of the Center for Customer Insight, based in Paris. She has dedicated her career to understanding consumers across the world in a wide range of industries, from fast-moving consumer goods, travel and retail to financial services, healthcare and technology.
At BCG, Barrios is one of the leaders of the Demand Centric Growth topic, which aims to drive organic growth anchored on deep consumer understanding. She has developed proprietary algorithms that help isolate what drives consumer needs, reframing the market in a way that highlights new opportunities to grow.
Barrios holds a Master of Science degree in management sciences and industrial engineering from Northwestern University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering from Universidad Simón Bolívar in her native Venezuela.
Gaby Barrios | Speaker | TED.com