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‘Techlicious’ Awards for Women-Friendly Tech: PC Fits in Her Purse
Funny, the purse-friendly Sony PC is featured on www.askmen.com
Techlicious?!
The awards are being held at the CEA Line Show Conference, June 10-11 in New York City, complementing a Women & Technology panel.
In the past, I've judged an awards program celebrating technology for women. And I hadn't the foggiest idea of how to judge these things. Does a camera get bonus points if it is pink? Does a TV score high points because it is perfectly easy to use?
Here are the three criteria for being the most Techlicious products:
[They] perform their primary function flawlessly; go above and beyond the basics with smart features that help women in their professional, social or family lives; and finally, seamlessly integrate into the environment in which it is being used.
Men don't want that?
Techlicious Finalists
- Sony VAIO P-Series Lifestyle PC
Because it "easily fits in your purse." - Samsung Memoir mobile phone
Because offers the "ability to upload pictures to major photo sharing sites—perfect for vacations or family events." - Casio High-Speed Exilim EX-FC100 digital camera
Because, with the "capture rate of 30 frames per second, you can literally stop fast action to pick out otherwise elusive fleeting moments, like a baby’s first smile or a bat connecting with a ball. - Panasonic VIERA Z1 Series HDTVs
Because the electronics box can be hidden in a cabinet "giving you the freedom to remove the entertainment center from the center of your décor." - TomTom Go 740 Live portable navigation system
Because it gives you the "best routing advice."
Certainly they need good "routing advice." At least we chicks will ask for directions.
It's disappointing that the judges didn't recognize these truly women-friendly products like the LED light-up bra.
Related:
What a Girl Wants (Same as a Guy)
Go Figure, Best Buy Closes Original EQ-Life Store
Geeks and Massages Don’t Mix: Best Buy Sells off Eq-Life
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About the Author
4 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
Well, stats do show that some of the stereotypes are well-founded but I just don’t get how a navigation is “woman friendly”.
I loved Best Buy’s EQ-Life store for women—buy an mp3 player on your way to getting a massage.
We strongly share your belief that women should never be marketed down to by suggesting that somehow making a product pink or shiny makes it a “woman’s product”. All of the products we chose, first-and-foremost, have solid functional capabilities that go above-and-beyond at meeting a specific women’s lifestyle need.
And, while all of the products on our awards list would be great products for men, they would not necessarily have made our “best” list for men. Women and men approach technology purchases differently; women place greater value than men on ease-of-use and style, over gee-whiz technical features or specs. Also, men and women do take on different roles in both their social and family lives, such as memory-keeping, where women are more likely to be the driving force.
It is also important to note that many of our award finalists may not have designed their product specifically to appeal to women. And we are not recognizing them for doing so. What we are recognizing is that, if you are a woman, here is a list of five products we believe you should strongly consider for your next CE purchase.
Best,
Suzanne Kantra
Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Techlicious.com
Sorry, Suzanne—I fail to see how any of the finalist products are particularly female-friendly. A netbook is a netbook. It would win a Men’s Award because it easily fits in a briefcase when they’re traveling for business!
And so on for the rest of the finalists.
Reminds me of an old CEA panel discussion on marketing to women. Best Buy spoke of its (short-lived) “Jill” stores for women, with wider aisles and friendly sales personnel. A guy in the audience asked, “Where can I find a Jill store near me?”
I don’t, by the way, believe the awards are condescending to women. I just think they’re a little gimicky.
Ugh, marketers in this industry really need to think this stuff through before they inadvertently (or worse, purposefully) play to extremely tired stereotypes… be they about women, about young people, about men, about you name it.
My colleague Lauren Simmen just wrote a good piece about Dell’s recent epic fail in marketing to women: http://castercomm.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/dell-launches-website-geared-towards-women-–-and-fails/
The more condescending the campaign or the language is, the more likely it becomes that a lot of people in your target market WON’T buy your product just because of your insulting marketing campaign.