Marketing to Women

I’ll be at the Marketing to Women conference at Copthorne Waterfront this Monday and Tuesday. I recall there isn’t free wireless available, but if you do know of any ‘lobang’, let me know!
It’s funny because I don’t consider myself a ‘typical’ woman, so I might learn more at this conference than the average female attendee!

For instance, I find it a chore to paint my nails, and an even greater chore to maintain them because I love to play the piano, fiddle with gadgets, unscrew devices and tangle with wires.
I think high heels are the bane of women. We are forced to wear them to look good, yet they spoil our feet. We are also trapped by male-oriented designs, e.g. outside MRT stations when you step on grills that devour your heels, and patches of grass and concrete that catch you as you walk over them. Yet if I wear my comfortable ‘flatties’, I look less ladylike and certainly less corporate.
I feel uncomfortable reading girly mags at the hairdresser’s. This is when I feel a pang of regret for not bringing my subscribed copy of the Economist or National Geographic to read (I’m still waiting for my first issue of Make Magazine). A copy of T3 or a football magazine, however dated, is better than a girly mag.
I can walk past numerous dress, shoe and handbag shops without looking at them. At one stage, along a long corridor full of these shops, I was the only female colleague who made it to the cafe at the end. Everyone else had disappeared into a shop.
However, if you put me in Funan Centre, I will definitely be distracted. I guess the only differentiating factor between me and a guy is that I prefer Funan Centre to Sim Lim Square. While I don’t mind making comparisons between a few shops, I can’t be bothered to go through every one looking for the best bargain. I don’t like haggling either. I just want to go in, get the stuff, and leave.
At a hawker centre, I would rather join a short queue with decent food, than a long queue at a famous stall. I don’t like to wait. And at restaurants, I just order what’s on the menu, and stick to it. I don’t like swapping my soup for a soft drink, or changing the appetiser in set A to the one in set B and getting fries instead of mash. Unless you’re downright allergic to the stuff, just take it and don’t waste people’s time.
I definitely shop more like a guy than a girl. Just give me a list. Be specific. I will find the closest match. Don’t expect me to try on numerous clothes in the changing room, because I don’t like that. I’d rather NOT try on a potentially good piece of clothing if people are going to make me parade around the store and embarass me. Unless I’m in a really good mood or I am desperate for a new gown for some friend’s wedding.
And as I don’t like trying on lots of clothes, I stopped shopping for clothes with girlfriends because I’d always be the person sitting on the chairs outside, holding the shopping bags.
I don’t believe in using much makeup. It feels like my skin’s caked in an extra skin that needs to be shed. Cheap makeup gives me rashes. Sometimes I put on gloss, but mostly for practical reasons – to keep my lips from peeling.
I used to spend more time dressing up my website than myself. Now, I think it’s become more balanced… because I’ve stopped upkeeping my blog! Sorry, I know it looks atrocious in IE7 but I really don’t care, because my intelligent readers use Firefox and Opera. Just wait for the next revamp in 2008.
My theme song for this post: India Arie’s ‘Video’. I am what I am.