What do women really want from brands today? Do they want brands to take a stand on gender issues? Can women tell when brands are being performative? (Guess what, they absolutely can, and many hate it.) 

Do you want to be at the forefront of cultural change? Or maintain the status quo? 

Fancy surveyed 600 women of all ages, salaries, household incomes, educational backgrounds, and marital statuses to find out what they think, feel, and believe about taboo products and services. And you need to know their answers to advertise to women effectively. 

Below, you’ll meet three segments of women aligned on their attitudes about advertising targeted to women and common taboos: mental health services, financial services, alcohol, cannabis, aging products, and sex products. 

meet the Brand Approvers 

Brand Approvers (38% of respondents) believe brands generally get it right with women. These women say brands do a good job of:

• recognizing women's buying and decision-making power

• packaging and marketing products to women

• representing a diversity of body shapes and sizes in marketing to women

Our survey respondents that fall into this segment believe women are more likely to have an emotional connection to a brand than men. They say brands understand the attitudes, priorities, concerns, and experiences of younger and older women. We’ll talk more about this in subsequent blogs, but these women skew younger. 

Their core motivation is privacy, and we see time and time again they want conversations about taboo products and services to stay behind closed doors. They want to connect emotionally with brands on their terms and in alignment with their values. 

meet the Boundary Pushers 

Boundary Pushers (33% of respondents) believe in the power of brands to create social and cultural change. These women want society to be more honest about women’s bodies, even if it makes people uncomfortable to talk about it. They do not believe some topics are too personal for brands to discuss. Period poops. Vaginal dryness. The therapeutic effects of a well-timed gummy. It’s all fair game. 

Boundary Pushers are the women you see broaching these topics publicly, and they believe women, in general, are more willing than ever to talk about sensitive topics.

Not only do they like to see brands discussing sensitive topics, but they also say brands carry responsibility for doing so. 

Their core motivation is revolution. These women buy into brands that are changemakers, and you’re more likely to build brand equity with them when you do your part to create an equitable world for women. They expect brands to show up and show their cards. 

meet the Female Favorers 

Female Favorers (29% of respondents) prioritize women in their lives and buying choices. 

They prefer to support brands led by women and believe brands need to be led by women to truly understand women. These women say brands think “pink it and shrink” is sufficient to market to women, and they disagree. They’re not buying the Pepto pink razors and pens “for her.” 

Female Favorers often discuss sensitive topics with close girlfriends—more than they do with men in their lives. And they want brands to talk to them like a friend would, including on a range of sensitive topics. 

Female Favorers are pro-woman. They take their friendships and their rights seriously. And they also believe in what sets women apart; they believe women are better at multitasking than men. 

Their core motivation is empowerment. They’re more likely to invest in brands that uplift women’s voices and take actions to reflect women’s desires and lived experiences in their marketing and advertising. 

there’s a better way to advertise, and it’s by segment. 

For too long, advertising toward women has relied on outdated stereotypes that miss the mark and demographic information that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what it means to be a woman. Women want more and deserve better. 

Our research shows women are not a monolith, and if you want to build long-lasting relationships with them, you need to go a bit deeper in your targeting and segmentation efforts. It’s how you gain customers for life.  

Our advice? Pick one or two of these segments to speak to directly rather than taking a more general, one-size-fits-all approach. If your approach is general, it will resonate with fewer customers, and you’ll get fewer conversions. Instead, target a segment or two and capture larger percentages of them with personalized messaging and content.

Brand Approvers are less apt to resonate with a bold approach. Speak to their lived experiences in a friendly, emotionally resonant way. It’s a long game with Brand Approvers if you sell taboo products and services. You need to respect their privacy and build comfort over time. 

Boundary Pushers want advocacy and controversy if it moves the needle forward. Feel free to use creative approaches, get a little uncomfortable, and don’t shy away from sensitive topics. Start conversations about sensitive topics. They’ll respect you more if you’re willing to go there. 

Female Favorers look to brands to empower women behind the scenes and behind the checkbook. Show what you’re doing for women. Explain why your product is different. Tell women’s stories, including the stories of the women who designed your product or lead your brand. 

Boundary Pushers and Female Favorers are ideal segments to target if you want to make moves. We think of Boundary Pushers as normalizers—they move the boundaries of what is acceptable until what was scandalous years ago is now normal. And the Female Favorers follow suit, spreading the seeds of change in their social circles. Both are essential allies if you’re serious about changing how products and services are advertised to women.