Afaemme Blog

The first morning of the Anna Lindh Forum 2010 held in Barcelona during the first week of March began with a debate on initial findings of the “Anna Lindh-Gallup Poll” on intercultural trends.

We would like to highlight two interesting aspects:

1- People from North Africa and Middle East mostly contact and talk to Europeans by surfing in the Internet while the latter mostly get in touch with North Africans and people from the Middle East due to work and business.

2- Asking Europeans if they care more about educating their children in family solidarity matters or for being independent, 50% choose the first option. But asking people from North Africa and the Middle East what they think about Europeans, 57% think that they clearly give more importance to independence.

In 2009 Terziario Donna Confcommercio has motivated a study on Businesswomen which has gathered interesting data on women and entrepreneurship in Italy.

The study, done by Unioncamere, shows that female companies are better withstanding the effects of the worldwide economic crisis and even if 60% of them saw their business dropping, 80% could avoid firing their employees.

Other interesting data are that there are more female companies in the center and the south of Italy and that they mainly operate in trade, agriculture and services.

Finally, the study also highlighted the ageing problem: there is a progressive ageing of active Italian businesswomen and a lack of youg businesswomen ready to take their place.

Here are a series of conclusions of the 5th International Forum on Communication and Branding, held in Barcelona on March 4th 2010:

Women represent the largest emerging market of the planet, more than the Chinese and Indian markets together.In order to reach the 51% segment of the market that makes 80% of the purchases, we must learn to connect with women and communicate with their language by re-elaborating all the strategies.

The change that the image of women has undergone in the last few years has been one of the most drastic ones. Women today are completely different from their mothers and grandmothers.Gender differences exist to be recognized, used and enjoyed. Incorporating feminine language in a commercial spot does not mean being separatist but bilingual.

Improving society and environment, aesthetic design, earning time, cooperation, collaboration and empathy are major motivations and values in a woman.Men buy. Women go shopping. When a female consumer goes shopping, she embarks on a journey based on communication, experiences and details.

Women buy in a spirally. Before making a decision, they ask, find opinions and soak up all the information. Inspired by detail and planning ahead, their aim is to find the perfect answer.The young (15-to-24-year-old) new generation (from 15 to 24 years old) has grown up in the Internet era. These digital natives are not only consumers but want to play a more active role and they have a strong feminine consciousness.With more female users, social networks have reinvented communication, turning it into an act of exchange, of community sharing. Brands have to adapt to this new world.Female consumers pay no attention to commercials that do not represent women in a realistic and credible way. Women must be shown from a more authentic perspective with which they can identify.

Understanding female consumers better is the key to success for a product or service. If you have a female client, you have a faithful ambassador for your brand.

A recent article, written by Ángeles Caso in the supplement of La Vanguardia last Sunday 21st, highlights the shocking data about long-term academic women in Spain, which lays down an image on professional women that is not really a capture of the Spanish reality. Data show that there are only 12 women among the 120 long-term academics of the Royal Academy of Doctors (10%); 4 among 46 of the Royal Academy of Veterinary Sciences (less than 9%); 3 among 36 in the Academy of History (8%); 3 among 44 in the Academy of Pharmaceutics (less than 7%); 3 among 48 (6%) in the case of Engineering; 2 among 60 (3%) in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando; 1 among 37 (less than 3%) in the case of Moral and Politics Science; 1 among 42 (just a little bit more than 2%) in the case of Economic and Financial Sciences; 1 among 48 (2%) in the case of Medicine; 1 among 54 (less than 2%) in the case of Exact, Physics and Natural Sciences; and none among the 38 (0%) in the Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation… If someone from abroad reads these data she/he will be convinced about the fact that in Spain there are almost no women professors, no artists, no historian, no pharmacist, no veterinarian, no writer, no doctor, no researcher, no lawyer, no judge… She/he would just think we, women in Spain, still live like 50 years ago, are semi-analphabetic and shut away at home…  As Ángeles Caso says in her article: The Institutions of the “Spanish Intelligence” are almost exclusively in the hands of men. So there is still a lot to do in terms of equality.