Final Paper Outline

I. Introduction
a. Thesis-Women are entering into college at staggering numbers these days. This will allow for the rapid development of an educated women’s market segment because these women will undoubtedly have unmet needs. As such, marketers need to be on top of understanding this segment and what sorts of products and services they will need.
i. More Mrs. Robinson, Please
ii. Women with Wheels
iii. We Need More Marie Curies
iv. To Be Decided
II. Body
a. More Mrs. Robinson, Please-As more women receive their degrees and earn higher salaries, they will have more control over their own lives and finances. This will allow them the opportunity to attain an independence that other generations of women have struggled to embrace. All of this will lead to a rise in women who date younger men, now coined by the term “Cougar.”

i. This is an extremely fast-growing and unique segment

1. In 1997, fewer than 500,000 women were involved with a man at least ten years younger than them. However, by 2003, 3 million women were dating a man at least six years younger than them (Penn, 7).

2. Perhaps the greatest explanation relates back to the current trend of women attaining higher levels of education at phenomenal pace. In fact, women are now entering into college at greater rates than men. While back in the 60’s very few women were independent and wealthy enough to have more control over whom they dated, today’s women have the money and the power to be choosy. And they’re choosing to go younger.

ii. It’s now perfectly clear that this trend is rapidly rising within our society, and marketers would be smart to start targeting this group immediately. These women and their “boy-toys” are going to need products and services, and they’re going to need them fast.

1. Take the entertainment industry for example. Movies and television shows have been taping into this segment for quite some time and have found it to be an extremely successful pursuit. However, literature has been much slower to catch on. Where are the fictional stories of a 40-something heroine, successful and confident, wooing a 20-something hunk?

2. Additionally, dating advice books are desperately needed for Cougars and their boyfriends. Few of these books exist today, and the market potential for such books is huge. It is clear that the dynamics within this sort of relationship are quite different from the dynamics of the usual relationship, but just how different are they?

3. Matchmaking services should look towards men and women seeking this type of relationship. Television’s Bravo has had a lot of success with its hit reality TV show, “Millionaire Matchmaker.” Now how about a “Cougar Matchmaker?”

4. According to Valerie Gibson, a sex columnist for the Toronto Sun, “A woman’s sexual peak is more aligned with that of the younger man” (Penn, 8). Victoria’s Secret has enjoyed great success with their “Pink” line targeted towards young and flirty girls. As such, they have demonstrated the power of targeting intimates at a specific segment with specific needs. However, this brings one to wonder then where Victoria’s Secret’s line of Cougar designed lingerie is hiding out at?

b. Women with Wheels- The end of 2008 marked the end of an era for automakers. General Motors found themselves kneeling before the government, begging for a bailout. And they weren’t the only ones. While the solution may seem far out of reach, is it possible that the American car industry is totally in control of its fate? Perhaps the problem comes from the underlying fact that the American car industry is currently doing a superb job of isolating its largest segment of buyers: women.

i. The fact is that the majority of car buyers today are women, and with women obtaining higher levels of education, the number of women buying cars is only expected to increase.

1. How is it then that the U.S. car industry has managed to miss the mark when it comes to women?

a. It begins with what American car makers’ current emphasis these days seem to be on: speed. Sure, men tend to love speed and adrenaline, but the average woman prefers safety and reliability (Penn, 266). In fact, the differences in women’s and men’s tastes in cars is so extreme than when asked to pick their top five car brands, none of the brands identified by women matched those identified by men (Penn, 267).

b. There have been a couple of efforts to target women exclusively, and they have been well-received by women consumers. For example, in 2004 Volkswagen created the first car designed exclusively by women for women. The car focused on features that women deemed to be important, including low maintenance and high reliability. The concept car also included a program that would send a message to a service center when the car was due for inspection (Penn, 266).

2. Outside of car design, there are many other areas that car makers can redesign to cater more to a woman’s taste.

a. Car sellers should also reevaluate the layout of their dealerships. Clutter and dirtiness do not sit well with women. They would prefer a showroom not overstuffed with models, but one with a little more room. A nice sitting area with complementary beverages is a much. Also, privacy is highly valued, and dealerships that don’t allow women to work with car salesman in a secluded office will find themselves struggling to reach this segment.
b. The American car industry also needs to seriously reconsider the current nature of its car commercials. Car commercials today tend to focus on off-roading, speed and agility. However, women want to see a commercial with women handling cars, and not necessarily speeding away at 100 mph. They want to see women with families having a picnic. For single women, they would probably prefer a commercial in which a woman is shown on a road trip with her best friends, completely comfortable in the safety and reliability of her car.

iii. We Need More Marie Curies- One area that the U.S. is especially receiving a lot of scrutiny in education is the lack of emphasis put on pursing math and the sciences. In fact, degrees obtained in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (or STEM degrees) have fallen drastically in the U.S. Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that the government, educational institutions, service providers and product developers have failed to adequately market math and the sciences to the vast majority of current college enrollees: women.

1. Women now outnumber men 57 to 43 percent in terms of college enrollment, and yet women are still entering into math and science related fields at disparaging rates (Penn, 5).

a. According to experts, a lot of the problem arises from gender differences in the ways that girls and boys are brought up. One needs only to look at the various toys marketed to young girls and boys to notice a serious difference in the types of future occupations encouraged at very young ages.

b. These differences among childrearing of boys and girls is then only further influenced by differences in educational practices. Whether it is subtle or not, something is clearly going wrong from the cradle to the schoolroom for young girls. In fact, young girls and women have been found to have much lower levels of confidence in terms of their mathematical capabilities than their male counterparts, and most experts would argue that natural ability between the genders has nothing to do with it (Encouraging Girls in Math and Science).

2. It has become imperative for the government and educational institutions to begin to think like marketers. Also, product manufacturers and service providers will need to contribute to the targeting of women for math and science related programs and products. These “marketers” then need to learn to look at young girls as their potential “customers.”

a. One area that the government could especially look towards encouraging women to participate in is the aerospace field. The government should work on creating summer camps at The Kennedy Space Center and NASA Space Center for young girls from around the nation to attend and learn what a job in aerospace could be like.

b. More private magnet high schools are needed that focus specifically on math and science and cater exclusively to a female student body. For some young women, such a school could help them by allowing their separation from their male counterparts so that they can better develop confidence in their math and science competencies.

c. What we need now is for the service sector to look to the entertainment industry to create shows and movies about math and science that have women at the forefront. CSI, House and Numb3rs all feature men as the primary genius protagonists, but we also need women that young girls can identify with. We need programs with a brilliant female doctor, not primarily portrayed as a sexual symbol but as a brilliant physician.

d. Also, products are needed. Just about every Barbie imaginable has been created, but what about chemist Barbie?

iv. I’m honestly not sure what I’m going to be writing for this section or if I will even include another section at all. I have tossed around the ideas of a section on parenting, changing technology and home buying, but I haven’t settled on a favorite just yet. More importantly, I have written all of my paper except for my introduction and conclusion, and as it stands now it is already 12 pages. As such, I’m not sure if I will have the room to thoroughly explore another section. I will just have to see once I have finished editing what I have now and writing my introduction and conclusion.

III. Conclusion

a. Educated women are going to radically change the marketplace. They have unique needs that are still unmet. Ignoring this segment in the future will essentially end up being economic suicide as they will soon have the finances and independence to rule a large part of the segment. As such, marketers would be smart to begin targeting these women early on so that they can have educated women as part of their market following.

b. What I have learned from this study.

i. I have learned that I should be proud of my own accomplishments as an educated woman. I am going to have a lot of financial power, and I need to start being responsible with my purchases and identifying my needs.

ii. I have learned that this market can drastically differ in terms of their wants and desires from their male counterparts.

iii. These women are going to change and reshape the way we carry out almost every aspect of our lives. They are going to have a huge say in politics, education, relationships, consumer purchases, and just about every other area you can think of.

c. Application to customer insights-this is applicable to customer insights because by being insightful and truly learning to think like these women, a whole new market with new potential emerges. This new market will allow those marketers and companies at the forefront to achieve huge economic gains and new levels of respect.

d. Concerns-I’m having difficulty finding trade journal articles to use, but I know that we have talked about this so I will be coming to you soon for help. Also, I was concerned that my section “We Need More Marie Curies” wouldn’t be understood, but we talked about this in your office hours, and you seemed to really like it so I think that’s fine.