Article Surfing Archive

Well, in Japan, anyway.

Comic book makers for schoolgirls and boys in Japan offer different fare to boys and girls...so that BOTH groups buy those comics like crazy, not just the traditional boy market.

In their June "Japanese Schoolgirl Watch," Wired magazine notes, "Anyone who thinks schoolgirls and boys enjoy the same fantasies needs to bone up on shojo manga." The Japanese comics for gals are the antitheses of typical boy titles, they write.

"In the series for guys, Dragon Ball Z, for example, robots are death machines and sound effects of pitched battles (bwa-whoom!) are common. In the series for girls, like Absolute Boyfriend, bots (=robots) are cute guys...stories get interspersed with shopping tips on clothes and cosmetics..."

Note that even the titles fit the gender preferences - so that each group will buy them. Dragon Ball Z, vs Boyfriend. Dragons versus friends. Pitched battles versus caring for the bots (guys) and the giving of tips to look better. And they sell so many comics to both groups that they're translated into English now.

The different marketing approach designed for schoolgirls versus the boys was the focus of the piece in Wired.

Don't such preferences grow stronger inside most children as they become adults?

The recruiting and sales training practices of nearly every company I know focuses on the male style and idolizes the accomplishments that only full time men or women can attain (read: big money). Rather than developing approaches to fit women, who are 80% of our sales force and customer base, and most of whom are 5-10 hours per week, I guess they figure the male way is enough.

How we doing so far? Well, does the 95% drop out rate tell us anything? Remember that 80% of the people IN the business are women, so we know who's dropping out, yes?

Madison Avenue is trying to catch up, too. Women, 51% of the US population today, are suddenly the majority. There are BOOKS about marketing to this new majority "Marketing to Women".

Shall we catch up, too, for the benefit of the 10.4 million women trying to create something of their own in network marketing?