From Gendered To Neutral - The New Era Of Brand Experiences

11 Mar, 2024

Louisa O'Connor, Managing Director of experiential events agency, Seen Presents looks at how the marketing landscape has evolved, moving away from gender-specific experiences towards a more nuanced and inclusive approach.

Circa 2009, a chat in the creative brainstorm goes “So our new client wants to create an experience that targets women”... “Oh fine that’s easy”.... “ Get some diet coke, make sure there’s lots of flowers and some nice hand-soap in the bathrooms. They love a photo-backdrop too, whack one of those in.” 

Believe it or not, conversations like that used to happen. Little thought was given to the actual emotional and cultural drivers of the female attendee - what is important to them other than their gender, for example locality, culture, age, income and social connections?  

The consideration was usually very basic, ignorant, obvious and lazy.    

Fast forward to 2024 and the landscape has significantly evolved, with modern marketing demanding a more nuanced and inclusive approach to designing experiences for women. We have moved away from gender-specific experiences that risk alienating individuals. Instead, we prioritise understanding the diverse personalities, needs and emotional drivers of consumers, irrespective of gender.   

It’s about creating experiences for people, not stereotypes or stats.  

This doesn’t mean ignoring factors typically associated with female attendees, but rather, looking past the stereotypes to create a much more rounded and personalised experience to move the dial from gendered, to neutral.  

For example, while past female-led experiences may have focused on all the usual stereotypes – nails, florals, hair and wellness, female consumers actually buy over 50% of so-called "male" products, including cars, home improvement products and electronics, meaning experiences should be as varied as the individual.  

It can be so easy to fall into lazy traps that end up alienating certain attendees. 1 out 5 women may identify with the let’s say “nostalgic” female trends I mention above, but how do you cater to the other 4 out of 5? What do they like? What’s important to them? What's going to make them feel heard and included?  

At Seen Presents we look at four key drivers:  

Research – don’t make assumptions, research your target market and ideally ask your attendees directly what they want from an experience and don’t rely on old data.  

Authenticity – ensure you stay true to your brand and avoid trends that don’t align with your ethos to ensure you build genuine connections with your audience. 30% of Millennials have actually unfollowed a brand on social media because they felt their content was inauthentic, according to SocialMediaToday.    

Relevance – tailor events and experiences based on specific factors such as location and season to ensure that your offerings remain pertinent and timely - 85% of women feel like gendered advertising needs to catch up with the current trends when analysing them.  

Personalisation – focus on the individual needs and preferences of your female consumers, fostering trust through hyper-personalised experiences that tap into core emotional drivers.   

Even as women designing for women, we recognise the complexities and diversity within our demographic. The role and perception of women is constantly evolving, necessitating a dynamic and thoughtful approach to our work. 

To ensure you resonate with consumers on a profound level, do the work (research), build the trust (authenticity), do not generalise (relevance) and make that connection (personal) to create brand experiences for people, and not stereotypes.