Mindbubble Blog

Today’s post has been written by one of our wonderful Mindbubblers who has been contributing to the blog for quite a while now… Ladies (and gentlemen), let me introduce you to Sarah!
Sarah hosted her first “home party” last week: she actually offered her living room to a consultant-friend of hers to present and sell her skin care products. How was the evening? Are the Tupperware meetings of yesteryear making a big come back? Will vegan skin care products tempt Sarah? To know more… read on!

Tupperware parties were all the rage when I was growing up in the 1970s and ‘80s. Ann Summers home parties were an outrageous success in the naughty Nineties: I know this because my student house held one. Needless to say, we were literally buzzing with joy at the amount we sold long after the batteries ceased to operate.

‘Me time’ continues to be high on the agenda and I have just held an Arbonne Foot Spa Home Party’ in support of my friend Katie, who has become an Independent consultant. They’ve been producing botanical, Vegan skin care products for concerning individuals in America for thirty years, with an emphasis on products that are “unparalleled in quality and effectiveness”.
In the last six months since Katie’s been using the products her skin, which is prone to eczema, is noticeably glowing.
Despite her positivity I was sceptical about hosting a party, partly because the products aren’t cheap and partly because I didn’t want anyone to feel pressured into buying. I was amazed when my email invites came back positive.
Was it the draw of getting out for the evening, free nibbles, plonk and a good dose of gossip or was it the opportunity to properly experience the products without children moaning in the background, which drew my friends in?

Like many women I have my daily beauty regime – it varies from a quick water spritz, to a Liz Earle ‘hot polish’ cleansing and I need a lot of convincing to switch to something else.
Party day: I spent the rainy afternoon making pizzas and brownies, with my little boy. I could’ve bought them but wanted to make a meal of it.
Katie’s presentation was at 8pm and friends started arriving at 7.30. We stuffed and supped in the kitchen while she and her co-consultant Di, turned the living room into an oasis of foot-spa calm.
Giggly with anticipation (and half-cut) we went upstairs to soak our toes in, almost too hot, oiled water and oh, the sensation was delicious.

We relaxed as Katie began her spiel. The evening wasn’t just about the experience, it was also a sales pitch but the atmosphere took the edge off this fact. There is no getting over the fact Katie is running a business – she believes in Arbonne and is an evangelical saleswoman.
Palm-Springs based Di has earned herself a sexy Mercedes sports car thanks to her success as a consultant in the US and Katie makes no apologies for the fact she intends to reap the same rewards.
My only criticism of this is that surely such a health conscious company should be rewarding its staff with bikes or at the very least a souped-up Smart car, rather than a fleet of Mercs?

My home party had the feeling of a focus group about it as my guests challenged Katie when she revealed that absolutely none of the products used are, or have been, tested on animals . They queried how important is the fact that they’re Vegan? As one friend pointed out ‘why shouldn’t wasted animal products be used if they don’t cause us harm? Isn’t it better to use the whole animal if it is already being killed for food?’ And so on…

Ninety minutes later we were lotioned to our legs’ content, awash with information and choice. Hardly anyone bought anything on the night. However, there has been a trickle of purchases since. This has to be put down to Katie whose after-party service, thanks to distributed client cards, is impeccable… persuasive!
Due to lack of on-the-night sales I didn’t get a weighty hostess discount but I feel relieved that my concerns about pressure-to-buy were fruitless. I bought a hair mask, which I hope will flatten the frizz in the current freeze.

The after-party emails I received were ebullient and I would seriously consider holding another. One friend remarked that Katie was persistent but not intrusive, she was still happy to buy something. Others remarked that the price was a little steep but, thanks to the brochure, they won’t rule out trying something from the range.

Like Posh Spice I understand the need for out of hours shopping and what better way to do it than with your feet up with your friends?

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Women, especially mothers, are gatekeepers and budget masters; they own the keys to the marvellous world of consumption, proudly sat on the throne of purchasing power. Traditionally when women are mentioned in the same sentence as video games, people will automatically think it is something to do with controlling their children’s gaming habits. However, believe it or not, women do buy video-games for themselves, as part of their own personal entertainment and are now fast becoming equal in the gaming world. So next time you come across a pretty and well-equipped female Blood Elf in World of Warcraft, she is probably a real girl and not a guy pretending to be one!!

• Why have we never talked about girl gamers before?

In the USA, 40% of all game players are women. In fact, women over the age of 18 represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (34%) than boys age 17 or younger (18%).

The reason why women didn’t get into gaming sooner, is probably down to the repelling image of female characters in video games. Very often in a secondary role, female characters have mainly been sexualised and stereotyped, which represents a real obstacle to any identification process and therefore interest in the game.

According to Helen W. Kennedy “The console games market has traditionally been very explicit in their exclusive address to a male audience. In the late 80s and early 90s both Nintendo and Sega made it very clear that to attempt to market games for girls would threaten their real market – boys and young men. Sony’s Playstation, by addressing youth culture in general, broke with this tradition”

Fortunately, this trend has changed, moving towards a set of powerful, fit, fast and precise female characters.

The Female Blood Elf - Probably Controlled by a Real Girl!!!!

• Is there a video game type for women?

Women don’t have as much time to dedicate towards video gaming as men do. Their lifestyle, children, and household care take up a lot of time on the top of their work! They are more likely to hook up with a game where they can, jumping in and out without being blocked in long-term objectives or achievements to reach.

The importance of the pace occurs with any genre of game. For example Grand Thief Auto, even though rated as one of the most violent and offensive games, does procure instant fun and entertainment, and therefore, generally, women enjoy it.

Something that EA understood very well with The Sims, is that women like to personalize their characters and create something they can identify with. The desire to escape reality in cyberspace tends to be a common element across genders; however, women do place greater importance on the customization of characters and gaming environments.

• So what’s the secret recipe for the perfect video game for girl?

Women who are into gaming, whether for work or pleasure, gather in associations to lobby for the access of video gaming careers to women, by subsidizing loans or giving career advices to young girls. Women want to see “more women making games, and thus, to make more games that women want to play.”

In reality, the number of women working in the industry is already rising: for example 60% of the developers behind The Sims are women. However, this may not be the miracle that women are waiting for. Sherry Floyd , a game designer at SOE’s Seattle studios, comments “I honestly don’t think it’s a gender issue,” she continues. “I think it’s a marketing issue.”

In the popular subconscious, women playing video games are abnormal: games are for guys. Unless they are accompanying their male partner, females are not seen as legitimate in video gaming temples (cyber cafes, game shops etc..). For example, women are more likely to under-report the number of hours the play then men, as if being a video gamer does not fit with being a women.

In statistics, female players are shown as two major clusters: casual gamers brought in by a partner or sibling, and hardcore gamers. But in reality, girl gamers are much more immersed in gaming than the stats like to show, and it’s this ability to adapt their gaming time that the industry should focus on to attract the female segment.

• The girl gamers are crying out loud: give us a real segmentation!

As the figures show, women are now a real sub-group of the market: why not consider them as such?

Fortunately, women can salute the corporate effort to integrate female developers, as it helped the gaming industry to avoid the catastrophe of a full “shrink it and pink it” strategy. However, there is still a gap between the current offer (both products and marketing strategy) and the real landscape of female consumers.

Sources:
Entertainment Software Association
http://gamestudies.org/0202/kennedy/#top
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/02/28/women.gamers/index.html

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