Marketing to Women, a Potential Paradigm Shift. Drivers for Effective Communication to Women in the European Automotive Industry

Fierce competition and increasing customer sophistication have given birth to the idea of Gender Marketing to more appropriately address the needs of one target group. Based on the idea that there actually are gender differences that matter – marketing had to rethink its strategies, historically based mainly only on men’s needs. As women are becoming an increasingly affluent consumer group, Marketing to women is gaining significance; however, in some industries, such as the automotive industry, the concept is widely avoided. This study is an initial exploratory attempt to investigate the topic in the automotive industry communication in Europe. Therefore, it functions as a first stepping-stone to further the understanding of how to tackle women in automotive communication, identifying the current approach and potential drivers for more effective advertising to women.