Marketing to Women: The Comic Book Industry's Countdown to Extinction?

In today’s society, marketing to women has become more crucial then ever. According to Entrepreneur magazine, “Nine out of 10 women self-identify as the primary shoppers in their household”. Also, “Women make (or strongly influence) the purchase of more than half of all consumer electronics, 75 percent of over-the-counter drugs, and 80 to 85 percent of all consumer goods.”

Between The Aisles, a retailer magazine for Farnam retailers ran a cover story in its summer edition titled “Reaching out to Female Customers: Why it makes Good Business Sense and How to Do it”. While the article was aimed at retailers with store fronts, it featured a side bar “Understanding EVEolution: 8 Truths about Marketing to Women” that was quite good. There were several of these that hit home with me, but one stood out. “Women pass along their shopping preferences (stores and products) from one generation to the next. They call this the “brand me down” approach”.

That is indeed true. To this day, I find myself buying many of the same brands my mother trusted. I don’t even think twice about it, I just inherently do it. If this is so true to me, what does it mean for the future of an industry that is seemingly dominated by men? Does this mean that Joe Quesada will be seen as insensitive to not just my generation, but also to the women that we are raising now? Hmmmm…

The article and several others I have read all point to the same thing. Women today make the majority of consumer purchases in a modern household. While the man of the house participates in these decisions, it is now seen as a joint effort rather then a singular effort. According to the article I read “women spend less time in the stores and more on the Internet. They are better educated then ever before and carefully research product choices”.

Where does all this marketing reality leave the comic book industry? It seems to me that it leaves them out of touch with a key target consumer. I would LOVE to see any results of marketing and gender that either Marvel or DC have done. I wonder what it would tell us. What percentage of the audience is indeed male? What percentage of dollars does each gender spend? How has the demographic changed over the last twenty years? How about the last ten?

If the comic book industry does indeed plan to continue to market its goods to men as its target audience, where does that leave the female reader? Does it mean that Minx and manga are the only avenues left to me other then romance comics? Does it mean I might as well throw in the towel and admit defeat at the hands of the people in charge?

I find it very ironic that for years Jenette Kahn was Publisher at DC Comics, yet we still see so much gender division. Granted, DC doesn’t have nearly the stigma that Marvel does, but it is interesting to see that comic books still seem to be such a testosterone driven business. Maybe Ms. Kahn was forced to play with the big boys while being twice as smart and crafty? I may never know the answer to that question.

With women being such a key target in today’s marketing demographic, it shocks me to see such blatant disregard to them in today’s comic book business. I think that the “big two” need to spend some quality time finding out how to cater to this important niche instead of alienating them. Since women pass their buying preferences down from generation to generation, this could be quite detrimental sooner then we expect. The female bloggers of today are a small but crucial segment of this business, and the current air of hostility will only serve to widen the gap in feelings of customer loyalty.

In today’s society, the good ole’ boy network is starting to crumble. With the majority of families having to rely on two incomes to get by, there is less of the luxury of exclusivity by sex then there was in the past. It is time to redesign the paradigms of the industry. We can modernize the characters in comics without emasculating them. A little sensitivity never hurt anyone and that is what is so sorely lacking today.

I continue to be mind-boggled by the fact that the comic book industry continues to subscribe to the archaic belief system of old while being left in the dust by other factions of the entertainment industry that understand only too well who they are marketing to and how to make successful inroads towards reaching out to a new customer base.