Why gender-based marketing is bad for business | Gaby Barrios

翻译人员: Jiasi Hao 校对人员: Yinchun Rui

Like a lot of people around the world,

就和世界上的很多人一样，

earlier this summer my friends and I were obsessed

这个初夏，我和朋友们着迷于

with the Women's World Cup held in France.

法国举办的女子世界杯足球赛 。

Here we are, watching these incredible athletes,

我们观看着这些惊人的运动员，

the goals were amazing, the games were clean and engaging,

每一粒入球都非常出色， 比赛也很公平且令人着迷，

and at the same time, outside the field,

但同时，在赛场外，

these women are talking about equal pay,

那些女性们在谈论着平等薪酬，

and in the case of some countries, any pay at all for their sport.

甚至在有些国家， 从事运动完全是义务的。

So because we were mildly obsessed, we wanted to watch the games live,

我们对比赛很感兴趣， 所以就想看直播，

and we decided that one of the Spanish-speaking networks in the US

之后我们决定在 我们认为美国最好的

was the best place for us to start.

一个西班牙语解说网络平台上观看。

And it wasn't until a few games into the tournament

直到前几场比赛结束后，

that a friend of mine talks to me and says,

我的一个朋友和我说：

"Why does it feel like everything I'm seeing

“为什么我觉得自己是在观看

is commercials for makeup and household cleaning products and diets?"

化妆品、家庭清洁产品 以及减肥的商业广告？”

It did feel a little bit too obvious,

这确实感觉有点明显，

and I don't know if we were sensitive about it

而且我也不知道 我们是不是对此有点敏感，

或者我们实际上正和身边的男人、 男孩子们一起观看比赛，

or the fact that we were watching with men and boys in our lives,

but it did feel a little bit too obvious

但这确实感觉有点明显，

that we're being targeted for being women.

我们因身为女性而被定位成目标。

老实说，这没什么错。

And to be honest there's nothing necessarily wrong with that.

Someone sat down and looked at the tournament and said,

有人坐下，看着比赛，并且说，

“好吧，这东西 可能会被更多的女性看到，

"Well, this thing is likely to be seen by more women,

these women are Hispanic because they're watching in Spanish,

这些女性是西班牙裔，

因为她们正在看 西班牙语女性主题的内容。

and this is women content.

Therefore, this is a great place for me to place all these commercials

因此，这是一个很好的平台， 让我投放所有这些

that are female-centric and maybe not other things."

以女性为中心的商业广告， 而不是其他的东西。”

If I think about it as a marketer,

要是我从市场营销人员 的角度思考，

I know that I absolutely should not be annoyed about it,

我知道我丝毫不应该 被这些广告烦扰，

because this is what marketers are tasked with doing.

因为他们的任务就是做这个。

市场营销人员的任务就是 在非常有限的预算下，建立品牌。

Marketers are tasked with building brands with very limited budget,

so there's a little bit of an incentive

因此他们没什么动力

to categorize people in buckets

对潜在客户进行分类，

so they can reach their target faster.

这样他们就可以更快地达成目标。

So if you think about this,

你可以把这当成

it's kind of like a shortcut.

一条捷径。

They're using gender as a shortcut to get to their target consumer.

他们正用性别作为一条捷径 来触及目标客户。

The issue is that as logical as that argument seems,

问题在于，尽管这个论点 似乎看起来符合逻辑，

gender as a shortcut is actually not great.

但性别作为一条捷径， 实际上并不怎么样。

In this day and age, if you still blindly use a gender view

如今，如果你仍旧盲目的 在营销活动中

for your marketing activities,

使用性别来解决问题，

actually it's just plain bad business.

老实说，这是一个糟糕 的业务发展模式。

I'm not talking even about the backlash on stereotypes in advertising,

我甚至不是在说 广告中对刻板观念的抵制，

which is a very real thing that has to be addressed.

尽管这是一个眼前 必须要被解决的问题。

I'm saying it's bad business because you're leaving money on the table

我把这说成是糟糕的生意， 因为你并没有把品牌和产品

for your brands and your products.

的利润最大化。

Because gender is such an easy thing to find in the market

因为在市场中， 性别是一个如此简单的参数，

and to target and to talk about,

很容易定位，很容易被针对讨论，

it actually distracts you from the fun things

它会让你从最有趣的事情中分心，

that could be driving growth from your brands

而这些事才会真正 驱动你的品牌成长。

and, at the same time,

与此同时，

it continues to create separation around genders

它还会继续加深性别分离，

and perpetuate stereotypes.

并永久化刻板观念。

So at the same time this activity is bad for your business

所以，这样的做法 不但不利于你的业务发展，

and bad for society, so double whammy.

而且还有害于社会，是双重损害。

And gender is one of those things like other demographics

性别就和 其它的人口统计特征一样，

that have historically been good marketing shortcuts.

长久以来都是 市场营销的良好捷径。

但是，从某个时刻开始，

At some point, however,

we forgot that at the core we were targeting needs

我们忘记了我们的 核心目标自始至终都应

around cooking and cleaning and personal care and driving and sports

定位在烹饪、清洁、个人护理、 驾驶以及运动的需求，

然而我们只是把它们混为一谈，

and we just made it all a bucket

and we said, "Men and women are different."

之后我们说，“男人和女人不一样。”

We got used to it and we never challenged it again,

随后我们习惯了这一说辞， 也再未挑战这一说辞。

and it's fascinating to me,

这个问题深深吸引了我，

and by fascinating I mean a little bit insane,

确切的说，听起来有些疯狂：

that we still talk about this as a segment

即，我们仍旧把性别 作为一种市场细分方式谈论，

when it's most likely carryover bias.

即使它更像是延滞偏差。

In fact, I don't come to this conclusion lightly.

事实上， 我并没有随意得出这一结论。

We have enough data to suggest that gender is not the best place

我们有足够的数据表明，性别并不是

to start for you to design and target your brands.

设计品牌、定位目标客户 的最佳入手点。

And I would even go one step further:

我还想要更进一步：

unless you are working in a very gender-specific product category,

除非你负责的产品 属于针对特定性别的产品类别，

probably anything else

不然你对消费者

you're hypothesizing about your consumer right now

的任何其它假设

is going to be more useful than gender.

可能都比性别有用。

We did not set up to draw this conclusion specifically.

我们没有为得出这个特定结论 专门设计实验，

We found it.

而是发现了这个结论。

As consultants, our job is to go with our clients

作为一个咨询顾问， 我们的工作是和客户接触，

and understand their business

熟悉他们的业务，

and try to help them find spaces for their brands to grow.

并尝试帮助他们 寻找品牌成长空间。

And it is our belief that if you want to find disruptive growth in the market,

我们也相信如果你想要 在市场中获得颠覆性增长，

你必须接近消费者，

you have to go to the consumer

and take a very agnostic view of the consumer.

不带任何假设的看待他们。

You have to go and look at them from scratch,

你必须从零开始 去接近、观察他们，

remove yourself from biases and segments that you thought were important,

移除你自以为万分重要的 偏见和细分，

just take a look to see where the growth is.

仅仅观察增长点在何处。

And we built ourselves an algorithm precisely for that.

我们为此专门 开发了一个精确算法。

So imagine that we have a person

想象有一个人，

and we know a person is making a choice

我们知道这个人在做

about a product or service,

关于产品或服务的选择，

and from this person, I can know their gender, of course,

我可以知道他们的性别，当然，

other demographics, where they live, their income, other things.

还有其它人口统计特征， 例如住址、收入以及其它信息。

I know the context where this person is making a decision,

我知道这个人是在 什么环境下做出决定的：

他们在哪，和谁一起，

where they are, who they're with,

the energy, anything,

是否充满能量，各种各样的信息。

我也可以把其它信息加入到算法中，

and I can also put other things in the mix.

I can know their attitudes,

我可以知道他们的态度，

how they feel about the category,

他们对于产品分类是怎么想的，

their behaviors.

他们的行为。

So if you imagine this kind of blob of big data about a person --

如果你想象一下 关于一个人的大数据——

我会过度简化背后的科学原理，

I'm going to oversimplify the science here

but we basically built an algorithm for statistical tournaments.

但是我们基本算是为 统计比赛开发了一个算法。

So a statistical tournament is like asking this big thing of data,

统计比赛通常会问 关于大数据的问题：

"So, data, from everything you know about consumers at this point,

“数据，从目前 你对这些顾客的了解，

what is the most useful thing I need to know

关于顾客需求，

that tells me more about what consumers need?"

什么是对我来说最有用的信息？”

So the tournament is going to have winners and losers.

既然是比赛， 那就会有胜利者和失败者。

赢家是能准确告诉你 关于顾客大量信息的

The winners are those variables, those dimensions,

that actually teach you a lot about your consumer,

那些变量、那些维度，

that if you know that, you know what they need.

倘若你获取那些信息， 便能了解顾客需求。

And there's losing variables that are just not that practical,

而输家变量 就是那些不太好用的，

and this matters because in a world of limited resources,

这很重要， 因为在资源有限的世界里，

you don't want to waste it on people that actually have the same needs.

你不想在有相同需求的人 身上浪费资源。

So why treat them differently?

为什么要区别对待他们呢？

So at this point, I know, suspense is not killing you,

我知道你们的悬念已经解开了，

because I told you what the output is,

因为我已经告诉你们 结果是什么了，

but what we found over time

但是随着时间推移，

is after 200 projects around the world -- this is covering 20 countries or more --

在覆盖了全球 20 多个国家 的 200 个项目后，

in essence we ran about a hundred thousand of these tournaments,

我们跑了大约十万次的“统计比赛”，

and, no surprise, gender was very rarely the most predictive thing

不出所料，对于了解顾客需求，

性别的预测作用几乎微乎其微。

to understand consumer needs.

From a hundred thousand tournaments,

从十万场的比赛中，

gender only came out as the winning variable

性别仅在其中 5% 的比赛中，

in about five percent of them.

被证实为胜利变量。

This is true around the world, by the way.

顺便提一句，这是全球通用的结论。

我们也在有着比较明显的 传统性别角色的地方

We did this in places where traditional gender roles

are a little more pronounced,

做了统计，

and the conclusions were exactly the same.

结论是完全一样的。

性别重要性占优的比赛略大于 5% ，

It was a little bit more important, gender, than five percent,

但不构成重大影响。

but not material.

So let's let that sink in for a second.

那么让我们好好思考一下这个结论。

No matter how you're looking at a consumer,

不管你现在如何看待消费者，

most likely anything else is going to be more interesting to you than gender.

任何一个信息， 都很有可能比性别来的有趣。

There's probably something very important you need to know about them,

你可能需要知道关于消费者 的一些重要的信息，

and you're getting distracted because you're doing everything based on gender.

但你会被分散注意力， 因为你所有的工作都是基于性别。

And that's why I say you're leaving money on the table.

这就是为什么我说 你没有追求最大利润。

性别是个很简单的参数， 基于性别来设计广告很容易，

Gender is easy. It's easy to design advertising based on gender,

基于性别通过网络和电视 定位目标人群也很容易。

it's easy to target people online and on TV based on gender.

But at the end, that's not where the exciting growth will come from.

但归根结底，最富有成效 的增长并非来自性别差异。

If you're a food company, for example, it's actually much more interesting to you

比如，如果你是一家食品公司，

了解人们在哪吃饭，和谁吃， 他们是否为营养导向，

to know where people are eating, who they are eating with,

are they very nutritionally oriented.

可能对你来说更加有趣。

All of those things are actually significantly more powerful and useful

这些东西都比 知道一个人的性别

than knowing if a person is a man or a woman.

来得更加强大且有用。

And that matters, of course,

这当然很重要，

because then if you're putting your limited budget into action,

因为随后倘若你把 有限的预算化作行动时，

你将能更好地 为不同场景制定不同解决方案，

then you're better off creating solutions for different occasions

而非尝试以女性为目标， 而忽视年轻男性。

than trying to target women versus young men.

Another example is alcoholic beverages.

另一个例子是酒精饮料。

Thirty-five percent to 40 percent of consumption in alcoholic beverages

全球酒精饮料中 35% - 40% 的消费

around the world actually happens with women,

实际上是来自女性，

but, you know, "women don't drink beer."

但是，你知道， “女人不喝啤酒。”

Those are the things that we typically hear.

这些是我们经常听到的言论。

But actually, when a man and a woman are, for the most part, in the same location,

但事实上，当一个男性和 一个女性在同一地点，

the emotional and functional needs they have at that moment

通常在那一时刻， 他们的情感和功能需求

are very similar.

是非常相似的。

There's only one exception, by the way,

不过，只有一个例外，

and the exceptions exist,

并且这个例外是存在的，

如果一个男性和一个女性

where if you have a man and a woman

on a date,

在约会，

the man is trying to impress the woman

那这个男性 为了给女性留下深刻印象，

and the woman is trying to connect with the man,

而这个女性反过来也 尝试与男性建立联系，

so there's going to be a little bit of tension,

那情况就大不一样了，

但知道这个情况很重要，

but that's important to know.

我们需要多观察几次约会。

We'll take a few dates.

Financial institutions: that's something where we've heard a lot

金融机构： 男女的不同之处是我们

已经研究了很多的话题，

about the difference between men and women,

但实际区分男女的不同

but actually talking about men and women as different

is distracting you from the thing that is underneath.

正在分散你的注意力。

We made it so simple as "women don't like to invest,"

我们只是粗略将其简化成： “女性不喜欢投资”，

"women hate managing their money,"

“女性讨厌理财”，

"men are great and aggressive and risk-takers,"

“男性很优秀，比较激进， 也能够承担风险”，

but at the end it's not about men and women.

但最终这并非关于男性和女性。

It is actually a different narrative.

我们应该采用一个不同的叙述，

It is about, there are people that are excited and energized

这是关于： 很多精力充沛且充满活力的人

and educated to manage their finances

受到了“理财”教育，

versus people that are not.

而有些人没有。

So if you change the conversation

所以如果你把话题 从男女性别

from men and women to actually what's underneath

改变为对真正根本原因的专注，

then probably you'll stop being so condescending to women

随后你可能会不再 对女性抱有居高临下的态度，

and you may start serving some men

并且你可能会开始为

that are actually shy about managing their finances.

羞于理财的男性提供服务。

I'll leave one more example.

我会再给大家一个例子。

If I go back to the women that were playing sport at the beginning,

回到最开始的女运动员，

one of the fascinating things we found over different countries,

在历览各国的运动服后，

exploring sportswear,

我们发现了一件有趣的事情，

that if a person is a competitive person

如果一个人具有竞争力，

and they are in the moment of action,

那么在运动时刻，

the needs are not different between a man and a woman.

男女对衣着的要求并无差别。

An athlete is an athlete.

一个运动员，就是一个运动员。

It doesn't matter for men and women, it doesn't matter for old and young,

不管是男是女， 不管是年长是年幼，

你是一个运动员，

you are an athlete,

并且在运动的时刻， 在激烈竞技比赛中，

and in the moment of action and extreme competition,

你需要这个 能支撑你运动表现的装备。

you need this gear to work for you.

So these soccer-playing women have a lot in common with their counterparts.

所以这些女性足球运动员 和男性足球运动员有很多共同之处。

Out of the field, it doesn't matter.

在赛场外，不要紧。

在赛场外，她们可能喜欢时尚， 或是有别的兴趣，

Out of the field, they may be into fashion, into other things,

但是在赛场上， 男女的需求是一致的。

but on the field, the needs are not different.

So these are just a few examples on categories where we found

那么这些只是我们发现性别差距很小

that gender was not the best place to go,

的几个案例。

实际上，我们的论点是

and actually the argument is

that at this point it's not even a feminist push,

在当代，这甚至不是由于 女权主义者的推动，

it's just we got used to it.

这只是我们长久的习惯。

We got used to using gender,

我们习惯用性别，

and it's important for us to start finding ways

而且对我们来说， 去寻找如何衡量

客户的其它特征也很重要，

to measure other things about consumers

so that we don't revert back to gender.

这样我们就不用回到 性别主宰的时代。

I am not naïve,

我并不幼稚无知，

我知道有人依旧会喜欢使用性别，

and I know there's still going to be appetite

and certain ease around using gender,

而且这也存在一定的便利性，

but at least this warrants a conversation.

但至少这值得被讨论。

In your business, you have to inquire,

在你的业务中， 你需要扪心自问：

is this really the best lens for me to grow.

这真的是我企业增长的 最佳着手点吗？

如果你和我一样， 是一个生意人，

So, if you are, like me, a person that is in business,

that I am constantly worried about what is my role

经常担忧自己 在更广泛的社会讨论中

in the broader societal discussions,

所承担的角色；

if you're listening to your business and you hear things like,

如果关于你的业务， 你听到的是，

"Oh, my target are women, my target are men,

“哦，我的目标是女性 / 我的目标是男性，

this goes to young girls, young boys,"

这个针对的是小女孩 / 小男孩。”

when it's that gender conversation,

当这样的性别导向对话出现的时候，

unless you are working, again,

再次声明，

除非你的产品 属于针对特定性别的类别，

in a very specific, gender-specific product category,

take this as a warning sign,

把它当作一个警告信号，

because if you keep having these conversations,

因为如果你一直持续这样的对话，

you will keep perpetuating stereotypes of people

你将会不断持续加深 人们的刻板印象，

and making people think that men and women are different.

让人们觉得男女有别。

But because this is business, and we're running a business,

但因为这是生意， 我们在做生意，

而且我们想要实现业务增长，

and we want to grow it,

至少挑战一下你想要使用性别的直觉，

at least kind of challenge your own instinct to use gender,

because statistics say that you're probably not choosing the best variable

因为数据统计表明： 在为产品或服务设定目标客户时，

to target your product or service.

你可能并没有选择一个最好的变量。

Growth is not easy at all.

实现业务增长着实不简单。

What makes you think that growth is going to come

是什么让你觉得

from going into market with such an outdated lens like gender?

利用这样过时的方法，例如性别， 可以带来业务增长？

So let's stop doing what's easy and go for what's right.

所以，让我们停止做“方便”的事， 而是选择“正确”的事，

不仅是为了你的生意， 也是为了社会的健康发展。

At this point, it's not just for your business, it's for society.

Thank you.

谢谢。

（掌声）

(Applause)