Bottom Line: It may sound to be bold, honest and controversial but the real estate brands are repeating the classical mistake when it comes to talking to women.
Even though women in general and the single women in particular have emerged as the most critical segment of homebuyers, the real estate marketeers continue to look at them as just a family creature.
Not surprising, the marketing collaterals of real estate projects contine to tempt women with stereotype fancy kitchen and children-friendly features only.
In recent times, not a single real estate campaign has been in the public domain that focusses on women as a powerful consumer group. Pics of women are either used in advertising for modelasque appeal or simply as the homemaker who is buying the house with family being the nucleus.
Real estate marketing & women power
Women influences & contributes in 74% real estate buying; 32% buyers are single women in top 8 cities
Use of women in advertising has been for sex appeal and glamour than talking to target audience
Developers still questioning why to talk to women than how to talk to them as home purchase is seen as family affair
The statistics nevertheless suggest the real estate campaigns are far off the target with this most influential group of homebuyers. Facts speak for themselves. Women today control $28 trillion in annual consumer spending, as per a study. In terms of consumer spending, women today drive almost 80% of all purchases. In terms of home buying, 74% women play the role of either contributor or influencer, as per a pan-India survey by Track2Realty, the real estate think-tank group. This includes 32% home buying by single women across the eight top cities of India.
Sumedha Thakur (name changed on request), who is creative head of an ad agency working for a few leading real estate companies thinks the problem lies with the mindset of most of the developers who look at women either as homemaker or just pinking and shrinking creatures. It is not just the first generation conservative developers who reject women-centric marketing campaigns but even the suave & sophisticated second generation luxury developers don’t want to risk the market disruption.
“I cannot reveal any names here but it is actually tough convincing these stereotype builders that women, who are the single, and most powerful consumer group in the housing market, don’t need or desire validation of their life choices from your brand. It is your brand that needs to be validated by their choices,” says
Agrees Ruchika Bhatt, a homebuyer who feels the builders get intimidated by the very thought of fempowertising. This fashion photographer who has worked on some of the real estate ad shoots feels this is not just the Indian reality but world over women in real estate advertising has only been used to add element of sex and oomph factor. In not-so-prudish property markets of western world there are instances of adding a dollop of sex to spice it up, but I don’t think there is any case study to use women as an influential homebuyer segment.
“ I think home buying is by and large still seen as a family affair in our society. And hence, the Indian real estate has shied away from using any form of sex in advertising, even though local market otherwise is overusing it to sell from coffee to car with success. In a way it is ok to not have objectification of women in real estate advertising when your project offerings are not designed to meet the needs of women in general and the single women in particular. There is no point the marketing brochure display a woman falling for somehing that has not been created for her,” suggests Ruchika.
Mayuri Aggarwal, VP-Marketing with SARE Group fadmits that the thought of bringing the women to the forefront of marketing campaigns never came across. According to her, the home buying is such a family-driven affair that most of the time the thought process is how to tempt a family and not individual.
“Some change is there in the mindset but still a long way to go before we start thinking about women as the buyer. For example, in South India we focus more on women buyer even if the campaign is family driven. But in North India the focus shifts to the male driven family units. Women might be contributors today but so long their independent buying does not reflect in numbers, probably the market will not change its orientation,” says Mayuri.
The general feeling within the real estate fraternity is that if you are trying to sell a house or a family lifestyle at the cost of one’s lifetime savings with women & glamour, you are doing your product a serious disservice. Yes, you will get attention. But it is the wrong kind of attention, and won’t lead to a better brand recall or sales conversion. Women and sex, used sparingly and judicially, is a strong selling tool. But abuse it, and you will ultimately lose out.
Brand strategists who work with the real estate developers don’t want to admit it on record but privately they do agree that they are not so much selling the home as they are selling the lifestyle. However, the mindset is that the lifestyle that they are selling is for the family and not the women alone. There is a school of thought that a home can not be sold on the promise of loneliness and isolation, with both men and women being no exception.
Women-centric real estate project or marketing capmaigns is a very complex issue. In advertising, people will go to the limit to get a reaction. The rules are very flexible in India but people in real estate are much more careful with the sensibilities of the buyers.
Simply put, women in advertising is by and large seen as the use of sexually provocative or erotic imagery (or sounds, suggestions and subliminal messages) that are specifically designed to arouse interest. That, unfortunately, does not go well with the family decision of buying a house. And, unfortunately, the Indian developers are not open to ideas beyond that.
However, the point remains that the failure is in understanding as to how to talk to your key buyer & influencer – women. Till the time the Indian developers don’t understand why to talk to women there will never be any consensus as to how to talk to them.
By: Ravi Sinha
