In this way, the future of marketing to women is increasingly genderless. She explains: "Post-#MeToo, brands are already abandoning tired gendered design cues to redefine modern female identity, and embracing a bold, vibrant aesthetic to communicate this diversity." A diversity of approach that has the marketing potential to connect just as much with men as it does women. Victoria Buchanan, senior strategic researcher at The Future Laboratory, believes that we are now at a critical point – where the dominant narratives and gender stereotypes are being challenged. Yet far from this being the end of the story, a third wave of evolution is already in full swing – and it is one that demands brands shift beyond viewing gender as the defining factor in any given audience and embrace instead an equality of design and function. Take the example of Bumble, the female-founded dating app, which took out full-page ads in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal that implored: "Believe Women." The ad, published one day after Christine Blasey Ford testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee about her sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, propelled the brand into unchartered territory. From the rise of "femtech" to the range of products and services created by women for women, this female focus has created marketing moments that just a year ago would be almost impossible to conceive. If the first wave of marketing to women was typified by the "pink it, shrink it" brigade (largely criticised on the basis the marketing industry was awash with products created by and marketed by men to women), its second wave afforded the promise of something different. The future of marketing to women is genderless The promise of a third wave of marketing to women rooted in equality, diversity and individuality offers brands the opportunity to better connect with half of the world. Twelve months on and the backlash is already in full swing, yet the power of these female-led narratives has already driven a fault line in the traditional gender stereotypes and power structures that demand a wholesale shift in all aspects of public life, including marketing. Words were formed and stories were shared across the world describing brutal experiences of sexual assault that individuals had never even articulated to their closest family members. Women’s voices were heard, often unfiltered through social media. A virtual outpouring of emotional trauma, shrinking ambitions and professional humiliation that had remained culturally invisible for decades. #MeToo lifted a lid on a reality that most men had never considered.
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