News

Ketchum to Host Panel on 'What Women Want: Connecting With the New Technology Consumer' (21/12/2004)

Jan. 8 Event in Las Vegas to Parallel International Consumer Electronics Show

Ketchum, a leading global public relations firm, today announced it will host a panel on "What Women Want: Connecting with the New Technology Consumer" in parallel with the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The Jan. 8 event will feature senior executives from leading global consumer electronics companies, including Best Buy, Kodak and Nokia, and consumer marketing experts from Ketchum.

The discussion, to be held at the Bellagio Resort Hotel & Spa at 4 p.m., will focus specifically on how to tap a target audience that's harder than ever to reach: women ages 25-to-54.

Consumer electronics once was primarily a predominantly male domain, but a recent worldwide survey of female consumers revealed that women are involved in 89 percent of all consumer electronics decisions and make the primary spending choices on 63 percent of personal computer purchases. In addition, women determine how 88 percent of every disposable dollar is spent, the survey indicated.

While consumer marketers now realize that women 25-to-54 are an economic force, many companies continue to reach out to this female audience using traditional tactics. And women's use of technology has changed the rules of the game, making traditional approaches to marketing to women obsolete.

"Ketchum has gained valuable insights while developing our new offering, Women 25to54," said Paul Rand, managing director of Ketchum Midwest and director of Ketchum's Global Technology Practice. "The panel discussion will highlight what some of the most sophisticated marketers are doing to communicate with this critical audience. Leading companies that want to grow and succeed will learn to reach women in a meaningful and credible way."

Representatives from Ketchum will explain how to reach this demographic group whose members indicate they spend 38 hours a day "multi-minding" -- mulling and accomplishing individual activities. The panelists from Best Buy, Kodak and Nokia, whose companies have developed innovative programs to market consumer electronics to women, will share insights on how to disseminate and reinforce credible messages to reach female technology buyers.

"What Women Want: Connecting with the New Technology Consumer" follows closely behind the launch of Ketchum's Women 25to54 communications offering, a first-of-its-kind, four-phase program built to reach this significant consumer demographic. Women 25to54 is the latest offering from the Ketchum Institute, the agency's think-tank for innovative ideas like the company's Influencer Relationship Management (IRM) launched in 2003 and 2002's Channel Edge program.

About the Event

Title: What Women Want: Connecting with the New Technology Consumer
Date: Jan. 8, 2005
Time: 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time
Location: Bellagio Resort Hotel & Spa, Las Vegas

www.ketchum.com