What Aussie men really want online
For years Aussie men have been represented in advertising as stupid and slobs. John Agnew argues this is actually very far from the truth.
Australian men: for years portrayed as sport-loving, beer-drinking bogans – and more recently, beard-clad, Byron Bay Pale Ale-sipping hipsters. At least, that’s the two-dimensional male persona certain ads being churned out these days would have you believe (to be fair, they’re not entirely wrong). But dig a little deeper into the online habits of men, and you’ll find there’s much more to the average Aussie bloke that advertisers can glean.
It’s something I’ve gained a sort of specialty understanding in, having spent the last five years pumping out content for men around style, sport and (what seems like) several thousand articles on Victoria Beckham’s husband’s hair.
An interesting article, as a qual researcher I am often asked by clients about the male propensity to share and open up about their feeling, opinions and what the really like about brands in a more meaningful way. On face value yes we do find female respondents quicker to talk, but this does not always equate to ‘meaningful’ insight, often you have to cut through the chit chat to really get at what they are saying. As human beings we are on the whole a social species, and this is true of both the sexes, although men normally have a smaller network of close male friends, and I find this actually makes them more likely to give meaningful answers as their existing relationships are inherently tighter. In my experience I have also found that men are indeed more likely to comment in an online setting, I find in online research they are quick to openly express their views and comment on others, and indeed in some instance act as co-moderators by default, which I love.
Market researchers have made up their minds and look for data to support it. Then they draw extremely sketchy, simplistic conclusions from a bunch of random data.
This leads to completely useless insights and helps reinforce the fallacy that all the answers to human behaviour lies in data while it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Most market researchers should go work for banks instead of playing with concepts in psychology and sociology that are way over their heads…
I coudnt agree more with you comments Another Brand Manager
Men know why for years Aussie men have been represented in advertising as stupid and slobs.
Its lazy marketing that has been very effective in marketing to any one you don’t offend.
As men until recently were not so easy to offend as a marketer it worked very well.
This situation is changing.
The simplistic data conclusions drawn above give only the slightest insight into whats really going on.
Its too simplistic and often a cheap and lazy way to create a strategy that requires real insight and experience to understand a brand and its audience before embarking on investing real money and ongoing brand value.
If its cheap its usually nasty.
Market researchers respond to brand manager briefs.
If that brief allows or results such non-professional behaviour as alleged, then I urge all brand managers to do two things:
1. Report the market researcher to AMSRS to investigate such behaviour (and if that researcher is not part of AMSRS then I suggest you should ensure they are in future).
2. Improve your brief. For example, propose your hypothesis so that the researcher can;t ‘make up their minds and look for data to support it’.
“Statistically, men actually comment online much more than women.”
These men defending men in this comment thread are being such men.
I think I prefer the ‘stupid slobs’ of advertising fiction, if fiction it is. We are the home of dwarf tossing and the PM who held the Guinness world record for skulling (God bless him).
So Montague
By being such men and not dwarf tossers are we easier to market too?