Oxygen: ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Funds’
Study Looks at Financial-Services Advertising from Women’s Viewpoint
By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 8/6/2007 1:38:00 PM
Oxygen’s latest study -- a comprehensive examination of women and finance -- shows that while women make the majority of the purchase decisions when it comes to financial services, they don’t believe financial-services advertising is geared towards them.
Oxygen released the results of its study, “Women’s Watch: Girls Just Wanna Have Funds,” Monday. One of its key findings was that 92% of women make or contribute to financial decisions in their household.
The study also revealed what women think would be more affective advertising for these types of products and services, creating what Oxygen claimed is an opportunity for that category of advertisers.
One of the key findings from the study was that women hold the purse strings, in that 62% of women consider themselves the financial head of their household. In addition, 92% of women make or contribute to financial decisions in their household (94% of married women and 90% of single women). And overall, women manage the same number (13) of financial tools and services as men do (bank accounts, mortgages, insurance policies, credit cards, investments).
The study also determined that women represent a big opportunity for the financial industry in that 69% would consider buying stocks, bonds or other financial investments in the future and 70% of women are interested in becoming more knowledgeable about financial management and planning. In addition, 64% of women said they know they need to get more involved with future financial planning and companies need to reach women better.
Oxygen found that women feel misunderstood by the financial-services sector in that 66% of women think that women are much more financially savvy than they’re given credit for and 44% agree that financial professionals don’t show women enough respect.
In terms of advertising, 94% of women feel that financial ads are not targeted toward women and 83% said they can’t relate to financial ads.
When asked what makes a financial ad most appealing, 69% said they want to “be spoken to as an equal,” yet a full 25% feel that financial ads speak down to them.
