Follow the Money: Why Smart Brands Think Like Women

By Bee Pahnke, Creative Director & Head of Voice at Grey London

Imagine this.

You’re working on a campaign for a premium car brand launching a new model – fast, high-tech, a symbol of success. Now, picture your target customer in your mind.

Is it a man? A white, non-disabled, straight man?

In most cases, it is. And we’re not just talking about cars here.

Of course, there are exceptions – make-up and beauty, for example, where products are usually designed specifically with women in mind. But when it comes to brands that should be gender agnostic (like financial, tech, or automotive), we’ve learned to see men as the default customer.

Look, I’m guilty of this too. Generations of patriarchy have conditioned us all to think men-first. But that bias is a fundamental misstep, because in reality, the person making the vast majority of purchasing decisions isn’t a man. It’s a woman.

(Important note: for the sake of this discussion, and in line with prevailing marketing practices, I’m using gender binary terms. Gender is a spectrum with more than two identities, but that’s a topic for another article.)

Women hold the purse strings and influence entire communities

Women drive the economy – that’s not an opinion, it’s a fact. They make 80% of household purchase decisions. Over 90% control or share all household financial decisions. Nearly half of UK motorists are women, and when it comes to car buying? They call the shots 80% of the time. By 2028, women will control 75% of all discretionary spend.

These aren’t just numbers – they’re a wake-up call.

Women don’t just manage their own household’s spending – they influence spending beyond it. Take caregiving: nearly 60% of unpaid carers in England and Wales are women. That means they’re also making financial and buying decisions for their parents, children, and extended families.

In fact, women tend to have stronger community networks in general. They’re more likely to lead grassroots community groups, to join social circles like book or running clubs, and to have a strong presence on social media.

Market to a man, and you reach a man. Market to a woman, and you could reach a whole community. If you want more bang for your buck, the choice is obvious.

So why does marketing still ignore women?

Given these numbers, you’d think brands would be prioritising women in their strategies. But they’re not.

Sure, female representation in ads has increased, at least in terms of screen time. But if you think that’s enough, you’re missing the point. Brands need to actually speak to women – and by that I mean real women, not stereotypes. According to Kantar, two-thirds of women would skip ads if they felt negatively stereotyped.

And yet, the industry still isn’t getting it.

• Just 8% of UK ads in 2023 showed women in non-traditional roles (Kantar)
• 85% of women think film and advertising do a poor job of depicting real-world women (Kantar)
• Just 8.5% of ads show women in professional settings and 3.4% in leadership positions (CreativeX)
• Older women are virtually invisible in advertising, appearing in just 1.5% of all ads (CreativeX)
• Over half of female drivers in the UK (around 8.5 million people) say the automotive industry doesn’t understand them, and eight in 10 British women can’t name a single car brand they feel does a good job of marketing to them (WMN)

These aren’t minor oversights. They’re fundamental failures – and they could be costing brands billions.

Let’s change the game and think female-first

We’ve spent decades applying a male lens to marketing. What if we flipped the script? What if we pictured a woman as our target customer, prioritised more research into female decision-making processes, and crafted messaging that appeals to real-world women?

Kantar’s data shows that brands with a gender-balanced or slightly female-skewed approach outperform those that lean male. They’re 4% healthier than male-skewed brands and 6% healthier than strongly male-skewed brands – not because of some moral imperative, but because that’s where the money is.

Similarly, research by the ANA and Circana found creative advertising that accurately represents women can drive up to 10x higher incremental sales.

And marketing with a female-first perspective doesn’t mean alienating men – quite the opposite. It could be the key to tackling wider societal issues, from male mental health to economic inequality. Could it encourage stronger community connections among men? Could it create a shift in the way we all view leadership, care, and ambition?

When we market through a female-first lens, things don’t just get better for women – they get better for everyone.

The opportunity is right in front of us

Sometimes, it feels like I’m screaming into the void.

The research is there. The spending power is shifting. We know female-first ads perform better.

So why do brands still default to a male-first approach? Why cling to outdated thinking and limit your own profits? Why resist the inevitable?

Women aren’t a niche audience – they’re the economy.

Brands that fail to see that aren’t just outdated – they’re actively choosing to lose. The money, the influence, the future of spending power is right in front of us.

So, the real question isn’t why we should market with a female lens. It’s why the fuck haven’t we been doing it all along?