Marie Claire Magazine Study Reports on Women's Issues

For the past nine months or so I have had the pleasure of working with Marie Claire magazine to conduct an issues and attitudes study of today's woman.  The results provide powerful consumer insights into the psychology of women, her values and priorities and how her value system influences her as a consumer.  We found a powerful – and empowered – woman who is in control of her destiny and controls the destiny of so many product and service brands with which she chooses to do business.

Marie Claire's Vice President/Publisher Susan Plageman who initiated this ground-breaking study of today's woman wanted to share some of the key findings with you.

• For media:  Contact Letena Lindsay, Hearst Magazines, for more information.
• For marketers:  If you have any further questions or would like to learn more about the findings of the study for your own marketing and media planning, please contact Lauren Murphy, Senior Marketing Manager, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Contact:  Letena Lindsay
Hearst Magazines (212) 649-2577
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Marie Claire has announced the results of an extensive research initiative about the mindset of the modern woman called “All Access Woman.”  In partnership with consumer research expert Pam Danziger, Marie Claire commissioned the study of 1,800 women to give marketers additional insight into the attitudes and issues that drive multi-faceted women.

“Women today are more highly educated and informed than ever before,” said Marie Claire Vice President/Publisher Susan Plagemann. “We felt the time was right to take a much closer look at the things that really matter to women to help us educate marketers on the best way to reach and speak to today’s multi-dimensional females.”

After asking: What is on her mind?  How does she manage her priorities? How do her values impact her role as a consumer, Marie Claire discovered women have 5 top priorities:

1. Emotional Health & Family—Caring and supporting her family is the No. 1 priority at 88%. Her top challenge is finding time to relax, unwind and take care of herself at 61%.

2. Career & Finances—Achieving financial goals and saving for retirement are tops in this category (78%). Women apply their business acumen to their lives:She is in a constant search for value in her life. She'll pay more—a lot more—for value.

3. Society & Politics—In this pivotal election year for women, the Marie Claire survey reveals that fully 75% of women strongly agreed that in the upcoming election, what the candidate will do and the beliefs they hold are more important than gender or race. Additionally 86% plan to vote in the November election. As for the "Society" category, 80% of women give back to charity financially or with a time commitment.

4. Health & Wellness—She’s busy, she’s stressed.  Wellness takes time.  Nearly half (49%) of women surveyed sacrifice sleep as one of her primary time-management strategies.  Women need products and services that help her make time for her health.

5. Fashion & Beauty—She is an extremely powerful consumer:Her consumer power comes not just from having money, but from knowledge. She invests her time—her most valuable currency—to learn more and to be a smarter person and a smarter shopper.  While her family and her job are very important to her, fashion and beauty are areas that are hers and hers alone.

Overall, marketers have to deliver an experience: Women want more than just a product.  She doesn’t need more tangible things in her life, rather she wants a shopping experience that enhances her life.

“Marketers need to rise to the occasion that this new powerful – and empowered – woman shopper represents.  Marketers and retailers want to build a more meaningful connection with this woman than simply having her as their customer.” said Danziger.  “They want more than just a transaction, they want to develop a relationship and the way to do that is to align their marketing and branding messages with her values and priorities."

About the “All Access Woman” Survey

“All Access Woman” included both qualitative focus groups and quantitative survey methodologies.  The survey was conducted February 15-23, 2008, using an online polling service.  Survey respondents were qualified by reading one of eight leading women’s magazines, including Marie Claire, Allure, Elle, Glamour, InStyle, Lucky, Vanity Fair and Vogue. It totaled 1,803 women, with an average age of 37.2 and average household income of approximately $87,500.  Nearly two-thirds of women surveyed were married and 70 percent owned their own home or condominium/apartment.  Some 63 percent were employed full time and 14 percent worked part time.  The survey sample was also highly educated with 64 percent having completed a four year college degree or post-graduate level attainment.

About Marie Claire Magazine

Marie Claire is more than a pretty face. It is the fashion magazine with character, substance, and depth, for women with a point of view, an opinion, and a sense of humor. Each issue is edited for a sexy, stylish, confident woman who is never afraid to make intelligence a part of her wardrobe. Marie Claire is published in 26 countries and is read by more than 15 million worldwide. The magazine was founded in 1937 by French industrialist Jean Prouvost, whose goal was to present the realities of life mixed with fashion and beauty coverage. The American edition is published by Hearst Magazines, a unit of Hearst Corporation and one of the world’s largest publishers of monthly magazines, with a total of 19 U.S. titles and nearly 200 international editions. Hearst reaches more adults than any other publisher of monthly magazines (74.1 million total adults according to MRI, 2007). The company also publishes 20 magazines in the United Kingdom through its wholly owned subsidiary, The National Magazine Company Limited.

About  Pam Danziger and Unity Marketing