1. New Irish Female Consumer Behaviours
Dr Kenneth McKenzie, Strategic Planner,
Motiveworks / Owens DDB
ken@motiveworks.ie

2. Aims
• Dig down into the question.
• Play devil’s advocate.
• Present what is tenable.
• Enable you to ask tighter questions.

3. New Irish Female Consumer Behaviours
• What do we mean by ‘new’?
• Since 2007/8?
• Since 2000?
• Since 1997?
• Since???
• And we can ask a question about ‘Irish’ (wrt immigration
and cross-national comparisons).

4. Hinterland
• We rely too much on TGI, Nielsen, Dunhumby…
• Great databases, but…
• Proprietary research is expensive & can be patchy.
• Reams of data on human behaviour.
• On female behaviour…
• On female behaviour X nationality.

5. Where can we go for answers?
• Secondary data analysis.
• Statutory
• The canon
• Demography, Sociology, Economics,
• Human Geography, Psychology, Political Science.

6. Let’s operationalise
• What?!
• Why?
• Because people’s lives are complicated…
• and complex.

7. Restate the question
• How have women changed in a generation?
• 20 years.
• Female labour force participation is critical datum.
• Trivial truth: new things allow us to do new things.
• Sex differential?

8. What hasn’t changed
• Chores & shopping
• Gershuny.
• Childcare.
• Fit new behaviours into this matrix.

9. What has generally always been true
• Intrinsic vs extrinsic drives.
• Actualisation through others.
• ‘Dovetailing’

10. What’s new and old
• Education participation
• Postgrad trajectories

11. What’s new
• Escapist consumption: definitely
• Veblenian convergence: possibly.
• Psychoanalytic rebellion: Peto.

12. What’s new, but mightn’t be that differentiating

13. But life cycle effect is CRITICAL
• Alwin: values research.
• Stated preferences vs revealed preferences

14. The sweet spot is the win-win

15. To conclude
• Win-win has been well articulated in FMCGs.
• ZMOT applies more to sex-specific goods.
• Affiliative and harmony needs won’t lessen.
• We need to be geekier than is generally found in
MarComms.