Who Knew? Brand Wise in Newsweek

At our Lipstick Economy blog, we talk a lot about the Single Women market in the United States and how often they are being overlooked, in favor of the nuclear family.  Back in February, we visited with our friend Paula Froelich, now Travel Editor at Yahoo!, about this growing single women market.  And it turns out she wrote this fabulous Newsweek article about Advertising’s Untapped Market:  Single Women.

Paula describes this group:   “Women over 35, unmarried, with no children and – most important from an advertising point of view – successful. With apologies to Helen Reddy, theyshould be too big to ignore. Single Indies spend around $1 trillion each year…and there are 28 million of them. Yet, in both advertising and media, this pocketbook powerhouse is, for all intents and purposes, nonexistent.”

And our little contribution:  “People don’t realize what a large group of people were talking about,” says Jamie Dunham, president of the branding and marketing company Brandwise and a self-described “reformed advertising executive.” “This is not a small group. The Single Indie is almost a third of all adult women. And she has disposable income: She’s traveling, she’s buying things for her home, she’s getting a nice car because she doesn’t have the expense of a family household.”

More from the article:  “Last year, NBCUniversal’s Integrated Media group found that Single Indies were not just successful (accounting for 59 percent of master degree holders), they spent $22 billion on vehicles (five times more than independent men), $20 billion on entertainment, and $50 billion on food.”

So for marketers the message is clear.  You might need to move  from Real Housewives and focus on these highly independent, successful women who are buying for themselves and their extended family.