Male Vs Female Brain

According to the Sex I.D. questionnaire on the following bbc website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/ my brain has both male and female traits. Research into the male and female brain has shown that women tend to make use of both sides of the brain, whereas men mainly use their left side. In terms of marketing campaigns, understanding the differences in male and female brain processes is vital in producing an appropriately targeted advert. Take into account the picture to the right, if men and women were asked to look at the picture and then remember what was in the room the men would typically remember the location of a desk or bookshelf; whereas, a woman would typically remember the more intimate details such as a vase of flowers or a picture on the wall. When applying this to advertising and marketing it could suggest that women prefer to be presented with an advert that has a story behind it with more details, whereas men would prefer a direct advert displaying what the product is and what it does.

Research "Message order effects and gender differences in advertising persuasion" studies have shown that women tend to have a greater concern for others than men. This is applicable to the campaigning done by charities as they will use this concern that females have for others to gain donations.

In terms of other methods of marketing communications understanding the differences in the male and female brain is also vital to a campaigns success. For example, in direct mail women tend to respond to a more emotive style, in the form of a conversational tone, which is often found in mailshots from charities. Women also respond to strong colours and evocative images. However, men respond to a factual style where colours and images are irrelevant; this relates to the previously discussed different methods of thinking from a male and female perspective. Research has shown that a re-written factual letter for men generated a response 85% better than the emotional (female) one. Whereas for the women, the response rate was 15% lower than with the emotional mailshot.