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BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE: DAILY BRIEFING | |||||||||||
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Women's Sites: Three Swings, One Hit Women.com manages to entertain and entice. Oxygen.com and iVillage don't At the risk of sounding self-absorbed, let me just say that I know I'm the type of person women-oriented Web sites are trying to attract -- 33, Net-savvy, working full-time, pregnant. To date, I've spent very few of my online hours at these sites. That should make me a good judge of how successful the TV ads for iVillage, Women.com, and Oxygen are at attracting visitors. Of the three ad campaigns I checked out, Women.com's struck the right cord with me. The commercials are plain, it's true: Just a stereotypical statement, cut and pasted on a bright neon screen, with a twist that makes the saying funny and much more true. For example, "Diamonds are a girl's best friend" becomes "A 401(k) is a girl's best friend" while generic music plays in the background. There's nothing flashy or shocking here, but I laughed at several of the different takes. Most important, I got a feel for the kind of information that's on the site and gained the impression that Women.com would be quirky and fun and maybe even challenge the status quo a bit. ANTI-MALE. Oxygen.com's ads were a near-miss for me. Although playful and clearly aiming for a pro-woman feel, they struck me as a little anti-male. They all play on the idea of "another great reason to be a woman," in one case by showing a man getting the zipper of his wet suit caught in the hair on his back. The one that troubled me most showed a woman sitting in her car during a downpour while some nice fellow changes her tire. I don't agree with the smirk-at-gullible-nice-guys ethic, and that kind of message does little to get me to the site. Just what info is be on the site anyway? The commercials don't say. The iVillage ads are the most practical -- but also did the most to turn me off. Rather than attempting to be fun or quirky, this campaign has a series of "everywoman" types describe what they've gained by going to the site. The problem is that, with their conventional good looks and either bland seriousness or perky cuteness, these women aren't that interesting. They may find the site useful, but if that's the kind of people I'll meet at iVillage -- women who giggle when saying the word "sex" or speak obliquely about "their diagnosis" -- I don't really want to go. The commercials deserve credit for one thing, though: They make it clear what kind of info you can find at iVillage.com. By Amey Stone in New York _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
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