Splashing Across the Tasman

Women's marketing specialists Splash Consulting Group have crossed the Tasman from Australia to conquer "SheMarketing" in New Zealand. The team at Splash are specialists in providing female-focused information, such as "by the year 2020, baby boomer women will control the wealth of two generations for an average of 18 years."

CEO Amanda Stevens said she recognized a gap in the NZ market she was eager to fill. "I decided to give it a shot, because of the really positive feedback I received from speaking in New Zealand at events organized by the Marketing Association, " she said. "I started thinking there's no one doing what we're doing, which represented an enormous opportunity."

Splash is half owned by Drake international, making it easy for the company to open its doors premises in Auckland's Queen Street, with business director Jo Lloyd at the fore.

Splash officially opened in New Zealand last week, but has unofficially been working with clients EziBuy, FlyBuy and Wizard Home Loans for the past month. According to Stevens, other clients in the pipeline include a life insurer and fashion label. Lloyd says New Zealand absolutely needs Splash, and that opening the business has been welcomed and tremendously supported by the industry. "To be honest, we're going to need more staff soon," Lloyd said. "I'm working with a team of partners and freelancers at the moment, but it's going to get really busy." She said Splash's methodology and marketing tools make a big difference in campaigns, and its tools can be tailored to build on an existing plan to catch up with competitors.

Stevens said that while there are many similarities between marketing to both Australian and New Zealander women, minor cultural differences mean the agency is currently working with a research partner to better understand the Kiwi market.

In a recent campaign for insurance group SGIO, Splash thought a female driver campaign would grab a greater share of the women's motor vehicle insurance market, and created a "gift with purchase" offer. Stevens said the campaign generated a large increase in sales and formed part of the long term branding strategy for the client.

Splash consultants take women's wealth and growing spending power, as well as the fact that they are choosing to remain single and childless longer, into consideration when advising businesses on better ways to increase their market share.

"We work with organizations that market predominately to women or organizations that want to optimize their share of the fastest-growing wealth segment," Stevens said. She says an insight into the female mind is very important in marketing because women process messages differently, shop differently and have different brand loyalty and purchasing power. The methodology used by Splash is based on the proven neurological differences between how men and women receive interpret and act on marketing messages. "It's a well-known fact that women make or influence over 80% of all consumer purchase decisions, but the opportunity to market to the female segment often runs deeper that the supermarket checkout." Stevens said. She hopes to eventually expand the Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand offices into the US. "But at this point it's too early to say. Ask me again after a holiday," she said.

Splash has also worked with the Sydney Cricket Ground, Insurance Australia Group, Sanitarium, Drake International and Caroma Industries.

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