I never know where my blog content will pop up..!

Over the weekend, I picked up Matt Carmichael’s new book “BUYographics” from our library and read it. (And yes, when I’m reading for pleasure, I’m usually still reading about marketing, shopping, and branding — what can I say? They’re some of my favorite topics!)

The book is excellent, and one section discusses mistakes marketers make when marketing to women. It mentioned an all-too-familiar chapter in Jewel-Osco’s experimental marketing efforts to women back in 2010. Remember “Project SHE?”

Thankfully, Project SHE was short-lived, and Jewel went back to offering a wider variety of products and SKUs to shoppers.

When I read books like these, I always read the footnotes too, and when I flipped to the notes in the back…

Well, how about that..! It’s always funny (and a little strange) to unexpectedly see your own name and work cited in someone else’s book.

If you missed reading “What is SuperValu doing to Jewel-Osco?” here on the blog when it originally ran almost four years ago, take a peek at the link.

It’s an interesting glimpse into the time when a corporate CEO felt women weren’t smart or savvy enough to navigate a store full of products and needed help reducing their choices so that big, intimidating grocery store didn’t unnerve them to shop in it — while simultaneously complaining that those same shoppers “are adept at tracking weekly advertisements and executing with surgical precision the purchase of those items that maximize their own savings.”