We have previously written about an innovation workshop with SDS on our website, and now the business daily Børsen has taken up the story about the interesting outcomes of the process: a ‘women’s day’ in a service and tyre centre and a women’s magazine with a circulation of 400,000 – a unique marketing strategy in a very masculine market.
Read the article from Børsen September 9 2009, below
BY Kurt Henriksen, Børsen, page 36:
At first sight it looks like a traditional women’s magazine – a light graphic touch, pink colours and a hot-shot model on the cover page. SDS Magazine looks like something you feed to hair dressers. But a closer look reveals that the background is a huge pile of tyres, and that the super shoe feature of the first issue is not a about shoes for women, but for their cars.
SDS Magazine is a customer magazine from the tyre-chain Super Dæk Service, which now targets the increasing number of women who handle their car and its equipment all by themselves.
“The number of single women is increasing. And add to that the fact that many women have declared themselves independent in traditional male areas such as the car,” says HR manager Jerry Fogh of SDS.
He has been in charge of a development process in which the management team played the learning business game, Breakaway, together with the consultancy People & Performance. To sum up in a very few words, the game is about thinking non-traditional thoughts.
“We started to analyse how we could make a difference and stand out in the market without spending huge amounts of money. And we can make a difference to women,” explains Jerry Fogh.
One of the ideas was to launch a free magazine for women. Regional Manager Søren Glob of SDS had the idea during a brainstorm with an external agency, who at the beginning found the idea a little too wild. But now the magazine is out with a circulation of 400,000, according to Jerry Fogh, and the SDS Magazine has been wrapped with the customer magazine of Matas (the Danish equivalent of Boots).
The style and even the smell of a women’s magazine is consistently carried through. For example, ’10 summer tips for personal care’ has been designed as any other spread on feminine care products, except anti-wrinkle creams and powder puffs have been replaced by more robust items such as spider wrenches, lock oil, polishing cloths and wipers.
In addition to the magazine, SDS has also arranged a women’s day, where they invite customers to brunch in their local SDS workshop, and teach them to change tyres and bulbs as well as how to check and maintain cars. It is all free and men are not allowed.
“We would like to do more for women so that they become attached to us as customers. And the reactions to our initiatives have been overwhelming, so we are planning more women’s days,” says Jerry Fogh. According to him there have been no sulky reactions from feminists who feel that the tyre company is condescending to them because of the combination of a women’s magazine and car maintenance.
“At least, no one has contacted us with such reactions. I think the reason for that is that women feel they can benefit from spending time reading our magazine and attending our events.”