Marketing Profs

When I first heard the title of USA Network's new miniseries, "The Starter Wife," I almost choked on my chilled latte. Good grief—40+ years of women's rights and the strong, sexy, empowered Sex and the City women of the '90s—and we're back to the '50s.

I imagined that "The Starter Wife" was the precursor to a long line of clueless-about-women TV programming—to be followed by "The Trophy Wife," "The Botoxed and the Beautiful," and "The Mommy Wars," all containing the requisite catfights, tight clothing, and powerless women with powerful men.

But, thankfully, this housewife is not that desperate—the title is just a catchy handle that refers to the past plot that leads to this sassy USA Network series, based on the novel of the same name by Gigi Levangie Grazer. I watched the first episode on May 31. The Starter Wife character, Molly Kagan, is played by Debra Messing—as strong, smart, funny, and beautiful as always. She's just been dumped by her Hollywood mogul husband and is learning to stand on her own two feet again.

Her character is refreshingly natural and down to earth compared with the other Hollywood residents in the show. Molly Kagan is more "one of us" (I even bought her "not from the manor born" student loan story) and not "one of them," and women will relate to her.

So, first of all, let's give it up for Unilever! This company has not made any false moves on the marketing-to-women front, and the "presenting" sponsorship for its Pond's brand is another smart strategy in a long line of savvy business decisions. With its sponsorship, Pond's gets its name linked to the show in all online and offline media, plus product placement in the show, integrated marketing, and promotions—and most importantly, a new brand image.

Pond's is helping to not only rebuild Starter Wife Molly Kagan's life but also rejuvenating its tired and "old" brand. When I say "old," I don't just mean that Pond's has been around for more than 100 years. I mean that when most women think of Pond's, they think of the jar of white goop in their granny's closet, next to the hair rollers and smelling salts. Pond's said "little old lady" like no other brand did. But no more.

As the first of several TV commercials says, "This is the new Pond's." The thought-provoking copy in the commercial promotes a new image of the Pond's brand and of women "on the other side of 40—gorgeous, confident, and cool." With the hip cachet of "The Starter Wife" and its insightful marketing campaign, Pond's is starting over too—and will surely succeed.

Not only are the script and visuals on course to be relevant to women, the marketing campaign that has gone into "The Starter Wife" is commendable for following so many powerful marketing to women principles.

• Corporate Halo—The "corporate halo" principle is one of the strongest "marketing to women" tools in any strategic plan because it can help a brand differentiate from the competition in a meaningful way. This principle taps into women's overarching desire to take care of the world and give back to society, and they support companies that do too.
  
  As part of the launch of "The Starter Wife presented by Pond's," USA Network and iVillage partnered to designate May as "Re-start Month" and are making donations to Dress for Success, a nonprofit that helps low-income women in their career efforts. For every woman who made an online "personal pledge to start over in her own life," $1 will be donated to Dress for Success.