Bag Borrow or Steal provides its users instant access to luxurious accessories. Customers rent designer handbags, enjoy them for a varied amount of time, and return them to try another. Interested in saving some money this year? Customers can also buy gently loved accessories or sell the company their used designer bags.

Nestled in Seattle Washington, home to a number of great retail innovators, Bag Borrow or Steal headquarters houses 40 hard working employees that dedicate their days to providing quality service and products. According to Russ, this is the most exciting time for Bag Borrow or Steal. The entire team wakes up everyday excited to get to the office and make things better. “We are completely focused on making the customer experience amazing, and we won’t stop until we achieve greatness.”

One of the ways Russ hopes to achieve this success is with the new addition of Womenkind as its marketing and creative agency partners. “Our creative team had really disappeared and we were using some consultants here and there. As I was trying to determine what we needed to move forward, we started talking with different agencies to see what they could offer us. One of them said they thought Womenkind would be a perfect match.” And hence, the relationship began.

Since most of the Bag Borrow or Steal customers are women, the idea of an agency run by women and focused solely on women seemed like a natural fit. “Really from the first phone call with them I knew we would be working together. It was that instant connection and recognition that Womenkind had; they filled a void at Bag Borrow or Steal. It was meant to be.”

As if we had feed Russ the line, he explained the importance of insights in creating strategic marketing solutions for a brand. “Insights are important because we are in the fashion experience business, providing an alternative avenue for experiencing great fashion. Insights into how women feel and interact with brands and fashion are key to being successful.” Of course, we couldn’t agree more.

We are very excited about the future for Bag Borrow or Steal and have set high expectation for their fantastic company and our work. Check out their website, their Twitter and their Facebook, and make sure to keep your eyes peeled because in the words of Russ himself, were going to “Make it rain in 2012!”

“Cuckoo for Cocoa” by L.V. Anderson for Slate

Love chocolate?  We sure do!  Despite mixed results from studies about women and their chocolate passion, the truth is that marketing is the main reason why American women are stereotyped as avid adorers.

“Men are from Foursquare and Women are from Facebook” by Paul Sawers for Social Media

A very interesting concept, especially since there have always been obvious differences between both genders.  The interesting part is that these are also reflected in their social media habits, from the way they use social networks to their actual media preferences.

“What I know About Love Now That I’m In My 20s” by Michelle Cacciatore for The Huffington Post

The first of a five-article series, each article is written by a different woman in the respective age range.  Each article gives the reader her insights on love and what she has learned now that she is a certain age.  If you are feeling a bit drained, especially from seeing all the Valentine’s Day decorations, these articles are sure going to make you feel better.

“Fast Company: The Women of Twitter” by Jacob Weisberg for Vogue

This article highlights Twitter’s Katie Jacobs Stanton and Chloe Sladden including the happenings behind close doors at the company’s San Francisco headquarters, where apparently women are an essential part of each work day.  This article gives us a little bit of background on these two women and the huge impact they’ve had on Twitter’s continuous success.

“Will peer pressure help women?” by Patricia Sellers for CNN Money

There is no manual telling women how to be successful, and with today’s constantly changing business world it wouldn’t really matter anyway.  However, one thing that many successful women have in common is the ability to influence peers, and according to this quick article, Sheryl Sandberg seems to be the leading man.  Excuse us: leading woman.  (Pun intended!)

“Super Bowl Commercials 2012: A Disappointment – Especially for Women” by Emma Gray for The Huffington Post.

Many writers and expert critics are bashing this 2012’s Super Bowl commercials, claiming an excessive lack of creativity.  More importantly, women are talking about the way these advertisements portrayed them, and believe us when we say reactions have not been positive.  Not only were advertisements seen as sexist, but word on the streets points to the fact that any commercials hardly included women at all.

“ESSENCE: Times have changed for women in business” by Heather Stanek for The Reporter

This article is absolutely right.  Fortunately, women have come a long way, especially in the workplace.  In today’s world, women have more training opportunities thanks to some early leaders, and can now partake in job categories that were once taboo.  Meet some of these groundbreaking women and read about how times have changed according to them.

“Fellating Burgers: This Is Everything That’s Wrong With Advertising” by Maria Pawlowska for HyperVocal

Bad advertising is bad advertising, no doubt about it.  This article provides us with a female perspective on ads that objectify women.  Need we say more?  Once you see for yourself, we highly (and sadly) doubt it.

“Citi Launches the New Women & Co. and Makes the Acclaimed Personal Finance Source Available to All Women” by  Marketwire via Comtex

Previously, Women & Co., a personal finance source for women, unveiled its website redesign after receiving plenty of feedback from its users.  Here is the press release they sent out on February 7^th giving the detailed information about their reasoning and the top five conversations they suggest women should have in regards to their personal financial goals.

“What’s A Girl Gotta Do to Break The Glass Ceiling?” by Nell Merlino for Forbes

This articles talks the talk, and walks the walk.  Not only does it give us a perspective and information about women in the business world breaking through and making positive changes for all, but it also provides us with statistics hrough the years and historical data` about those women that are moving things along

“Women screaming mad about JC Penney ad” by John Matarese at ABC Action News

It’s a new year, and JcPenney is making big changes this February.  They have a new logo design, daily sales and are doing away with their weekly newspaper offers.  However, some aren’t sure that their new television commercials are geared in the best direction, calling their strategy “in your face” advertising.  This is so much so that viewers have been filing complaints since the ads launched on television.

“Do Women Really Ask Tougher Questions When Vehicle Shopping than Men?” by Auto Remarketing

Who says women don’t know anything about cars?  They sure do, and apparently request more information than men before making a purchase.  Based on information analyzed from 2011, women used car-savvy language many more times than men, asking auto dealers for “third-party vehicle inspections” at a considerable percentage difference.  Women also asked tougher questions, perhaps keeping in mind that purchasing a vehicle is an investment to be based on more than physical appearance before jumping the gun?

“When Marketing to Women, Don’t Be A Man: Ask For Directions” by Stephanie Holland at She-conomy­_­

Women from three different countries were polled to share their thoughts on the mistakes businesses make when marketing to women.  These mistakes have been pointed out occasionally, but here is an article that compiles them and further explains why not taking the extra steps to really know the female demographic can be more risky than businesses may think.

“Whitney Thompson Super Bowl Commercial Rejected Because Of Anti-Plus Size Bias?” By Shamika Sanders at The Urban Daily

This article takes a look at one of Pepsi Max’s Super Bowl commercials, which angered the African-American demographic, but especially outraged African-American women.  Take a look and decide for yourself if the race card is an issue here.  In the Pepsi ad, a black woman is always angry and pushy with her husband.  In the end, she accidentally throws a can of Pepsi Max, knocking out a white woman.

“Dating Site’s Ludicrous Claim: NBC Rejects Plus-Size Women Ad in Super Bowl” by Ken Wheaton at Advertising Age

Whitney Thompson, one of “America’s Next Top Model” winners who is a plus-size model herself, has launched a plus-size dating website called The Big and the Beautiful.  Upon sending a commercial for approval to be aired during this Super Bowl 2012, it was rejected.  NBC claims it doesn’t meet their standards, but Thompson believes they didn’t approve it because it features bigger women.

Since the desire of wanting to be a princess is so popular among young girls, it’s shocking that it took this long for a company to take that idea and build a successful empire with it. We believe that the key to their success lies within the sheer simplicity of their marketing campaign. They understood that girls didn’t want to spend a fortune on cosmetics and be bombarded with unrealistic images of what they were supposed to look like. Women don’t want to be treated like they were just kids either; they simply wanted to live the fantasy of being a princess. Majolica Majorca, brilliantly I may add, were able to make that dream a reality.

When you take a closer look, the story of Majolica Majorca’s rise to success is a fairy-tale in and of itself. How many companies can say they’ve met their yearly sales goal within six weeks alone? The concept was simple: they sold their products in beautiful, whimsical packages, and chose a price range that the average young woman could afford ($2.50-$25). Imagine, for as little as the price of a coffee, a 16-year-old girl could start living out her fantasy of actually feeling like a princess.

The genius part of the story is that Majolica Majorca’s parent company is Shiseido, the oldest hair care and cosmetic producer in the entire world. The thinking is, once young women develop a true loyalty to Majolica Majorca they’ll make the transition to Shiseido once they’re a bit older, therefore staying under the same umbrella and becoming a loyal customer of the brand for life. And why not? Since Majolica Majorca was able to deliver on their promise to turn young girls into princesses, these same girls, more likely than not, will expect Shiseido to deliver excellent results as well.

When the fantasy brand was ready to launch their new fragrance Majo Romantica, they employed a very strategic marketing move that propelled them to even more success than they expected. They collaborated with the popular brand Haagen-Dazs, as they had a new fondant-chocolate ice cream flavor launching. Just like Majo Romantica, it was “melty” and “sweet,” deeming it a perfect partnership. Collaborating with such a mainstream brand brought the makeup brand to convenience stores and drugstores worldwide, and the company jumped to 23% market share almost immedietly.

Once the makeup brand had already established a loyal customer base, they decided to take things to the next level. Joining forces with Park Hotel Tokyo, they created a Hotel Majorca room, designed by the brand’s creative staff. It had the full range of Majolica Majorca cosmetics on display for guests to play around with. Now that the fans of the brand already felt like princesses, they could stay in this room and actually live out their fantasy of being one in a space that embodied everything the brand stood for. Eventually they created a limited-time-only Hotel Majorca suite, which went for $615 a night and sold out within minutes.

Majolica Majorca demonstrates just how successful a company can be if they’re able to access the innermost dreams of the demographic they’re reaching out to and make those dreams become a reality. This is especially true when it comes to beauty products aimed at young women, since this demographic is already so concerned about physical appearance.

We here are WomenKind love that this is a story where everyone wins. Not only does Majolica Majorca succeed financially through very smart marketing strategies, but they’ve achieved an even greater goal than that – making young women feel beautiful, confident and princess-like in a generation where so many teenage girls do not.

Support for ‘Bald Barbie’ Swells on Facebook by Kim Carollo and Serena Marshall from ABC News

A women’s Facebook movement to urge Mattel to produce a bald version of its famously blonde Barbie doll has generated a big following in an extremely short time. The Barbie will hopefully be used to help young children cope with hair loss that happens to them or to a loved one. This is a truly fascinating and inspiration story that is gaining a lot of press and hopefully will result in a specialty doll in the upcoming year.

 New Nike Women Ad- “My Butt is Big” by Sir Lucas Leftfoot from NikeBlog.com

This post has minimal writing, but the message is clear and a fantastic addition to the advertising news this week. Nike has rolled out a new print and e-ad for Nike Women, embracing the different shapes of women’s bodies. The concept and execution is fantastic and I’m sure it will speak to a huge demographic that isn’t used to being targeted to.

Alone Again, Naturally by Dominique Browning from The New York Times

This is a fantastic article that dissects the single male and female and their major differences. This empowering piece highlights the independent single lady and the many comforting decisions she is allowed to make when not tied down. The article is funny, well written and most importantly, Browning gives us an honest glimpse into living a single life as a woman today.

 Advertising and the War on Women by Meghan O’Neill from Orbis

According to this article, it seems as if women are further away from equality today than they have been in decades thanks in large part to the media, the advertisers that fund them, and the masses who consume the information they are fed. This article is a true literally work of art, presenting history, facts, statistics and insights on advertisings affects on the women of this world.

Call It a Comeback: How Old Brands Become New by Mae Anderson from AJC

If you have any interest in advertising, marketing, branding or even business development, this article is absolutely perfect for you. Anderson walks us through particular companies that have staged their own comeback and details exactly how they did it.

“Marketers Wake Up To The Power Of Post 50 Pocketbooks” by Barbara Thau at The Huffington Post

Although the world of fashion and beauty continues to chase twenty-something’s, some surprising segments of these industries are slowly waking up to an older audience. Savvy brands are finally acknowledging the size and economic influence of boomer women and this article highlights them all.

“Online Advertising: A Targeting-rich Environment” by Colin Delany from C&E’s Technology Bites

Ad buyers have so many targeting options in the modern marketplace that many consultants and staffers get to feeling a bit overwhelmed by the wealth of choices. Technology Bytes is offering a helping hand this issue by breaking down some of the basics when it comes to your online ad targeting options.

“The Cross-Media Key to Reaching Women Online Is Trust” by Tessa Wegert at ClickZ

This article highlights the secrets of obtaining women’s trust and business. Packed full of statistics, insights and advice, this article is a must read for anyone interested in targeting women this New Year.

“Marketers: Are You Ignoring The Once, Highly Sought After, Female Baby Boomer?” By Stephanie Holland at SheEconomy

The baby boomers grew up being chased by marketers and advertisers that tailored products and brands to appeal to them. Now the median age of this cohort is 55, and many boomers feel as if they have dropped off many marketers’ radar. This article references Marti Barlettas book PrimeTime Women, and outlines helpful hints for understanding the boomer women.

“The 10 Best Commercials of 2011” by Tim Nudd at AdWeek

Adweek does it again with their fantastic ranking of The Best Commercials of 2011. All of the videos are completely different and truly represent a fantastic year in advertising.

Recently, during one of my morning blog scans, I came across an interesting video on a favorite blog of mine: Kicking Niche. Mary Dean, the blogs creator, is best known as the Creative Director behind Curves and an expert on Marketing to Women. Among other things, Dean articulates her perspective flawlessly and in the case of the 2010 Sienna SE viral campaign, she truly delivers.

Dean came across this video on one of her favorite new blogs, AdverGirl, who used the video to support what she sees as “a bunch of 40-somethings taking over the social mediasphere.” Dean believes that the commercial illustrates the power of a very under utilized emotion: Humor. Though I believe both women bring a unique and completely correct perspective to the table, I want to dive deeper into why this advertisement gained 10,000,000 views.

At a recent Advertising Women of New York (AWNY) Master Class titled Marketing Video Content for Luxury Fashion Brands, speakers Jessica Coghan and Emily Las from Starworks Group outlined the key methods for enriching a YouTuber’s experience. According to Jessica, including influential casting/directors, humor and a risqué tone are the three key ingredients in creating successful video campaigns.

First, it’s important to note that the use of talented actors Brian Huskey and Rachel Drummond are a key ingredient in the campaigns effectiveness. Both actors are serious improvisers with long careers and large fan bases. The idea is simple really. People like celebrities. If those celebrities say that they like a product or are willing to work for them, people will in turn like that product, too.  Celebrity endorsements, whether you believe them to work or not, build hype for video releases and boost interest in the product being showcased. If anything, people will watch the video for the celebrity and unknowingly become accustomed, aware and fans of the product overtime.

The second aspect of video that makes it so successful is the humor used. As Dean noted on her blog, humor is “woefully overlooked.” It’s clear that humor increases your chance of being remembered. When someone laughs or enjoys a viral video like this one, they are more likely to repost or send it a friend. As we know, word of mouth is key to any campaigns success. Advertising is about getting attention and the best way to get that attention is with strong visuals and humor. Just watch the commercial, I’m sure you will find some humor “hidden” in there somewhere.

The last aspect of the video that makes it a true winner is the risqué undertone. Anytime you integrate hip-hop into an advertisement you automatically insert a risqué feel. Even though the rap itself includes PC language, the physical gestures are taken directly from classic rap videos and the lyricist played with swears and women sexuality in a humorous manor. It’s creative, unexpected and draws you in instantaneously. The director was able to reference an intense amount of classically risqué aspects of rap and hip-hop videos, and due to the polar opposite subject matter, you can’t help but watch till the end.

This video is a fantastic find and a perfect example of what Jessica Coghan detailed a successful video campaign to be. It’s a perfect representation of how utilizing humor, celebrity endorsements and a risqué tone can boost your popularity as a brand and guarantee a viral following. Well done Sienna SE!

“Marketing to Mobil Moms” by Staff Reporter at BizzCommunity.com

Utilizing a 2011 report by Nielsen entitled Women of Tomorrow, this article highlights the growing influence women have on purchasing decisions around the world and also provide insight into their social media behavior.

“Ten Issues Marketers Should Have on Their 2012 Agenda” by Bob Liodice at AdAge

Mobile devices and social media have brought the ability to target ads to epic levels. This article highlights ten issues marketers will surely be discussing in boardrooms and brainstorms for months to come.

“How an Integrated Marketing Campaign Boosted IKEA’s Sales Over 7%” by Amy-Mae Elliot at Mashable.com

For several years, IKEA had achieved growth by opening new stores and thereby pulling in new customers. But in 2011, with only one new store opening planned, footfall could no longer be relied on to drive national growth. Read this article to see how their media and ad agencies boosted sales this year.

“Tips for Better Branding and Ad Creative” by Dianne Molina at Yahoo! Advertising Blog

Yahoo launched their new 2011 Insight Wrap-Up and 2012 Outlook e-magazine this week, featuring top tips, trends and best practices advertisers need to know. This article samples some of the great insights and supplies a link to their beautifully designed e-magazine.

“Marketing Industry’s 10 Biggest Stories of the Year” by AdAge

Simply put, this article highlights the big events that shocked the advertising, marketing — and sometimes the great — world in 2011. With the Japanese Earthquake, Occupy Wall Street and the rebound of Detroit all highlighted, this article has something for everyone.

Female comedians have been present in most of popular culture, allowing a great deal of funny women to make serious careers out of their fanatically humorous personalities. Headlining their own national tours, starring in sitcoms, publishing award-winning novels and producing their own reality series, women like Joan Rivers, Kathy Griffin, Betty White, Sarah Silverman and Tina Fey have made their mark and earned the respect of comedy-loving Americans.

So it’s surprising how many male comedians don’t think women are funny. Johnny Carson told Rolling Stone magazine: “The ones that try sometimes are a little aggressive for my taste. I’ll take it from a guy, but from women, sometimes, it just doesn’t fit too well.” Jerry Lewis told an audience that he “didn’t like any female comedians.” Even Tina Fey has admitted that she still hears people “insisting that women are not funny.” The list goes on of public figures declaring that women just aren’t as funny as men. Of course, we here at WomenKind couldn’t help but add our two cents.

We started by polling many of the women and men here at WomenKind, later expanding the questions about humor and gender to our families and close friends. Interestingly, nearly every respondent stated that they found male comics funnier than female comics. The difference, however, was that not a single person stated that women weren’t funny. This brought us to the greater issue, that of public respect and gender equality.

The real issue, of respecting one another in any public forum, has been around ever since we began breaking down large populations into smaller stereotypes of races, genders, ethnicities, and sexualities. We have publically spoken of “our opinions,” as if they didn’t hurt or impact others. As time has progressed, however, we’ve tried to avoid racist and sexist generalizations in hopes of creating a more accepting and loving society. Today, you would never state publically that all black men are athletic.

The issue here isn’t that public figures are stating their disapproval of particular female comics. In fact, that would be preferred. Instead, it’s about grouping others into arbitrary categories that deprive individuals of their individuality. In a world with over 3 billion women, surely some of them are funny.

We don’t pre-judge people by race, because it’s wrong. So let’s stand up and admit that though you may think some female comedians aren’t funny, it’s unhelpful to generalize about them all. It’s not just a woman thing; it’s a human respect thing. We’re better than that.