Advertising: Listening to what the women want

A top agency has been consulting a female focus group in an effort to make its advertisements less masculine. Clare Rudebeck sits in on a meeting

"I just hated the PG Tips ads with the chimps," says Sue Cross, a personnel manager from Essex. "I thought they were so anachronistic. Eventually, they got rid of them. I think I had something to do with that." She could be right.

Sue Cross is a member of a women's panel for advertising agency BMP DDB. For the last 10 years, she and seven other women have met monthly to be shown the agency's new ads. Campaigns for Marmite, Budweiser, Volkswagen, Sony and Vodafone have all been run past them before being launched. They have given their opinions and the agency has taken note.

The importance of a woman's touch in the advertising world was illustrated last week when Wonderbra manufacturers Gossard ditched their advertisers for being sexist. The lingerie giant felt TBWA's campaigns were attracting the wrong kind of attention – that is, male, not female. Many women will wonder why it took them so long to realise. The girl on the street could have told them in 1994 when she first rolled her eyes at the "Hello boys!" poster.

The BMP group's meetings are a combination of girl's night in, university seminar and an episode of Big Brother. The eight women, aged 30 to 50, sit in armchairs around a low table littered with wine, crisps and beer bottles. Each has a note pad. All eyes are trained on the seminar leader, who presents some of the agency's latest work. The group scribbles notes and a lively discussion ensues. At the end of the room is a two-way mirror, behind which agency staff sit to eavesdrop on the session. The discussion is also taped so that it can be shown to the agency's clients.

This set-up is not unusual in the advertising world. What is unique is how long the group has been together. "Normally, focus groups will be brought together for only a few sessions, and will be from a much narrower profile," says Richard Butterworth, the joint head of planning at BMP. "These women must be one of the longest-running panels in the business. The sheer quantity of famous campaigns and product ideas they have influenced is quite remarkable."

After winning their battle against the chimps, the group was involved in working on the new PG Tips ads, which feature plasticine birds. "We were shown some of the early work on the ads and we rejected some of the proposed characters," says Sue Cross. A current ad features a bird called Maggie who, following their input, was made more bossy.

The women have also been a vital final check on ads that were about to be aired for the first time. "We made a Volkswagen ad where a lamp post is covered in cladding because people keep walking into it while they're staring at a poster of a car. We thought it was great," remembers BMP's Richard Butterworth. "But when we showed it to the panel, they didn't understand it. Luckily, we had lots of extra material and could add an extra shot at the end to make the storyline clear. It turned out to be a very successful ad for us."

The women are paid £35 for each session, which lasts about three hours. Their tastes and interests are very different. When they were asked to buy a bra of their choice as research for lingerie company Berlei, Sue Cross came back with a Wonderbra while Vanessa Kearns, 54, a grandmother from Surrey, chose a sports bra. What they share is an ability to discuss any subject.

With the creative departments of advertising agencies still dominated by men, their perspectives have been invaluable. "A number of the scripts we've seen were clearly written by two young men," says Sue Cross. "Some were quite sexist, in the assumptions they made about housewives, for example. We could point this out to them."

But the panel's reign is at an end. The group held its final meeting last week. BMP has decided that as its client base has changed, it needs fresh blood. It says it will be recruiting a younger group of people "who are more technologically aware".