A+E Networks' Amy Baker on Building a "Fempire"

Lifetime has been around since 1984 and has been a leading cable brand during that time But they recently realized that the network needed to be even more invested in the women39s space to remain relevant to today39s female consumers amp160To do this they embarked on an extensive cultural research study late last year which concentrated on all aspects of a woman39s day quotWe recruited more than 465 women and asked them over many weeks to log what they did felt and watchedquot Amy told me quotThe group was a highly diverse one and yet had many things in common amp160We wanted to understand everything about themquotCharlene Weisler What was the ultimate goal of the study and what were some conclusionsAmy Baker Essentially we wanted to understand the state of womanhood today What we found was that there areamp160a lot of things women love about being a woman including motherhood female friendships and the emotional intelligence associated with being a woman amp160Unfortunately there are still many things that women do not like Too often they feel undervaluedamp160 They suffer from inequality especially in pay which is a big conversation going on todayamp160 Women do not stand up for themselves as much as they want to for fear of being labeled difficult or worse quotbitchyquotamp160 Our research identified a universal response regardless of age race or socioeconomic background that women rallied around Strengthamp160 Women look to content for characters who convey strengthCharlene What are the next steps for Lifetime with these key learningsAmy amp160We aim to be the aggregator and curator of the new feminist voice in entertainment We are building our brand around strong womenamp160 We are going to be unapologetic fun and edgy but never too earnest or preachyamp160 And it is never girl against girlamp160 We will always be inclusive amp160Of most importance our voice will speak to all women with heart and humoramp160amp160We needed a word to capture this fun attitude for our consumers and advertisers we are calling this our Fempireamp160 The Fempire serves as a rallying cry for being positive bold and fierce amp160We39ll continue our research efforts through the summer and beyond and plan to have even more insights about women to share in the fallCharlene Why do this nowAmy While we were doing our study we noticed a major cultural shift happeningamp160 Women started to dominate in almost every category of pop culture and project images of strength from Taylor Swift to Beyoncamp233 in music Tina Fey and Amy Schumer in comedy and Katniss Everdeen from quotThe Hunger Gamesquotamp160 And actresses like Jennifer Lawrence who portrays Katniss Everdeen are using their platform to advocate for equality for womenamp160 Interesting enough there is a fourth wave of feminism going on now that is influenced by technology and empowermentCharlene How will the Lifetime brand transition to FempireAmy This has been a transition over the last four years We now have a name to it and have deeper insights Our audience is already there in terms of how they see usamp160 In fact in recent focus groups they told us that their perception of us has changedamp160 They no longer see us as the quotdamsel in distressquot network of oldamp160 They actually see us as the network that empowers women and useamp160us as a scratch for their emotional itches They already see us as a Fempire amp8230 the place they turn to for strengthCharlene Here is a question many of us face How do you achieve worklife balanceAmy I39ve always prioritized where I need to beamp160 I never missed my kids39 big events but everything is a tradeoff I go to their small events where I think it will make a difference in their lives I tell women with whom I work to take care of themselves which will make them stronger at work Work and life balance is a marathon not a sprintCharlene What advice can you give a young woman in college today about a career in mediaAmy In general choose a career that you are passionate about Don39t worry about your first or even your second job Just get experience and enjoy the journey There is no book of instructions regarding a career path College kids today may feel that they cannot afford to take any risks They need that internship on their resume But you need to take risks Even if a job seems like a big detour that is okayThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers amp160amp160

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A+E Networks' Amy Baker on Building a "Fempire"

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Charlene Weisler

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A+E Networks' Amy Baker on Building a "Fempire"

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