Commentary

iVillage Remodels

Female-friendly online community iVillage hasn’t really marketed itself since its launch nearly 12 years ago, says Linda Boff, who, as chief marketing officer, would know. It hasn’t needed to, boasting 16 million visitors a month and a half-million users on its message boards.

In fact, comScore Networks Media Metrix ranked iVillage one of the top 50 Web sites in October 2006 with almost 18 million unique visitors.

But the company has recently decided it needs a bit of a makeover. Purchased last year by NBC Universal, the site launched a campaign at the end of 2006 that includes its first TV commercials in more than five years. The campaign coincides with the launch of an interactive, online TV show, and redefines the word “village.”

“If iVillage can stand for something, we want it to stand for connection,” Boff says. “If to ‘Google’ means to search, then we want the word ‘village’ to mean to connect.”

The show, “iVillage Live,” which streams at iVillageLive.com and airs on select NBC stations, lets viewers participate via live chat and voting. Each of the three TV spots, created by Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners, features a woman logging on to iVillage for advice: For example, after a clueless male stranger pats a very pregnant belly and says, “You are huge!”

T-shirts distributed to influencers such as female yoga teachers, radio personalities, and bartenders feature the slogan “Let’s Village” on the back, and catchy, branded language like “iDiet, iCrave, iCheat” on the front. An iVillage loft in Second Life hosts events.

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