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International Women's Day Marketing Takeaways

Thursday 14th March

Blog Author Beth Perrin by Beth Perrin

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International Women's Day Marketing Takeaways

Thursday 14th March 2024

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International Women’s Day takes place every year on 8th March and is a global event celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It aims to raise awareness about discrimination and encourages people worldwide to take action to drive gender equality in their communities, at work, at home and beyond. This year, the campaign theme for IWD was ‘Inspire Inclusion’, motivating everyone to recognise the unique perspectives and contributions of women from all walks of life - including those from marginalised communities.

Let’s take a look at some of the best social media campaigns shared by brands and organisations for International Women’s Day 2024, and discover how marketing initiatives can be used to highlight important social issues and empower audiences.

 

GoPro: Inspiring POVs

Camera brand GoPro celebrated the occasion by sharing a series of action-packed POV videos across its social channels that were shot, edited and written by women from the GoPro family. The brand said: “If there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that the badass women of GoPro are the ones trailblazing what’s possible with our cameras - and in life in general, [whether they’re an] athlete, creator, mum, mountaineer, ocean activist, internal employee or friend of the brand”.

GoPro acknowledged that although its female community members are championed every day of the year, IWD is the perfect time to reinstate that a woman’s place is wherever she thrives. The brand also encouraged fans to post their own clips celebrating themselves or the women in their lives, and to submit them to its ongoing GoPro Awards program wherein top filmmakers can earn cash and recognition for their videos.

 

 

England Football & Disney

Ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup last year, England Football and Disney unveiled a new animated short film called Ella: A Modern Day Fairytale. It tells the story of Ella, a primary school girl who follows her passion to play football, overcoming barriers along the way and receiving help from her ‘three Lioness Godmothers’, Leah Williamson, Lucy Bronze and Lauren James, who all feature as Disney-inspired animated characters. To celebrate International Women’s Day this year (and to connect the campaign with World Book Day, which took place the day before), England Football encouraged fans to visit Disney’s London flagship store where they could grab a copy of the book version of the film for free.

 

 

The FA’s head of development, Louise Gear, said: “[The book] aims to provide opportunities for girls in schools up and down the country to play the game they love from an early age. [It] highlights the barriers that many girls face when trying to play football, and we hope this not only inspires more girls to have the courage to play, but changes perceptions in the playground.”

 
 

The FA: #LetGirlsPlay

In association with the campaign above, the FA also used International Women’s Day to promote its ongoing #LetGirlsPlay initiative, which launched in 2021 with the aim of allowing more girls to feel the mental and physical benefits of exercise through playing football - without barriers or stereotypes. It hosted the Biggest Ever Football Session which saw over 465,000 girls from 4,900 schools across England engaging in the sport at the same time. Together with England Football, it shared photos and video clips on its social pages of girls taking part in the event in different towns and cities, and celebrated the record-breaking number of participants.

 

 
 

Spotify: EQUAL

In 2021 Spotify launched EQUAL, an always-on global program that drives equity for women in music and shines a spotlight on the female artists, engineers, and producers who continue to be vastly underrepresented in the music industry. On International Women’s Day, the brand used its social presence and newsroom to look at how the campaign has impacted artists around the world so far, and shared a selection of eye-catching infographics depicting some of the program’s accomplishments since its launch, which include:

• 14.8 million women artists discovered through EQUAL playlists in 2023

• 1.3 billion editorial streams received by EQUAL artists within the first month of joining the program

• Over 1,000 EQUAL ambassadors received increased support through editorial, partnerships and marketing

Bel Aztiria, Lead of Social and Equity Music Programs at Spotify said: “Since its inception, our mission to foster equity for the diverse voices of women in audio has resonated in studios and communities and on stages worldwide. We’re honoured to continue collaborating with iconic and emerging artists this year and highlighting women audiobook and podcast creators in our EQUAL hub. On International Women’s Day, we recognise the historical significance and continue championing audio content created by women. We’re committed to elevating the voices and contributions of women all year round.”

 

 
 

Adobe: Sundance Festival

Adobe honoured International Women’s Day by highlighting the importance of women in the filmmaking industry, speaking to a selection of stars at the Sundance Film Festival about how empowering it is for women to see their experiences depicted on screen and posting clips from their interviews on its social pages. Film studios are still shying away from hiring female directors and statistically aren’t backing women directors or producers nearly as much as their male counterparts, and Adobe wanted to highlight this by sharing perspectives from the women who are right at the heart of the industry and therefore know how it operates.

 

 

In a separate IWD campaign, Adobe also spoke to 11 inspirational women in tech who are pioneering the world of customer experience, describing them as: “[Women who] prioritise world-class products, customer needs, and inclusive work environments”, and stating that: “Their resilience, talent, and innovation not only inspire change, but also pave the way for a brighter, more inclusive future”. The lineup included Nicole Allen, director of marketing engineering at Microsoft, Cynthia Chapple, founder and managing director of Black Girls Do STEM, and Jessica Jensen, chief marketing officer at Indeed. This campaign aimed to demonstrate how the impact of gender diversity in companies cannot be overlooked, citing studies that highlight the obstacles women face in promotions, growth and pay equity.

 

 
 

Ford: Dear Car Girl

In collaboration with New York based creative agency Wieden+Kennedy, Ford created a short film called Dear Car Girl, which it describes as: “An ode to women in auto everywhere, from the off-roaders and car-builders to the racers, engineers and beyond”. Directed by Jihye Ku, the video stars prominent female figures from the car world such as Dee Bryant, stunt driver and frequent Ford collaborator, and Gabby Downing, racer, car-builder and Bronco Ambassador. To accompany the main film, the brand also produced individual Q&A videos that dive deeper into each woman’s story and shared these across its social channels, followed up with a #CarGirl UGC prompt to encourage other women to post about what makes them a car girl.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Ford Mustang (@fordmustang)

 
 

Minecraft: Build A Better World

The gaming industry is notoriously dominated by men, an imbalance that Minecraft chose to tackle on International Women’s Day by sharing the stories of four women who are “building a better world through the power of play, block by block” - Annie Chenn, Kayleen Walters, Ada Duan, and Åsa Bredin. The campaign celebrates the fact that more and more women are beginning to pursue career paths in gaming and that creative tech workplaces are becoming more diverse, as well as outlining why gaming should be normalised as a hobby for women and girls too.

Kayleen Walters praised Minecraft for the way it “embraces diversity and inclusion as well as safety”, and also spoke about the importance of creating digital content that appeals to, and resonates with, varied audiences - “Minecraft has hundreds of millions of players but has even more fans. They engage through our content, so they might be online on YouTube or following social media or purchasing consumer products, so we want to make sure that we’re expanding our ecosystem and creating new content for all of those Minecraft fans, including those who don’t play.”

 

 
 

Summary

These are just some of the great campaigns that brands and organisations shared for International Women’s Day 2024 with the aim of raising awareness about gender inequality, biases and stereotypes in their respective industries. It’s increasingly important for companies to communicate their values and call out issues they support on social media as part of their corporate social responsibility programs - in fact, 66% of consumers say that brands should take public stands on social and political issues, and 58% of them are open to this happening on social media. If you aren’t sure where to begin, national and global events like IWD present ample opportunities to start talking about the subjects that matter most to your brand.

What was your favourite campaign for International Women’s Day? Did your business get involved? Drop us a DM on Instagram @3sixfivesocialmedia to share your thoughts!


 
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