Inspiring International Women’s Day Ad Campaign Ideas By Famous Brands

The theme of The International Women’s Day 2022 is announced as “Break the Bias.” “Imagine a gender equitable world,” says the manifesto for the campaign theme. “A world without prejudice, stereotypes, or discrimination.”

Every year, brands are taking the responsibility to raise awareness against bias and they’re taking action for equality and celebrating women’s achievement. Contributing gives brands a chance to show what they’re doing to support gender equality and identify themselves as positive forces in their audiences. 

When planning an International Women’s Day brand campaign, companies should keep this subject in mind and consider how they may demonstrate a lack of bias in their own marketing and beyond.

It’s a fantastic opportunity for corporations to participate in the celebration of women’s social, economic, cultural, and political accomplishments. Organizations all across the world will launch campaigns promoting female empowerment, gender equality, and women’s rights.

Inspiring International Women’s Day Campaigns by Famous Brands

Supporting community organizations to engaging customers on social media, global brands are getting behind International Women’s Day in new and innovative ways. From Calvin Klein’s provocative campaign for the Asian market to Netflix’s effort for making room for diversity, there are different ways brands can lend their support to International Women’s Day.

If you’re looking for some inspiration from the best International Women’s Day campaigns? We have collected our favorite examples.

Volkswagen – My Favourite Things

You might suppose this one as a race car-kind of spot, but Volkswagen India’s ad campaign is an IWD one. With the featuring music, smokes and the drifts visual effects, the brand tricks users to make believe that this is a race-car ad.

The 52-second spot shows a Race-car Driver drifting the car, performing adrenaline and outrageous donuts on the asphalt track. Stepping out, revealing while removing their helmet, the driver turns out to be a young lady, 21 year old Shivani Pruthvi and she’s an NCC cadet, a medical student and a professional race driver.

To empower diversity and change, Volkswagen’s spot is a successful one among the automotive industry.

Calvin Klein – #MyCalvins

Beauty, gender and size diversity… A movement to embrace diversity in all its forms is all the rage in the Western fashion world, but it has yet to find fertile ground in Asian culture. That trend may be changing, however. For this year’s International Women’s Day on March 8th, American luxury fashion brand, Calvin Klein, is on a mission to empower Asian women to challenge gender norms.

The challenge was to devise a campaign which would encourage consumers to re-think Calvin Klein Underwear, shining a light on the diverse collections available. Channel focus: Digital and in-store activations. Calvin Klein engaged 10 women from all walks of life, from across Asia all who made an empowering statement.

In recognition of Women’s Day 2019, Calvin Klein is rolling out an advertising campaign tailored for the Asian market, focusing on empowerment and challenging traditional gender norms. This campaign examines conceptions of womanhood within Asian cultures and is centered around women making bold personal statements about their gender identity and the obstacles they face within their communities.

For the campaign, each of these individuals performs a monologue on the themes of confidence and courage and the importance of authenticity and self-discovery in the face of pressure and obstacles from wider society.

PayPal – #BalanceForBetter

PayPal’s theme of International Women’s Day 2019 was Balance for Better – aiming to forge a more gender balanced world and raise awareness against bias.

PayPal support this theme in their video which features female business leaders having a discussion on the ways we can bring gender balance to the workplace. Entrepreneurs including Benefit’s Lisa Edwards describe their experiences of being a woman in business and offer advice for women looking to grow their own business.

Throughout March, PayPal pledge to donate to charities helping women around the world when customers use PayPal to pay for purchases in select retailers run by female CEOs.

Content Manager at PayPal said,

It’s really encouraging to see female business leaders talking about their experiences and their advice is definitely something I’ll take into my professional life. I also like the way PayPal are shining a light on some female-led brands and the sentiment is really ingrained in PayPal’s culture with things like their Unity Program.

Netflix – Make Room

Actress Uzo Aduba fronts a new ad for Netflix touting how the streaming platform makes room for the kinds of stories that don’t always find their way in Hollywood, like those around women and other underserved communities.

In the Red&Co spot, Aduba addresses the camera, asking questions about diversity and and boundaries, tells about the world is full of those rooms–and their limits. It’s a sharp commentary on Hollywood historically can be difficult to navigate, and succeed in, for diverse creators.

Have you ever been in a room and didn’t see anyone else like you? Have you ever thought you definitely belonged but were told subtly, or not so subtly, that you didn’t?

The world is full of those rooms–and their limits. Let’s make room–for voices yet to be heard, for stories yet to be toll. We’re making room for you to find them, and for them to find you.

More room. More stories. More voices.

But in the universe of Netflix, the spot posits that t’s a completely different story. It follows Aduba wandering into scenes from comedian Hannah Gadsby’s Netflix special, Alfonso Cuaron’s Oscar-winning film Roma and onto the wrestling ring of Glow. She even encounters herself, in her Emmy-winning role as Suzanne Crazy Eyes Warren in Orange Is the New Black.

Reebok – Bruises Can Be Good

Isobar, the digital agency from Dentsu that handles the digital solutions for Reebok India, released a thought-provoking campaign – #BruisesCanBeGood on International Women’s Day. Launched with a social experiment, it makes a compelling statement on societal insights.

According to the National Family Health Survey, every third woman in India has faced domestic violence of various forms since age 15. Therefore, #BruisesCanBeGood brings to light the harsh reality and the prevalent mind-set of the society by involving real audience. Emphasizing the importance, the spot aims to establish the need for self-defence education from a young age. Featuring a real combat artist, the social experiment further underlines the brand’s overarching communication for women, #FitToFight.

Silvia Tallon, Senior Marketing Director, Reebok India, said,

Our idea behind “Bruises can be good” was to showcase the skewed lens with which our society views bruises and women. The ingrained perceptions of bruises being violence inflicted, shadows the inner strength of the woman and allows us to undermine them. Since combat training is in our brand gene, Reebok honours these bruises as a mark of physical strength and mental toughness that can face any challenge. On International Women’s Day, we salute women who beat the odds and are “fit to fight” physically, mentally and socially.

Lysanne Louter, Co-Founder & Creative Director at Fluency shared her insightful thoughts about diversity in our Q&A session, mentioning the importance of a women-owned and operated digital marketing agency:

Women need to blaze their own trail and reinvent the agency model by placing women’s unique needs at the heart of their organizations. Positioning ourselves as a women-centred agency definitely demands more of us as leaders but it also sets us apart from our competition.

Thanks to all women who make this world a better place with their perspectives and the important decisions they make.