International Women’s Day Marketing – 7 Inspiring Ideas
Every year International Women’s Day is a celebration of women and their achievements across social, cultural, economic, and political arenas.
March 8th is a celebration of female trailblazers, and trendsetters, who inspire young women, the future generations.
It is a day when people take a step back to talk about the discrimination that exists based on gender and the need for gender equality. A day with such a crucial cause is naturally something brands cannot ignore.
About 70% of consumers consider it important for their favorite brands to take a public stand for a cause. So, brands looking to start meaningful conversations with their consumers often leverage important dates like International Women’s Day.
Remember that we live in a world where people like to actively share on social media. We live in a world where performative activism is predominant. But consumers frown upon brands that practice it. You do not want your International Women’s Day marketing ideas to look like just another causewashing effort.
How do you do that? How do you show consumers that you genuinely care and that your brand intends to genuinely support women? We have put together 7 creative and meaningful campaign ideas that work.
Let’s get started.
The Significance of International Women’s Day
We would be remiss if we downplayed the significance of this day even by a little. A lot of women and young girls, around the world, undergo the impact of a lot of inequality and unfair biases.
With International Women’s day, organizations contributing to changing this status quo come forward. And seeing this a ripple effect starts, inspiring conversations and commitments from individuals and organizations.
Moreover, it is also an opportunity for brands to show their customers that they care about the state of the world. A chance to take a stand for positive change. This is a big factor for Gen Z and Millennials in particular. Yes, Gen Z and Millennials expect brands to make real contributions, without it being mere lip-service.
So how you design your International Women’s day marketing and messaging matters a lot as well.
Designing your International Women’s Day marketing
It is good to have a roadmap before you enter into potentially controversial waters. And International Women’s Day campaigns are definitely in this category. Equality is a sensitive subject, so you have to approach it the right way.
A unique perspective and an out-of-the-box approach help you stand out in the crowd. Your customers will value your campaigns more, which means an increased engagement and brand recall value.
Understand the theme
Running a generic Women’s Day marketing campaign is not going to get you anywhere. Everyone knows when they start seeing pink-colored creatives around the first week of March that IWD is around the corner. And they’ll start to see all these posts as one. But you don’t want your post to get lost in the crowd, do you?
To ensure this, show your customers that you care. Every year there is a theme set for International Women’s Day. Invest time in understanding this theme and the reason behind it. Know what the goals set by the UN are, and what initiatives matter to your audience. Modeling your campaigns around these will bring you better success. And they ensure that your campaigns are relevant to your consumers and your brand too.
The theme for International Women’s Day 2023 is #EmbraceEquity.
The 2023 theme for IWD has a more practical take on the subject of equal opportunities for women and delves into the nuances of the “equality vs equity differences”.
As always, you can take part in the celebration by sharing a photo striking the #EmbraceEquity pose to show your support.
Practice diversity and inclusion
The issue of lack of representation for women of color in feminist movements has been rising up for some time now. Hence, the current consumer base is consciously checking every brand campaign to see if they are actually inclusive.
And even from a brand’s point of view, it is beneficial to take an inclusive approach. Every business has a diverse audience base where people from all communities, races, and genders interact with them. Why choose to represent and honor a few of them alone in a campaign?
If more people resonate with your campaign, you have a higher chance of forming an emotional bond with them.
Educate the audience
You may feel like women’s rights and the need for equality and inclusivity are all common knowledge by now. Everyone knows about it, right? How can they not?
Well, to the contrary, there are a lot of issues that people either do not know about at all. Or only have a cursory knowledge of. So in your women’s day marketing, pick a topic that you resonate with and matches your brand as well. Then, launch informative creatives and campaigns around these so that the customer can see the value in them clearly.
The ideal platform to launch these educational and informative campaigns is social media. Since Gen Z and Millennials are predominantly active on social media platforms, you can leverage these campaigns to connect with them and converse with them.
Break stereotypes
Last but not the least, do you remember how we spoke of pink creatives doing the rounds during the first week of March? Will you not be tired of seeing the same cliched phrases, imagery, and colors wherever you go? It goes without saying that your customers will feel the same way.
Not to mention that using stereotypical images, designs, and phrases can be really irksome for consumers that are increasingly more informed about equality. So, break the shackles of stereotypes and reimagine your Women’s Day marketing designs.
You can start by choosing gender-neutral colors that celebrate women such as red, and ombre/pastel shades of orange, yellow, and so on. Or you can even use the purple from the International Women’s Day 2023 theme to keep things even more relevant. This way, you can show that your brand makes its own way rather than falling prey to stereotypes.
7 Inspiring International Women’s Day marketing ideas
You know the main themes and guidelines you need this Women’s Day, but what are the top campaign ideas to look out for? How can YOU inspire and engage your audience?
Well, once you are done with this section of the blog, you will have the answers you need. So let’s dive right in.
1. Updates to your brand identity
A major part of the International Women’s Day celebration is to make the women in your team, customer base, and the general population feel heard and represented.
So, start by revamping the smaller parts of your branding identity. For example, if you have a male mascot usually, consider introducing a female mascot for your campaign.
Disney sure knows how to do this. In the year 2022, in honor of Women’s History Month, the iconic floral display of Mickey Mouse at the entrance of Disneyland Park was changed to a floral display of Minnie Mouse.
You can also update your website, social media handles, or even the profile pictures on your social media pages. For retail stores, this extends to updating signage as well.
Any level of a brand makeover to show women that you care about them and are willing to represent them within your brand will make a difference.
Another classic example is when McDonald’s flipped its golden arches for Women’s Day 2018.
While there were mixed responses to this move from McDonald’s, it shows how a simple change to your store signage, a simple branding update can grab people’s attention on Women’s Day.
Kimp Tip: For Women’s Day marketing, the urge to go pink entirely can be strong. But we do not recommend that. Customers can spot pinkwashing from a mile away, so make honest efforts to update your branding designs. There are endless ways to represent women and femininity without incorporating pink!
Does this sound like a lot of work? Not at all, especially when you can choose a single Kimp Graphics subscription to create the designs for all your print and digital campaigns.
2. Showcase the women in your team
Your customers love to hear about and get introduced to the people behind your brand. Stories of these people help humanize your brand. And when it’s Women’s Day, focus on the women in your team.
Instead of roping in an influencer or celebrity to work on your Women’s Day marketing, show the women behind your brand.
Some ideas to execute this campaign are:
- Showcase the achievements of women on your team and highlight the contribution they have made to your products and/or services.
- Conduct interviews with them as you would with an influencer. Let them share their views on technical issues, societal issues, and other segments. This way, the world can see how talented they are.
- Ask them to recount their journey within the organization and their future goals.
- Vlog your company’s International Women’s Day celebration for your social media channels.
Representation is very powerful. By showing that you value your women employees and that women can do anything they want, you can inspire many. And you might just open a few minds too!
In addition to all these factors, you should also remember that customers are closely watching your brand. Nearly 61% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that treat their employees well. They engage better with brands that honor and acknowledge their employees.
Kimp Tip: There are many ways to tell the story of how you value your employees. But we recommend using videos as they are the most impactful storytelling aids. They have the ability to deliver the message in the most memorable way.
If you want to give those professional finishing touches to the raw footage you have, the Kimp team is here to help.
3. Take the storytelling approach
In the previous section, we mentioned how important it is to educate the audience on the important issues surrounding women’s rights. But that is easier said than done. Not everyone voluntarily wants to hear inputs on important issues and that too from a brand.
So, what’s an effective way to break the ice and get your message across? Storytelling, of course! It is the secret sauce that adds a touch of magic to most marketing strategies.
Yes, the conversation becomes much more interesting when you lead the audience to the message instead of dumping facts on them.
As we briefly discussed at the close of the previous section, videos are the best storytelling aids. But yes, you can use other visuals too – like images, illustrations, infographics, and more.
Our brain reacts to color, fonts, and images much more strongly than it would to text alone. Not to mention that we remember images longer than text.
Some mediums to adopt here are:
- Comic strip illustrations
- Animated videos
- Illustrated posts with captions
- Advertorial videos such as TV commercial type campaigns
- Podcasts with narrated stories
The below video from John Deere has a thought-provoking message but it delivers it in the most impactful way because it uses storytelling.
Looking for a team to make your stories come to life? Check out the Kimp Graphics + Video subscriptions!
4. Go with a meaningful product placement
Many feel that International Women’s Day is not a time for product-related advertisements. But there are many subtle ways to put your product in the spotlight without losing the core theme of Women’s Day. The below video from Audi shows how it can be done.
The video talks about one of the most common stereotypes we hear about too often – the subject of “women and driving”. The ad creatively breaks the stereotype in such a way that at the end of the video, you remember not just the message but also the brand.
Similarly, look for stereotypes attached to women in your niche and find a way to break them. You’ll have your women audience cheering for your brand heartily.
5. Let your packaging do the talking
In the retail world, packaging design is one of the biggest customer touchpoints and also a major part of branding identity. So how can you not involve this in your International Women’s Day campaign? By updating your packaging for International Women’s Day!
The trend has been quite popular in recent years. We saw Hershey’s India celebrate women with vibrant illustrations on its packaging last year. And this year Mars has joined the league by launching its International Women’s Day marketing effort with customized packaging for M&M’s.
As you can see, these brands did not resort to pinkwashing their packs. Instead, they use creative copy and meaningful visuals to do the job. Remember this when you set out to update your packaging for your International Women’s Day marketing campaigns.
A few ways to do this will be:
- Illustrated package designs to showcase an important woman figure that aligns with your brand, product, and target audience, as Hershey’s India did.
- Come up with a theme based on a cause for women, a cause that’s close to your brand, and then personalize your packaging design around this theme.
And when you do make such changes to your packaging, don’t forget to create supporting ads and social media posts. You want to keep your customers informed about the changes so that they recognize the refreshed packaging at the stores.
6. Themed discounts and sales
Brands and consumers both love discounts. To brands, a holiday sale means an increase in sales, and to customers, it means a chance to save. Naturally, it works for most holidays and special occasions. International Women’s Day is no exception.
After all, by running discounts on products and services for women you are creating a chance for women to pamper themselves and show themselves some love.
Since we live in an era of social media frenzy, do not forget to come up with a strong theme for this discount and a hashtag too. This way you can create some ripples in the social media world and get people talking about your brand and the sale.
When you have a theme in place, you can put together a simple shopping guide in your blog, or create a newsletter with curated discounts, and a set of social media posts dedicated to the theme. So you have a whole bunch of content to engage with your audience.
For example, your theme can be self-care so the discount code will be SELFCARE2023, the creatives will all be around that, and the products that help in self-care will have the highest discounts.
Also create a visual theme for this campaign so that your emails, social media posts, and print ads for the campaign all look connected for that perfect omnichannel experience your customer might appreciate.
7. Leverage social media
Social media has become a critical part of brand engagement. And what better place to create conversations than social media? So, do not forget to talk about your International Women’s Day marketing campaigns on social media.
This can be a social-only campaign like giveaways for Women’s Day. Or you can use social media to help your offline store-based campaigns gain traction.
For social media-centered campaigns, here are some ideas:
- Host a social media contest or giveaway without products as the reward. This helps new customers experience your product. If they are happy with the experience, they might come back to your brand for more.
- A social media challenge where customers can share their photos according to the theme and tag your brand. This brings in a lot of engagement.
- A simple post that calls for women in your audience to share their stories to inspire other women will generate a lot of content that you can reuse on your social media page.
With more and more brands now leveraging NFTs in their marketing strategy, some also chose to give away their NFTs as the rewards for International Women’s Day giveaways last year. Digital products like these are easy to distribute and they make wonderful giveaway rewards for a global audience.
Want to give NFTs in marketing a shot but don’t know where to start? Start with a Kimp Graphics subscription and let the Kimp team take care of the NFT design part for you.
8. An event for International Women’s Day
One of the best ideas for International Women’s Day is to initiate discussions and meaningful conversations around subjects that people don’t often talk about. What better way to do this than through an event?
Event marketing is an evergreen concept known for its versatility and effectiveness in boosting customer experiences. And about 31% of marketers consider events as some of the most effective marketing tools.
So, if you are looking for a foolproof International Women’s Day marketing idea, consider hosting an event. It can be an offline event that celebrates your female employees and female customers or even a virtual event. These can also be webinars and live conferences involving motivational female speakers sharing their life stories and experiences.
From creating an event logo to a custom landing page that introduces your audience to the event, a lot goes into the successful planning of an event. All of this help prepare your audience and build anticipation for the upcoming event. That’s when you get maximum participation and that’s when the event actually makes a difference to your business.
Kimp Tip: Building memorability through events involves a lot of planning. For offline events, you can add a swag bag or branded merchandise. For virtual events, you can create a social media page or group for event-specific updates. In the end, it is about consistent experiences that lead up to the event.
And what’s an easy way to streamline all your event promotion graphics? A Kimp Graphics subscription.
Ace Women’s Day marketing designs with Kimp
As you can see from the above ideas, a little bit of creativity and the heart to stay authentic are all it takes to create a successful International Women’s Day marketing campaign. When you choose to genuinely stand for a cause, your customers automatically support your brand. Lasting customer relationships are built on such connections.
So, what are you waiting for? Create the most meaningful and engaging International Women’s Day campaigns and wow your audience. With the idea part taken care of, then comes the step of executing these ideas through visuals. That’s where the Kimp team comes in. One subscription, a flat monthly fee is all it takes to stay ready for all these last-minute campaigns across various channels.
Sign up for our free trial and start designing today!