International Women’s Day Marketing Ideas To Celebrate and Cherish Women

Why is International Women’s Day marketing important?

In the U.S. and some other countries, March is declared Women’s History Month. March 8th — International Women’s Day — is its culmination. 

It’s an important event on any marketer’s calendar. Women are very economically active: they shop and influence purchasing decisions. In fact, 89% of women globally have shared or primary responsibility for daily shopping, household chores, and food preparation. According to Nielsen, in the coming years, women will account for 75% of unforced spending. All of this means that catering to women is economically beneficial for businesses. But how to do that exactly? 

Well, most consumers want the brand’s values to be in accord with their own. And if that’s not the case, people are ready to act: 39% would renounce even their favorite brand, and 24% would do so at least for a while. International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month are opportunities to show that your company shares the same values as your customers. For example, you can empower women and at the same time highlight aching social issues. 

One of the critical problems is the gender pay gap. In 2021, the median weekly earnings of men in the U.S. were $1,082 while women only made $891. 

And it is just one of the many inequalities women face all over the world. By raising awareness of the issues brands can make a huge impact on society and show alliance with their female customers.

The other reason why International Women’s Day marketing is important is that brands can show solidarity with their audience and provide them with helpful resources or at least good feelings.

There are several ways businesses can value women’s rights and weigh in on gender inequality. Let’s explore these options.

Best International Women’s Day marketing ideas for your campaign

Spotlight the staff members

Inspiring women as well as interesting stories are all around us — why not celebrate them? Interview your colleagues and let them speak about their unique pathways and empower other women to follow their dreams. A marketing campaign like this will raise the team spirit and possibly spark new connections as well as showcase the values of the company. If women thrive working at your business, customers will support it more eagerly. Celebrating International Women’s Day this way also creates a positive reputation and HR brand.

Samsung asked several female employees from different countries to share what motivates and empowers them. In addition to testimonials, the company invited three illustrators to interpret selected testimonials in their artworks. The result is presented in a short campaign video and on the website. A nice addition is that the artworks are downloadable and can be used as desktop wallpapers. This campaign is not only beautiful, it is also inclusive.

Partner up with female-owned businesses

Support women-owned businesses throughout March. You can arrange a cross-promotion with one or two brands, make a list of companies with female founders, or tell the origin story of your company as well.

Click the slider below to see how different businesses celebrated female entrepreneurs in their email marketing campaigns:

You can celebrate women differently. Read our article to see other ideas for International Women’s Day email campaigns. 

Contribute to a cause

Raise awareness about the gender pay gap, harassment, domestic violence, and other issues women fight against every day. Choose a charity to support throughout the whole of Women’s History Month or just on March 8th and motivate your customers to donate too. This is how your business can truly embody the essence of this holiday.

Keds ran a one-day campaign donating $25 off of each pair of select styles to the Dress for Success charity. This collaboration makes sense since this is a shoe brand and a charity that provides women with professional attire to attend interviews and work and mentors them.

The subject line of this email is “Shop to donate to Dress for Success TODAY ONLY!” which creates a sense of urgency and grabs attention. Women’s Day email subject lines are crucial to the success of the campaigns, so pay special attention to them.

Launch a video campaign

Visual storytelling is great for conveying powerful messages. Videos can look especially sincere, emotional, and inspiring. Remember to pay attention not only to the image itself but also to the music or voiceover. Collaborate with female influencers, directors, or illustrators to elevate your International Women’s Day campaign.

Deloitte made a video to tell its audience how it can support women in their everyday lives. From simple gestures like calling trans women women to offering help and guidance to female colleagues or girls.

Host a special event

A meeting, a concert, or a lecture — be it online or offline — makes your business connect with the audience even more. And if you share valuable information or ​​experience, it can strengthen the loyalty of your customers. 

Crypto Ladies League, for example, opted for a virtual conference. The event aims to help women’s growth in blockchain.

If your business specializes in events, you can bring attention to those activities that are hosted by women. That’s what Yaymaker did in its pre-celebration email:

Collaborate with influencers

You probably know what to do here: find an inspirational woman (or several!) and let her contribute to your campaign. This can be anyone from a blogger or a celebrity to a community leader or a politician. Depending on your business and the message you want to send, you can ask this woman to host your event, appear in an ad, or collaborate on a product.

Last year, The Economist invited Malala Yousafzai — the Nobel Peace Prize laureate — to be a guest editor of the media’s essay section. As part of the Woman’s Day special project, Malala Yousafzai explored a theme of girls’ education with several columnists she asked to participate.

Run a social media giveaway

Another great way to celebrate International Women’s Day is a simple giveaway. It can drive engagement and attract new followers to your page. Plus, if you collaborate with another brand or business, your audience may cross-pollinate. 

Here’s a giveaway example from Rykä:

You can get creative with the idea and put a different spin on it. Sanitizer Corporation decided to gift its products to 5 women-owned small businesses. The brand also asked its followers to nominate the winners in the comment section under the Instagram post:

Create a photo contest

Inspire your followers and honor either remarkable women in history or real-life role models with a photo contest. It can be a post on social media or a pop-up or a page on the website — either option works. 

Foreo celebrated International Women’s Day with a contest dedicated to inspiring women in the lives of the brand’s followers. The company asked to share the photos on Instagram with a hashtag. As a result, Foreo got a lot of user-generated content (UGC) and engagement on social media.

Offer special discounts or sales

Treat your customers with an enticing Women’s Day offer. Better yet, make it a flash sale with limited time to participate. Other possible promotions for March 8th include free shipping, one-plus-one offers, and freebies.

This Curvy Couture email has a beautiful banner with pink accents and a big sale announcement. It also features some product recommendations to draw customers in.

Share a Women’s Day knowledge quiz

Quizzes are a fun activity that can entertain your customers. Plus, you can share knowledge on women trailblazers in different domains. There are no limitations on the platform: it can be your website or social media page.

Here’s a successful example from six-two’s website. The quiz not only looks put-together, but it is also very informative. After a user picks an answer, the quiz displays an additional bit of information about the historic woman.

Release limited-edition products

As with other holidays, Women’s Day calls for celebration. You can create a special collection, collaborate with women artists, or release an item that will help raise money for charity.

Clinique offered a new take on their products’ packaging with limited-edition designs to inspire women:

Women’s Day marketing campaigns from well-known brands to learn from

Now that you’ve read about different types of campaigns, let’s explore what big companies have done previously. Below are some examples you can draw inspiration from.

Hershey’s

For Women’s History Month, the famous milk chocolate bar changes its packaging. For the Celebrate SHE campaign, Hershey’s highlighted the word “she” inside their branding. This is a subtle yet powerful move to acknowledge the women that surround each of us every day: mothers, daughters, wives, friends, and colleagues. 

What’s even more notable is the company’s commitment to equal pay and the career development of women. As part of the campaign, Hershey’s donated to a non-profit organization benefiting girls.

Netflix

Each year on Women’s Day Netflix presents videos celebrating women. The streaming service in partnership with UN Women also gathered a collection of content recommended by female creators on a dedicated page.

Reebok

In 2021, the sportswear company invited an all-female art collective MADWOMEN to collaborate. The result is four different sneakers in two collections. The campaign was titled It’s A Man’s World to signify the nonconformity and rebel against the stereotypical “norm”.

Releasing a collection with influential female creators or entrepreneurs is a way to show women the appreciation they deserve.

Lenovo

For its International Women’s Day campaign, Lenovo combined data about women’s experience in the workspace and presented a creative technological solution — an equality spell checker. This was a plugin for MS Word that underlined words that had different meanings for working women. For example, it underlined the word “plans” to reveal that many women had been asked about their plans to have kids in the future as that could warrant a maternity leave in the future.

This campaign is a novel and interesting promotion of the brand, and it also reveals important social problems and educates people on inequality in the workplace.

Microsoft

Microsoft is another company that uses its technologies to empower women. Last year they teamed up with a female-led startup Shimmy to provide women working in the garment industry with training. The upskilling app teaches women how to use machines to sew. This initiative helps women to keep their jobs despite the rise of automation and massive layoffs. Plus, it already helped some of them to get a raise. 

In this moving video campaign, a female factory worker from Bangladesh Ruma Akter tells about her journey to become a mentor for other women in her country:

Barbie

In 2018 Mattel launched the years-long Dream Gap Project dedicated to helping girls realize their full potential. Girls start limiting themselves and their dreams as soon as at the age of five. Through representation, inspiring content, and donations to various non-profit organizations, Barbie is committed to closing the Dream Gap. One of the ways to empower girls to lead is by showing them role models.

Last year, Barbie unveiled 7 dolls in the likeness of international women trailblazers in STEM. Among them were the dolls of Susan Wojcicki — longtime YouTube CEO — and Yinuo Li — co-founder of ETU Education.

Although it’s tempting to make a Women’s Day campaign a one-off project, truly influential campaigns and ideas can and should last longer than one day.

Spotify

On Women’s Day in 2021, Spotify launched its lasting campaign to show that the world needs to strive for gender equity in every sphere including music. The EQUAL project is a worldwide initiative to uplift women creators and provide them with more exposure. Spotify provides women with a global platform, promotes its ambassadors, and creates various events in support of the initiative.

The main platform of the project is EQUAL Hub which features a multitude of playlists celebrating women in the music industry:

Snapchat

In 2023, Snapchat made a Women’s Day campaign using augmented reality. The company has created 8 AR statues of emblematic women in 8 cities in France. Among the presented historical figures were Simone Veil in Paris, Simone de Beauvoir in Lyon, and Joséphine Baker in Metz. The campaign was not only inspiring but also showed the lack of representation of women in public spaces. Imitating the materials and techniques used to create the statues of men, Snapchat brings forward the message of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Final thoughts

Don’t miss this International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month. These occasions present an opportunity to celebrate women and discuss gender equity, harassment, workspace safety, the gender pay gap, and other important societal problems.

Here are some campaign ideas you can try out this year:

• Spotlight the staff members.
• Partner up with a woman-owned business or an influencer.
• Contribute to a cause.
• Launch a video campaign.
• Host an event.
• Run a social media giveaway.
• Create a photo contest.
• Offer discounts or sales.
• Share a Women’s Day quiz.
• Release limited-edition products.

Source of all emails in this article: Milled

This article was originally published in March 2023 and was updated in February 2024 to make it more relevant and comprehensive.