International Women’s Day | Top 5 Campaigns

Today is international women’s day, where we imagine a world that is gender equal and free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. We thought we would celebrate by showcasing our top 5 most memorable campaigns from the brands who have inspired us over the years.

Dream Crazier – NIKE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWfX5jeF6k4

Nike is known for its bold campaigns, especially ones that touch our souls and spark the fire within us to succeed.

In 2019, Nike released a striking video titled ‘Dream Crazier.’ which did just that. The video showcased female athletes who have achieved great success despite facing criticism and adversity.

These amazing women broke barriers and inspired generations of female athletes after them to continue to chase their dreams, no matter the challenges they may face along the way.

This Girl Can – Sport England

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsP0W7-tEOc

More recently, Sport England released an all-inclusive campaign titled ‘This Girl Can’ that aimed to inspire women from all backgrounds to get more physically active.

It was the first campaign of this kind to feature women of all shapes, sizes and sporting abilities, promoting body positivity and inspiring women young and old to get active, even if it meant “sweating like a pig”.

Using powerful and emotive phrases such as “I jiggle, therefore I am.”, “I kick balls” and “Damn right, I look hot” aims to eliminate the fear of judgement that stops so many women from getting active.

#MyBeautyMySay – Dove

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XOa7zVqxA4

Over the years, Dove has become known for its inclusivity and body positivity ever since the Real Beauty campaign in 2004 that featured women of all shapes and sizes, promoting a vision for beauty equality.

Since then, Dove has gone above and beyond to promote women’s beauty for all.

One campaign that stood out to us in particular was the 2016 ‘My Beauty My Say’ campaign which featured stories of amazing women who stood up for their own beauty, helping encourage women everywhere to redefine beauty on their own terms and share their stories.

Like a Girl – Always

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs

This is a personal favourite of ours. The saying ‘like a girl’ has been used with negative connotations for a long time, disempowering women and their abilities.

Always, a company that produced menstrual hygiene products, set out to change the meaning of the saying with a documentary style campaign that would question our thoughts on what it is to be a girl and redefine ‘like a girl’ into a positive affirmation, which is incredibly fitting with their brand tagline ‘Rewrite the rules, always.’

The ad featured adults and a boy being asked to perform certain tasks ‘like a girl’, during which they flailed their arms and worried about their hair.

When the same question was asked to young girls, they ran as fast as they could and fought powerfully, highlighting the way in which we are taught stereotypes as we grow older.

Make What’s Next – Microsoft

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNqSzUdYazw

We have a huge amount of respect for Microsoft after their ‘Make what’s next’ campaign that celebrated women inventors and inspired girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths.

Microsoft launched this campaign with a patent program for young women. The programme still exists and offers women inventors patent support and mentorship so they can protect their ideas and further their innovation.

Hopefully these campaigns have given you the inspiration you need, whether that’s to patent your own technology, challenge gender stereotypes, redefine your own beauty or chase after your dreams. It all starts with you.

If you want to see what events are happening near you head over to the International Women’s day website.

We are in the business of helping people reach their goals and making things happen so please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you need help with your own campaign.