Marketing the International Women’s Day Campaign in 2023

In a world where women make 80% of purchasing decisions for themselves and family, progressive brands would pay the utmost attention to celebrating international women’s day for a balanced representation of the target audience and overall brand achievement.

The importance of women to an average consumer brand, at work and all places, cannot be overemphasised. According to the United Nations, women comprise 49.6% of the global population and account for the highest spending, $31.8 trillion. This is a considerable amount to dictate businesses’ survival and growth in the global market. However, there is a need to close the gender parity gap and sensitise the population to maximise the full economic potential of women.

While March is regarded as Women’s Month, the 8th of March is an important day of the year when brands can go all out to communicate their plans for gender equity and celebrate women globally. This day has become a form of competition among brands and households, popularising terms such as gender-inclusive organisation, diversity, and inclusion. 

In 2020, Unilever became a gender-balanced business, achieving a 50/50 gender balance in its managerial roles across its global offices. International Finance Corporation and other international organisations deepen their work on ensuring gender equality.

Last year’s International Women’s Day Campaign themed “Breaking the Bias” also saw the countering of various economic, social, and educational biases surrounding women. Part of the top adverts that stood out in 2022, according to Campaigns of The World, includes Ariel: When we #SeeEqual, we #ShareTheLoad, which emphasises the need for housework to be shared equally. This is a challenge to gender roles. Ariel is a detergent product produced by Procter and Gamble.

Another worthy example is Flour Mills Nigeria: Welcome To My Kitchen, which breaks the bias by redefining what the kitchen means. This IWD campaign won 3 Silver at the Pitcher Awards and a Silver at the 2022 Lisbon Awards and was featured in Lürzer’s Archive for its effectiveness

This year 2023 IWD is no different, as there was a call to action for accelerating gender equality. This is to sensitise people about worldwide women’s social, economic, cultural, and political achievements. The global campaign theme for 2023 is #EmbraceEquity. 

In our marketing agency at PANDORA, we spotlighted women pacesetters across industries and our staff members. We asked our female employees to share women who inspire and charge them in action. Their responses were collected and gracefully designed to be shared across our social media platforms.

In the same vein are the Maggi Nigeria, SheSays, and Sterling Bank International Women’s Day Campaigns. While Maggi identifies women’s potential in shattering the glass ceiling across their social media pages with a simple banner that earned them an increased impression and engagement compared to their other communications, SheSays unveiled an honest social media campaign, using dark humour to reveal some of the subtle shade women experience, necessitating their resignation from the marketing industry. This includes sexual harassment, menopause, and mental health.

Although there has been progress toward a global society with equal rights and opportunities for all genders, women’s freedom, education, and even medical care are still limited in many other countries, which is why March 8th has tremendous significance globally.

Many people have actively played a part in helping birth gender equality which will drive change from campaigns and events to festivals and celebrations. Brands have also joined in this global celebration, so there should be no exception from your brand. Brands must align values with their target audience, especially now when the unique selling point is values rather than products.

This is a chance for your brand to channel its support towards a good cause and draw attention to the successes and issues of its audience, founders, and employees, which would drive sales and increase return on investment.

Importance of Gender Equity In Product Development, Marketing And Workplaces.

Women’s Inclusion benefits everyone. Here are some benefits.

1. Healthy society: An equitable society is just and free from violence against women and minority groups.
2. Economic Development: It enables a fine interplay of human resources to achieve set monetary gains. Gender parity hinders the full maximisation of human potential.
3. Productivity and Innovation: A fair society encourages divergent thinking and opinions necessary to propel innovation and increase productivity.
4. Poverty Reduction: Gender equity encourages hard work, resilience and economic growth, maximising all resources and reducing poverty.

Conclusively, as organisations and brands continue to drive gender inclusion and equity through sustainable policies and women empowerment and engagement, it is essential for brands to explore the benefit to their optimal advantage. As a business owner looking at how to maximise your target market values for corporate social responsibility, PANDORA is your best first point of contact. At PANDORA, we contextualise brands’ overall objectives and target market immediate needs in providing adequate social marketing campaigns and strategic planning towards achieving gender inclusiveness.