11 creative campaigns that celebrate women
We’ve picked out some of the best female-centric D&AD Pencil winning campaigns from the last few years.
Whether it’s a Riot Grrrl resurgence or campaigns that highlight the pay gap, this creative work acts as a rallying battle cry and amore than fitting soundtrack forthe war against gender inequality.
This Girl Can
Smashing through personal barriers one run, punch, kick and dive at a time, This Girl Can is a household name. Helping a nation of women overcome insecurities that stood in the way of exercising, thisintegrated campaign is a glorious celebration of the everyday woman defiantly and unashamedly doing her thing.
Award:Graphite Pencil / White Pencil - Creativity for Good / Advertising & Marketing Communications - Brand / 2015
Agency:FCB Inferno
Client:Sport England
Like a Girl
Always’ D&AD Black Pencil winning campaign effectively undermines the notion that doing something ‘like a girl’ is a bad thing, turning an insult into an empowering message.
Award:Black Pencil / White Pencil - Creativity for Good / Advertising & Marketing Communications - Brand / 2015
Agency:Leo Burnett Chicago, London, Toronto, and Holler
Client:Procter & Gamble
The Autocomplete Truth
UN Women uses Google autocomplete, fed by 6 billion daily searches, to expose shocking global gender bias and discrimination.
Award:Wood Pencil / Integrated & Earned Media / Earned Media Campaigns / 2014
Agency:Memac Ogilvy & Mather Dubai
Client:UN Women
Bodyform Responds: The Truth
Offering a tongue-in-cheek response to a viral Facebook comment, Bodyform’s ‘The Truth’ clocked nearly three million views in the first week alone. Hilariously self aware, the web film apologises for the flagrant use of metaphors in the company’s advertising and pokes fun of the delicate sensibilities of men.
Award:Wood Pencil / Digital Advertising / Web Films / 2013
Agency:Rubber Republic
Client:Carat, Carat
No Rights. No Women
Under Lebanese law, men have more rights than women. So, ahead of International Women’s Day, Leo Burnett Beirut asked women to engage in one simple act - to give up their womanhood, both online and in real life.
Award:Wood Pencil / Integrated & Earned Media / Earned Media Campaign / 2012
Agency:Leo Burnett Beirut
Client:No Rights. No Women
More Women
In an incredibly low budget but effective campaign, ELLE UK removes men from various different industries and in doing so, highlights the dazzling lack of women at the top.
Award:Wood Pencil / PR / Creative B2C Campaign - Low Budget - Under 60k / 2016
Agency:Common Industry
Client:ELLE UK
Grrrl Say
In response to the DAZED New Blood Awards Brief, Jessica Peden re-appropriates the aesthetic of 90’s Riot Grrrl culture by celebrating various women’s victories from this decade.
Award:Wood Pencil / Film Advertising / TV Commercials / 2015
Agency:Jessica Peden, Kingston University
Brief:DAZED
Women Should not be Worth Less
To highlight that women still earn up to 20% less than men, Publicis Communications Schweiz demonstrated the absurdity of this inequality by applying it directly to everyday products.
Award:Wood Pencil / Writing for Advertising / Writing for Poster Advertising / 2016
Agency:Publicis Communications Schweiz AG
Client:Frauenzentrale Zurich
Security Moms
In 2014, Brazil led the world table in terms of football related deaths, so to ensure hooligans towed the line, fan’s mum’s filled in for security during the most violent game of the season. Not only did the campaign have a global impact, Ogilvy Brasil effortlessly demonstrated the immense maternal power, strength and influence of women.
Award:White Pencil / Creativity for Good (White Pencil) / Advertising & Marketing Communications - Brand / 2016
Agency:Ogilvy Brasil
Client:Sport Clube do Recife
Fearless Girl
On the eve of International Women’s Day, the symbol of corporate America – Wall Street's Charging Bull – was challenged with a bronze statue of a defiant girl. 'Fearless Girl' quickly moved beyond its original commission for a gender diversity initiative to become a symbol of female empowerment.
Award: Black Pencil / Outdoor Advertising / Outdoor Advertising/Tactical / 2018
Agency: McCann New York
Client: State Street Global Advisors
Highlight the Remarkable
2018 is the year to rewrite history with Stabilo Boss. And this we do by, in the truest sence in the word, highlighting them. In the campaign the yellow stroke of the Stabilo Boss highlights three women: NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, US First Lady Edith Wilson and Austrian-Swedish physicist Lise Meitner. We don't highlight them in texts, but in historic, plack-and-white photos, where men are in forefront or center of the visual. Thanks to the Stabilo Boss stroke, the previously unnoticed women now become the focal point. Combined with copy telling the story of their accomplishments.
Award: Graphite Pencil / Graphic Design / Posters / 2019
Agency: DDB Group Germany
Client: Stabilo International
For 58 years D&AD has stimulated and celebrated creative excellence in commercial creativity, annually inviting 250 of the world’s greatest creative practitioners to judge the year’s finest work. If you think you have a campaign or a project that deserves a D&AD Pencil, enter your work into the D&AD Awards and see if our judges agree.