Last Tuesday, March 8th marked the annual International Women’s Day (IWD). All around the world events were held to both celebrate the many achievements of women and the many challenges still to overcome.

This year, we thought we’d take a look at this landmark day from a marketing point of view, so here are the most creative highlights from International Women’s Day 2016.

• Google Doodle #OneDayIWill

Google is well known for changing its search homepage to reflect important anniversaries or major events in highly creative and often thought-provoking ways. For International Women’s Day they created a short video featuring women from 13 countries around the world who share their aspirations – from the everyday to the monumental – with the hashtag #onedayIwill. The end result is a charming and subtly powerful video that speaks to community as opposed to shouting about Google as a brand.

• Girls Take Flight in Canada

The Waterloo Wellington Flight Centre in Ontario, Canada held an event designed to  inspire young girls interested in aviation to follow their dreams. Attendees could meet women working in the aviation industry, including active pilots, and enjoy a free flight. This event was a great way of affirming that “Girls Can” while also celebrating the pioneering spirits of the early female aviators.

• The Scotsman becomes The Scotswoman

The Scotsman, Scotland’s iconic national paper, rebranded itself as The Scotswoman for the day, with all editorial positions filled by women and the majority of content focusing on issues pertinent to IWD. This is not the first time that the paper has made this switch, with the first time being 21 years ago. Talk about making women’s issues front page news – quite literally!

If you have a favorite moment or event from IWD 2016 you’d like to share, as ever, please get in touch.

2016 WBENC Stars

In the true spirit of IWD, myself and the whole team at ARTÉMIA send huge congratulations to all of this year’s WBENC Stars honorees. As a former recipient of the award myself (in 2014), I know exactly what a special moment this is. I’d particularly like to highlight Astra’s own Kelly Sparks. Kelly will be a name many Astra members will recognize, thanks to her years-long support of the organization and position as co-chair. She is also the CEO and co-founder of her own highly successful company, VMG/studio520. A truly deserved winner, congratulations, Kelly!