As part of our celebration of International Women’s Month, we asked our own Intrinzic team the perspective on how some of their favorite brands are marketing to women effectively. Click on the individual links below to learn more about each brand we think is best-in-class.
Emily Kennedy, Sr. Content Strategist and Courtney Rogers, Director, Design Strategy
Emily: One of my favorite women-focused brands is Athleta. They always feature models in their catalogues who are real athletes, who come in all ages, sizes, skin colors, from all backgrounds and fitness levels. I feel like they are truly building a movement around movement – that you don’t have to fit a certain mold to be “fit” or “healthy” or “athletic”. They bring so much creativity and expression to athletic-wear and athleisure. They have rich color palettes for their clothing and partner with a variety of female artists (the artist M. Koby and Alicia Keys are recent partnerships) to showcase creativity, individual journeys and voices, etc.
Courtney: Athleta is a brand I know and love that represents and speaks to its women-based audience in a unique and genuine way. In the athletic world, it’s not nearly as common as it should be to see women of all shapes, sizes and colors. But Athleta has been an advocate working against that for years in their marketing material and sizing selection, and really strives to create a community that’s inclusive of all women. Not only is their marketing inclusive, but their messaging is dedicated to “the power of she” and empower women to live their healthiest, strongest life. I really love how they’re working to flip the script in the athleisure wear world!
Kristina Caligaris, Sr. Content Strategist
Chillhouse was born when founder Cyndi Ramirez, a Columbian-American who grew up in NYC, wanted to launch a new self-care movement providing easy, attainably priced, tried and true spa services to stressed out New Yorkers in a modern setting. The goal was to inspire a new way of thinking about how to take care of oneself, and now the company has grown to become the go-to online and physical destination to “Find Your Chill.” Their focus is on creating self-care rituals for chill-seekers everywhere through their clean beauty and wellness products and services aimed at maximizing “me time.” In addition to promoting a “chiller world” through their products and services, they also support mental health advocacy and commit to supporting the more serious or stigmatized conversations around mental health through their platform The Chill Times.
Katie Peters, Group Director, Client Strategy
Canva is an online graphic design tool that was co-founded five years ago by Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht. Due to its simplified and user-friendly interface it can be used by anyone from professional designers to people from a non-design background. Today the company has 10 million users over 179 countries, employs over 800 people, and is worth over a billion dollars. Perkins is one of the youngest female CEOs in tech and despite its catapulting success already the company is still at the beginning of its journey. Perkins story is a great example of the value of perseverance, it is reported that she was actually told ‘no’ 100 times by investors when trying to launch, yet fast forward 5 years and aged just 30 years old she is running a billion dollar business.
Veronica Otto, Director, Client Strategy
Sohza Sister Fairtrade Boutique
I love their mission of “helping women here by helping women there”… this local boutique, created by three sisters, sells amazing handmade jewelry, purses and clothing crafted by women around the world, who need to be lifted up. The Sohza sisters then donate a portion of the proceeds to local nonprofit organizations that help women. What’s not to love about this business model?
Rob Pasquinucci, Sr. PR Strategist
Liv is a brand of bikes and gear exclusively for women. It’s clear their marketing goes beyond selling bikes to create a community of women cyclists to inspire and support each other. The brand’s backstory is authentic — the founder was an executive with a big bike manufacturer who couldn’t find bicycles and related gear that fit.
Sarah Fry, Managing Director
As a new mom, there is a deep sea of brands that market to moms and their needs…but few are talking honestly and candidly to her. Frida mom (a woman owned and operated business) has a mission of supporting new moms in a way that is genuine, messy, honest, no frills and trustworthy. Their tone of voice and brand visuals are straightforward, empathetic, honest and brings the “really really” of motherhood to the forefront of the conversation. They have a way of connecting to moms, making her feel seen and heard and putting themselves right next to her in a supportive way that truly pulls the curtain back and talks about all the hard things, while providing products and solutions that make those unfiltered and messy mom moments so much easier to bear; so she can focus on what matters most. Her body and her baby’s needs…ultimately delivering a more stable and emotionally supported mother. They have a messaging line that reads: “Babies are cute. Parenting isn’t always. For all those perfect moments, there’s Instagram. For everything else, we’ve got you.” To me, that just says it all. This was a brand I personally connected with and in turn used many of their products, both for myself and my babies. They are definitely doing it “right.” Thanks Frida!
