Most brands say they understand women – these three actually prove it

“What is it actually like to be the woman we’re selling to?”

That’s the big question at the center of all three campaigns. The brands who answered it honestly and built something raw and real are the ones we’re still talking about today.

In 2014, Always didn’t run a campaign about pads or tampons. They showed what happens to girls’ confidence the moment they experience society’s low expectations of them. The research was hard to ignore and harder to read: confidence drops sharply during puberty, with 50% of girls saying they feel paralyzed by fear of failure at that stage. So, rather than focusing on their products, Always chose to address the emotional reality behind that statistic.

#LikeAGirl tackled the damaging cultural truth that, by the time girls reach puberty, the phrase “like a girl” is widely used as an insult – signaling weakness, incompetence, or someone overly emotional. The campaign brought this language bias to life with a social experiment.

Teens and adults were asked to run, throw, and fight “like a girl” – and both the women and men showed up with exaggerated, self-deprecating impressions that reflected their social conditioning. Then the brand team asked younger girls to do the same. They ran fast, they threw hard, and they fought like they meant it. Because for them, doing something “like a girl” just meant doing it as well as they possibly could; no negative connotation had infiltrated their consciousness yet. The contrast and ramifications were so powerful that the campaign’s message became, “Why can’t ‘run like a girl’ also mean ‘win the race’?”

That led to 90 million video views in the first few months, 4.4 billion media impressions, and 96% of viewers saying the campaign changed their whole perception of the phrase “like a girl”. Purchase intent among Always’ target audience spiked – and more than a decade later, “like a girl” is still a phrase people reclaim rather than weaponize.

The campaign ended up inspiring a cultural shift. And that’s how you win a decade, not just a sales cycle.

The takeaway for brands:
When your product connects to how someone sees themself, you have an opportunity to meaningfully shape how that identity is understood by your consumer and the people surrounding them. Asking that big question might just end up being the most powerful hook in your toolkit.

When Dove launched its Real Beauty campaign in 2004, it challenged one of advertising’s longest-standing norms: beauty should be aspirational and unattainable, until the right product swoops in to close that gap. Again, their campaign was inspired by a sobering insight: only 2% of women globally described themselves as beautiful. Rather than look past that number, Dove made it the heart of their campaign – and repositioned the brand as an advocate for self-esteem.

From billboards featuring “real women” to viral films like Real Beauty Sketches, they chose relatability over perfection. Dove’s content went viral because it hit on something true: women saw themselves on screen and embraced real beauty over unrealistic societal ideals.

The campaign was a huge commercial success: Dove’s sales grew from $2.5 billion to over $4 billion in the decade following its launch. And Real Beauty is still running over two decades later – an almost unheard-of lifespan in modern marketing.

The takeaway for brands:
When you reflect a truth your audience feels but rarely sees being acknowledged, you earn trust and brand equity that compounds over time.

Narrated by Serena Williams, a symbol of strength and unapologetic ambition on and off the court, Nike’s 2019 Dream Crazier campaign called the double standards women in sports face by their names. Show emotion? You’re labeled “dramatic”. Show ambition? You must be “crazy”.  The campaign took these labels and turned them into a challenge: use those criticisms as fuel for greatness. Nike showcased elite athletes who had been judged for breaking boundaries – and their campaign broke the internet as a result.

The film generated tens of millions of views on social platforms within days of launch, and promptly sparked a global conversation that went way beyond sports.

The takeaway for brands :
Focusing on women’s empowerment doesn’t have to be gentle or soft-focus. As long as it feels authentic to the brand and grounded in a real understanding of the audience, it can be as bold, direct, and culturally specific as you want.

Every one of these campaigns started with a genuine understanding of the target audience’s lived expériences – the fears, ambitions, and societal pressures that powerfully shape perception and behavior. There were no manufactured moments. Always, Dove, and Nike all aligned their messaging with what they could genuinely support or influence, giving their campaigns credibility and purpose. These campaigns pushed boundaries, questioned norms, and challenged audiences to think differently. And they remain memorable not for being the loudest, but for being the most understood.

The lesson in these examples goes far beyond brands and sectors: it’s critical to pay close attention to the world your audience lives in. The one they actually inhabit, not the airbrushed version in their dreams. There are pressures and influences in this world, and they shape how your audience thinks, feels, and decides what products to choose every day.

When you build on the right insights and act on them with courage and creativity, you create moments that stick.

These campaigns show that it’s possible to be brave and thoughtful at the same time – to push boundaries, challenge the status quo, and use your voice and platform to move beyond a single product or campaign.

International Women's Day gets brands talking, but you don’t need a calendar date to focus on who you’re trying to reach. Stop talking, start listening, and integrate those findings with your brand and loyalty strategies, and you’ll create bold campaigns that leave a cultural mark of their own.

In other words: “Do it like a girl”.