• by Larissa Faw , March 8, 2017

Agencies have been rolling out numerous initiatives in the lead-up to International Women’s Day to celebrate women and their numerous contributions to humankind. Now that IWD has arrived — today, that is — the spigot remains open as additional agencies celebrate the achievements of individuals, causes and groups (like moms). Here’s a sampling.

Call themDDB&R. DDB Worldwide is adding an R to its name to celebrate Phyllis Robinson, the agency’s first female copy chief. For 24 hours, the name change will impact DDB Worldwide’s physical signage, email signatures, and the agency’s Web site. The Omnicom-owned agency will permanently change its meeting rooms in each North American office to feature quotes from Robinson such as ‘Do the kind of work nobody else is doing.’

“The move to add Phyllis’ name to the door is a symbolic reminder of the contributions many women of her generation and later generations have made to the ad industry," stated Wendy Clark, CEO, DDB North America. "It also signals to our own employees our continued non-negotiable belief that talent has no gender."

The DDB&R supporting social campaign will commemorate Robinson's legacy by revising some of DDB’s most notable work with a modern-day twist. Headlines for print campaigns and voiceovers for TV work will be updated to emphasize the creative women behind them. For instance, one of its most memorable TV ads in 1976 for Polaroid replaces Candice Bergen's voice and movements through lip syncing technology to tell viewers a bit about Robinson’s story, including the fact that she wrote that ad.

The agency has also rewritten print ads for clients such as Levy’s Jewish Rye, Clairol and Ohrbach’s to highlight Robinson's involvement. Levy's original 'You don’t have to be Jewish, to love Levy’s' now says 'You don’t have to be male, to change advertising.' Plus, the agency is distributing t-shirts emblazoned with images of Robinson and her famous Phyllis-isms.

DDB North America is making sure its efforts extend beyond International Women's Day by tying them to The Phyllis Project, a global creative initiative the agency launched this year to bolster the development of female creative talent across the DDB network. The IWD effort is also being linked to  the 'Talent has no gender' call to action launched last year.

Merck is launching a film to support its 10-year, $500-million global initiative focusing on the health and well being of mothers during pregnancy and childbirth. Developed with agency Matter Unlimited and filmed by director collective Whitelist, "Push" is designed to reflect Merck for Mothers’ mission to give a voice to the women affected by maternal mortality and illustrate the crucial role of private sector support in public sector issues.

David&Goliath is showing solidarity for "A Day Without A Woman” with a home page takeover of the dng.com Web site for 24 hours with a single page that reads, “Without women, we’d have nothing.” This message then redirects visitors to the Women’s March on Washington homepage. The agency is promoting he project across its social media channels. It’s also encouraging all of its employees to wear red.

YouTube is asking the global community to share videos of women who inspire them and whose voices speak for them with the #HerVoiceIsMyVoice campaign (March 7-8). In order to raise awareness for this project, the Google-owned platform worked with Big Spaceship to develop a call-to-action video featuring celebrities including Malala Yousafzai, Ellen DeGeneres, Condoleezza Rice, and Amena Kin. In addition, YouTube and Big Spaceship created a slate of content to help spread its message and promote the hashtag #hervoiceismyvoice.

Los Angeles-based  Zambezi is closing down entirely in observance of the day. The agency's Web site is hosting a special landing page stating that the office is closed on Wednesday. An internal email sent to all employees on Friday, March 3 further explained that "Instead of just allowing women to have the day off to engage in this effort, we are extending this to the entire company. Men and women need to be united to support this effort together."