March 2020 PR Calendar Cheat Sheet: International Women’s Day, International Day of Happiness and Earth Hour

March marks the end of the first quarter of 2020, which got off to a rocky start with the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the subsequent slew of event cancellations. Despite the gloomy outlook, brands can associate themselves with some feel-good causes this month. They can tap on the growing buzz surrounding female empowerment through International Women’s Day, showcase the importance of focusing on one’s positive energy with International Day of Happiness or affirm their commitment to environmental conservation on Earth Hour. Here’s a list of major events and festivals to help communicators plan their PR campaigns and activities this month.

Key Dates: 

5 March – World Press Freedom Day

8 March – International Women’s Day

11 March – Fukushima Tsunami Remembrance Day (Japan)

14 March – White Day (Japan)

20 March – International Day of Happiness

24 March – World Tuberculosis Day

25 March – Earth Hour

25 March – Balinese Day of Silence (Indonesia)

March 2020 Highlights 

1. International Women’s Day (8 March) 

International Women’s Day celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women around the world. For more than a century, the occasion has been advocating women’s rights and encouraging gender equality in all walks of life.

Global apparel brand Banana Republic launched a multimedia news release on its WORK Where? campaign in conjunction with the female-centric day. The campaign celebrates unconventional jobs through a montage of videos and images on stories of women from all walks of life, from recording artists, real estate developers to cafe owners. Banana Republic will also make a US$100,000 donation to the non-profit organisation CARE, which focuses on fighting poverty and the advancement of women and girls around the world.

On the healthcare front, Farrer Park Hospital in Singapore has teamed up with 44 high-intensity focal ultrasound (HIFU) centres in mainland China and Taiwan to perform HIFU treatment on women with uterine fibroids in the lead-up to International Women’s Day. Uterine fibroids are benign growths in the uterus that often appears during a woman’s childbearing years.

To coincide with International Women’s Day festivities, Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants typically announces the recipient for its annual Asia’s Best Female Chef award in March. This year’s recipient is Cho Hee-sook, chef-owner of one Michelin-starred modern Korean restaurant Hansikgonggan in Seoul. The award celebrates female chefs whose dedication, skills and creativity set new standards in the gastronomy world.

Technology accessories brand Casetify is relaunching the Her Impact Matters collection that features designs by an all-female artist crew. The range of products includes handphone cases and earphones. All proceeds from the Her Impact Matters collection this month will be donated to the Malala Fund, a non-profit organization by student and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, who advocates for education among females.

Also celebrating female talent is LG Electronics, which has signed a three-year sponsorship agreement with the world’s top-ranked female golfer, Ko Jin-young from South Korea. Ko ascended to the top of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings last year, after she earned four tournament victories including the ANA Inspiration and the Evian Championship.

Another global brand, CleverTap, a customer engagement and retention platform, is celebrating the success of women leaders in the technology industry with Inspiring Women, an interview-based video campaign. The video series, which highlights the achievements, setbacks and learnings from 13 women leaders, hopes to inspire other up-and-coming professional women.

Click here to read more press releases on International Women’s Day. 

International Day of Happiness (20 March)

If you are happy and you know it, you are probably living in Finland. In 2019, the Scandinavian country topped the World Happiness Report for the second consecutive time. The report, which is spearheaded by the United Nations (UN), ranks 156 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be. In APAC, people in New Zealand are the happiest, while those in Afghanistan are most unhappy. Besides commissioning this survey, the UN also observes an International Day of Happiness, which marks the importance of focusing on positive energy and spreading joy and laughter.

Happiness can be munched on, according to the latest survey by the Almond Board of California. The survey reveals that almond eaters in the United States are more likely to be happier and healthier than those who do not eat almonds. Those who snack on almonds are also more likely to stick with healthy eating habits for up to six months and prefer snacks that are made from natural ingredients. The press release also includes recipes on using almonds in cookies, smoothies and ice-cream sandwiches.

To share some nuggets on pursuing happiness, author Guillermo Grey released a novel Rojo, which is an insightful read on friendship, life and redemption. Published by Page Publishing, the book enlightens readers on the true essence of happiness and how it is uniquely defined by each individual.

3. Earth Hour (25 March) 

Earth Hour is an annual global movement by the World Wide Fund for Nature, which encourages individuals, communities and businesses to switch off non-essential electric lights for one hour on a designated day. The event, which is commemorated in more than 180 countries and territories, hopes to catalyse positive environmental change by sparking conversations on protecting nature and climate change.

Casting the spotlight on the environment is the Indonesia Plastic Bag Diet Movement which announced that shopping centres, supermarkets and traditional markets in Jakarta will phase out providing single-use plastic bags by this year. The populous capital city joins other Indonesian cities such as Bandung and Banjarmasin to ban the use of plastic bags. This regulation brings Indonesia closer to its national target of reducing its waste by 30% by 2025.

Raising awareness on water security is ASIAWATER 2020, a biennial trade event for the water and wastewater industry in Asia. Ahead of the event in November, Malaysia-based event organizer Informa Markets held site visits to Batu Kitang Water Treatment Plant and Bengoh Dam in Kuching to understand best practices in overcoming water supply challenges and sustaining a clean water supply to urban and rural areas.

Last year, integrated resorts operator Sands China commemorated Earth Hour by switching off exterior lights and non-essential indoor lights for one hour across its properties including Sands Macao and The Venetian Macao. Besides the annual event, Sands China maintains a long-standing monthly practice of observing Earth Hour. All its properties switch off exterior lights, signages and marquees for one hour on the first Tuesday of each month. The hospitality company also held its Climate Week, which encourages staff-driven initiatives to address climate change. One highlight is an Energy Saving Roadshow, which encouraged staff to replace lightbulbs from their homes with energy-efficient LED ones, and recycle them.

Plan your upcoming campaigns and news releases around festivals, exhibitions and conferences in Asia-Pacific in 2020. Click here to view the PR Newswire’s Public Relations Calendar.

This blog post is written by Kenneth Goh, Senior Marketing Executive at PR Newswire. A former journalist, he relishes keeping track of breaking news as much as telling stories with trends and data. Connect with him via Linkedin.