Goldman Sachs and Forsman & Bodenfors' Celebrate 10,000 Individual Women

Goldman Sachs revealed a new advertising campaign aimed at raising awareness of the firm’s signature philanthropic initiative, 10,000 Women, which supports female entrepreneurs in emerging markets around the world through access to business education, networking, and capital. 

The print and digital components of the campaign feature CEO-style portraiture—oil paintings in gilded gold frames—of several of the 10,000 women graduates. The headline copy reads “What changes when a woman leads a business? Everything.” Ad copy goes on to say “we believe that creating opportunity leads to more opportunity,” underscoring the multiplier effect program graduates have on their communities through revenue growth and job creation. 

An accompanying TV commercial shows a graduate in Lagos, Nigeria, Ayo Megbope, telling her personal story of empowerment and confidence, as her CEO portrait is delivered by bicycle messenger and displayed on the wall of her business.

 “Our aim with this campaign is to demonstrate the support Goldman Sachs has had for female entrepreneurs for the past decade, support that is on-going and highly relevant today” said Amanda Rubin, Global Co-Head of Brand and Content for Goldman Sachs. “There is no better way to do that than by hearing the voices of these women directly, and showcasing their accomplishments. 

“This is a milestone year for 10,000 Women,” said Cristina Shapiro, the program’s global head. “In addition to reaching our 10th year, we’ve launched the business education on Coursera, making it free and available to more women around the world. This campaign is about our on-going commitment to helping create more opportunity for female entrepreneurs.” 

In keeping with the spirit of the program itself, the campaign was created and produced by a predominantly-female team. Goldman Sachs worked with its agency Forsman + Bodenfors New York.

“From the start we knew this campaign had to live up to the standard 10,000 Women has set in terms of opportunities for women,” said Brooke Reno, Group Business Director at Forsman + Bodenfors New York. “We put together a team of talented woman to fill every major role in the production. While we’d all love to get to the place in the marketing industry where an all-woman production isn’t considered noteworthy, at this moment and time, it was a very unique and meaningful experience for all involved. 

The integrated campaign is slated to run through the beginning of December. Print will run in key publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fortune Magazine, and The Economist, as well as across a plethora of digital and social channels. The TV spots will run on broadcast news including Meet the Press and across Hulu. The campaign is also integrated into content partnerships with Cheddar, The Washington Post, and The Skimm. 

In 2008, Goldman Sachs launched the 10,000 Women initiative to foster economic growth by providing women entrepreneurs around the world with business education and access to capital. The initiative was founded on research conducted by Goldman Sachs, the World Bank and others, which suggests that such an investment can have a significant impact on GDP growth.  10,000 Women has reached more than 10,000 women through the in-person program, where 70 percent of graduates report higher revenues and nearly 60 percent create new jobs.