When 2020 brought unexpected turbulence to female-founded businesses around the country, we saw many of these women rise up to help one another during uncertainty and tribulation. As we witnessed this unrelenting act of community and resilience, Stacy’s Pita Chips knew they had to act. As a female-founded business, Stacy’s wanted to help as many women as possible by bringing them the resources they needed to get back on their feet and help their businesses rise. When racial injustice conversations took hold, we extended our platform to help an additional 15 Black female founders. Culturally, we were in a groundbreaking moment. Stacy’s wanted to do everything in their power to help.

In 2020, the pandemic left many female-founded businesses wondering if they would be able to keep their lights on. As a female-founded business, Stacy’s Pita Chips knew they needed to help. So instead of advertising chips, they shared all their resources with 30 female founders through the #ShareForHer platform. Stacy’s Pita Chips shared their ad space, their media dollars, their financial support, and their expertise through a mentorship program. They even shared their bag by transforming it into a Female Founder Finder. By scanning a QR code on the bag, anyone could find a founder near them. The entire campaign focused on lifting up other women’s businesses instead of focusing on selling chips. Because when we #ShareForHer, women rise.

Our key target was women aged 25-60 who aim to spread light and help guide others. They are purpose-driven and empowered, always looking for ways to help women around them rise and create community. However, women continue to fight the cloak of invisibility when it comes to being seen and heard. The pandemic exasperated these realities when female-founded businesses were hit particularly hard in the wake of store closures and financial strain. Yet the most spectacular trend was seeing these female founders lift each other up even during moments of uncertainty and instability. Beginning as a female founded business and having a history of helping female founders the past 3 years with their Rise Project, Stacy’s knew we had a role in helping to amplify these founders during the most challenging of times.

The #ShareForHer program launched by sharing Stacy’s ad space. We shared creative direction, camera equipment, and a custom script for each of the 30 founders so they could shoot their own content. Then, we turned the footage into tailored ads for each business. Through geo-targeted social ads, we shared Stacy’s media dollars to drive sales for each founder. In addition, we shared Stacy’s Amazon Hub to help amplify their selling channels. We also shared expertise through a mentorship program featuring Christen Press and Tobin Heath— professional soccer players and founders of the lifestyle brand re-inc. Each founder received a $10,000 grant to help their business rise. But Stacy’s wasn’t done sharing. To help thousands and thousands of female founders across the country, Stacy’s shared their Pita Chips bag by transforming it into a Female Founder Finder. Scan the QR code on the bag and locate female-founded businesses you can support.

By sharing Stacy’s marketing resources with female-founded businesses, the campaign captured the attention of the country, featured in segments on CNN, ESPN, Bloomberg, ABC News, Yahoo! Finance, and many others. In fact, 3.3 billion impressions were secured which was a 154% lift from the previous year, with the exact same production and media budget. The Amazon Marketplace, which was the digital store front created for our chosen female founders was specifically successful; 140M page visits were counted which is more than double Amazon benchmarks. With these results in mind, it’s no surprise that 70% of the female founders that featured in the #ShareForHer campaign reported higher sales growth during the campaign.