The $Φ^4_3$ equation is a singular stochastic PDE with important applications in mathematical physics. Its solution usually requires advanced mathematical theories like regularity structures or paracontrolled distributions, and even local well-posedness is highly nontrivial. Here we propose a multiplicative transformation to reduce the periodic $Φ^4_3$ equation to a well-posed random PDE. This leads to a simple and elementary proof of global well-posedness, which only relies on Schauder estimates, the maximum principle, and basic estimates for paraproducts, and in particular does not need regularity structures or paracontrolled distributions.