This week, in One Cool Thing

The One-Word Dictionary

While developing their ‘Her for she’ campaign, Hershey’s discovered that the Portuguese word for sisterhood, sororidade, was missing from most of the primary dictionaries in Brazil. Their response was to create a new dictionary, a one-word dictionary. A whole book dedicated to sororidade, with definitions written by various women from across a variety of fields, cultures and backgrounds. They then sent the final book to influencers, journalists, celebrities and more crucially, the dictionary publishers of Brazil. A delightful and powerful way to both highlight the glaring omission and celebrate the term. We particularly love the connection between the meaning of the project and the style of the response, a perfectly balanced execution.

The Aesop Queer Library

Aesop celebrated pride with an activation for ‘bibliophiles of all stripes’ by opening the Aesop Queer Library during Australia’s Pride festivities, Midsumma Festival and Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras — Two Aesop stores transformed into libraries to amplify queer voices with free literature. A truly thoughtful initiative, founded on the insight that the written word is, and always has been, the most sophisticated and potent agent of societal change. A thought expressed perfectly by Aesop, ‘We use literature to learn, evolve and live more meaningful, more connected lives.’

Start making cents

Finally, a delightful campaign from Allianz, with the even-more delightful Christoph Waltz, featuring in a series of comedic shorts, each hinging on a financial tip. We love the expert execution of a simple idea, amplified by perfect casting, making the most of a celebrity appearance. Too often we see celebrities thumbed-into ads without a connected creative angle. On this occasion, Waltz both manages to steal the show and feel like a natural fit for the brand, with a series that’s not afraid to entertain first and explain second.