UN WOMEN: Google Autocomplete Campaign
A series of ads, developed as a creative idea for UN Women by Memac Ogilvy & Mather Dubai, uses genuine Google searches to reveal the widespread prevalence of sexism and discrimination against women. Based on searches dated 9 March, 2013 the ads expose negative sentiments ranging from stereotyping as well as outright denial of women’s rights.
Thai Mobile “Giving is the Best Communication”
This commercial from TrueMove H Thailand might have you tearing up. Watch and see if you agree that they’re selling something much more important. The three-minute segment warmed the hearts of thousands since being released and serves as a powerful reminder of the power of being kind without expecting something in return.
Google: “Saroo Brierley / Homeward Bound”
A man who became separated from his family for 25 years tracks down his birth mother using Google Earth. Saroo Brierley was five when he went to help his nine-year old brother who worked on trains in Khandwa, India. He fell asleep on the train journey there and woke up hundreds of miles away in Calcutta. Mr Brierly was able to find his Indian mother by scouring Google for four years and using the memories he still had of the town in which he used to live.
Tanishq Remarriage Ad
This powerful ad rejects the idea that widowed and divorced women in India should be treated as outcasts. Instead it challenges conventional norms and celebrates a woman’s second marriage to a man who treats her and her daughter with love and respect.
Dove Real Beauty Sketches
Ogilvy Brazil hired FBI forensic artist Gil Zamora to sketch women (sight unseen) as they described themselves, and then as others described them. The differences in the final sketches are stark, and in a way sad, but also uplifting. “You are more beautiful than you think,” said the end line—as simple and perfect a brand statement as there could be.
Cancer Patient’s Pre-Surgery Flash Mob Dance
Deborah Cohan dances with her doctors and nurses to a Beyoncé song before going under anesthesia for her bilateral mastectomy at UCSF Medical Center at Mount Zion in San Francisco. The video went viral and inspired millions around the world.
Chipotle’s “The Scarecrow” (Click to view)
Chipotle, a fast food chain that serves natural and organic Mexican fare, recently released a second animated advertisement that reveals the vicious practices of factory farming. This hauntingly beautiful short film features a lone scarecrow that visits the factory of “Crow Foods,” a fictional fast food chain that uses industrial farming to produce its products. The song “Pure Imagination,” sung in a somber and, at times, frightening tone by Fiona Apple, plays evocatively in the background.