Year Ender 2018

1. #CloseTheDreamGap | Barbie

Starting at age 5, many girls begin to develop limiting self-beliefs. They stop believing their gender can do or be anything. Barbie has led girls on a path to self-discovery and helped them to imagine the possibilities. On 9 October 2018, Matel started a campaign called Close The Dream Gap. This year, Barbie is kicking off the Dream Gap Project, an ongoing global initiative that includes funding research, highlighting positive role models, and producing inspiring content and products.

2. #DibbaLautaao | Zee

Zee Corporate's campaign '#DibbaLautaao' urges people to extend help to the state by reminding us of the true spirit of Kerala people. Many social media posts and emails did the rounds requesting people to pay heed to the growing uncertainty and help save God's Own Country. One particular advertisement that stood out among the rest was Zee Corporate's campaign, '#DibbaLautaao', that fondly encapsulated the love we have for the people of this southern state and its banana chips. The campaign is an ode to the people of Kerala and a shout out to the people of the country to stand together with Kerala, like the people of Kerala have done all their lives.

3. #GenerationEqual | Flipkart

Flipkart started this year with a commitment to tell stories that champion progressive living and thinking, in line with their tagline – Naye India Ke Saath. This time, they bring you the story of a new, progressive generation. To emphasize their commitment to the cause, Flipkart aims to create India's first gender-neutral kid's store, where toys, games, books are not segregated on the basis of gender. That means your little ones no longer have to be bound by restrictive gender norms, and they can finally let their imaginations roam free, unbound by society's sexist expectations.

4. #HourWithHer (Against Teasing and Bullying)| Dove

Dove incorporated the characters from Cartoon Network's popular show Steven Universe into their new series of body confidence and self-esteem videos. The videos offer language to both process and respond to the often complicated and troubling world of adolescence. Dove's products aren't featured in the series, and the brand is only mentioned in the title of the project (Dove Self-Esteem Project), all of which reinforces the legitimacy of Dove's efforts to truly support kids in the development of healthy self-esteem. In fact, the campaign offers more than witty videos - the project's homepage provides kids and their parents a database of useful guides that can help them cope with common issues surrounding confidence and body positivity.

5. #PenguinDad | Flipkart

Indian dads today want to be involved in every aspect of their child's life. Be it helping with homework, or making the perfect omelette for breakfast, or taking time off from work to attend a PTA meeting, they are eager to divide parenting responsibilities equally. These dedicated dads are the torchbearers of a revolutionary change sweeping Indian society. Having keenly observed this remarkable transformation in parental roles over the last decade, Flipkart commissioned a study to understand what drives these extraordinary fathers. The findings are inspiring. To borrow an analogy from the animal kingdom, these 'Penguin Dads' are deeply involved and invested in their child's upbringing all the way from birth to adolescence. Penguin Dads represent the face of a new, progressive India that is upending stereotypes and challenging the status quo.

6. De Taali – Banegi Baat Saath-Saath | Breakthrough

Breakthrough is on a mission to reach out to adolescents across India in an initiative to seed change early. Forging alliances with parents, teachers, health-workers, government officials and entire communities, Breakthrough is working to improve the determinants of gender, health and education for both boys and girls. This campaign evocatively calls out, 'De Taali – banegi baat saath-saath', asking people to support these young lives by helping them create safe spaces in schools and within their own communities, gain confidence by acquiring life skills, discover opportunity through education, get access to healthcare services, irrespective of gender, receive counselling on gender equity and reproductive rights and build an ecosystem in which adolescent voices are heard.

7. Change the Way You See Disability | ESSC

A thought-provoking new advertising campaign from Easterseals Southern California (ESSC), an organization which assists more than 10,000 people with disabilities in several parts of California, launched a new ad campaign in February that features its own program recipients. The title of the campaign is "Changing the Way You See Disability," and its goal is to create inclusion and encourage social change. The campaign's slogan is 'Celebrate. Don't Separate.'

8. Keeping Families Together | Children With Cancer

Cancer, particularly in childhood, is an incredibly tough and heart-breaking subject, regardless of your beliefs and background of social standing. To raise critical awareness and funding to facilitate the vital work it conducts on a daily basis, UK-based charity, Children With Cancer, recently launched a campaign focused on the message ‘Keeping Families Together’. By providing invaluable insights via the campaign’s primary landing page, spreading awareness on social media and launching an incredibly powerful YouTube video plus TV ad, the organization has not only used the striking visual of ringing the end of treatment bell to capture the attention of its audience, but its positive message showcases the enormous value of its ongoing efforts.

9. The Plastic Ocean | FF New York and Sea Shepherd

‘Plastic Ocean’ is a project to put this subject on the front page of the social media and to create a mind-set of sustainable usage of plastic, especially for younger generations. This campaign created by FF New York is made up of three still visuals and a video. The colourful images highlight animals appearing to swim into plastic barriers. The video animates that struggle. At first, the animals appear to swim at ease, their bodies outlined by the plastic drapes, but then we see that the turtles, dolphins and sharks are trapped and suffocated by the barriers. The spot ends by stating that a million sea animals die every year, and encouraging people to stop plastic polluting and recycle and reuse.

10. We The Women | Barkha Dutt with Facebook and UN Women

'We The Women' is a unique, participatory, one of its kind festival, created and curated by Barkha Dutt for Facebook and UN Women with Vogue India playing media partner. The event brought together feministic voices from a range of professions, spanning from cinema, politics and sports to literature and law, all under one roof. The aim of the festival is to provide a free space for everyone to meet and interact with brilliant female minds from across India, and also hear the men who have stood up for women and feminist principles.