It’s an incredible moment to be creative. Across the world, we are using our superpowers to reach the unreachable, marginalized and rarely seen. The inclusive value of “solve for one, extend to many” continues to be proven necessary and have impact. Together, we are co-creating alongside communities to build change for them and for us. We have done great work with diversity and inclusivity in representation and casting, but our ideas and content must evolve, too. With focus and radical empathy, we can make something brilliantly human.
The Hidden Room
Home Box and Leo Burnett Dubai
The Hidden Room brings to light an overlooked but sensitive topic in the Middle East — the living conditions of domestic workers. Many homes employ expatriate staff, whose personal living spaces are hidden from view … spaces that can be as small as closets in the U.S. The Hidden Room Collection was a curated furniture collection for these small living environments, aimed to transform their living spaces. The campaign launched with a short film about four women employed as domestic workers who have set up home in someone else’s residence/family to pursue a better life. Bravo to the creators for making a tangible change, advocating for smart living solutions and bringing to light a community that stayed in the shadows. This creative works on so many levels: fulfilling a basic human unmet need, offering a clear brand value, and doing so with creativity and care.
SightWalks
Cemento Sol, the Miraflores District Municipality and Circus Grey Peru
I love when creativity solves problems, but I am obsessed when it becomes a living, tangible part of the world. SightWalks is a system of tactile tiles, embedded in the sidewalks of Peru, that enable blind or individuals with low vision to navigate with complete autonomy. This effort brought together industrial designers, engineers and leading associations for the visually impaired in Peru to create this tactile tile system. They coded the urban landscape of the streets to ensure those living with the most prevalent physical disabilities in the country could navigate the streets on their own. What’s more amazing? They made it all open-source content. The tiles are a copyright-free invention, encouraging global adoption by cities, organizations or individuals to improve urban accessibility for the visually impaired.
Everything They Didn’t Tell You
Black Women for Wellness and Area 23
We do everything we can to have our babies enter the world safely. But for Black women, their birthing experience is too often surrounded by trauma, fear, pain and suffering. For some, there can be more fear of the system inflicting harm than of the delivery itself, and there is no literature that aims to prepare Black women for this reality. Everything They Didn’t Tell You brings critical information written specifically for Black women into existing content that has previously been for a white woman’s world. In the simplest of forms, a book jacket covers one of the most influential child birthing books of all time. The topic and subject matter were handled with dignity. Kudos to Area 23 for using creativity to confront systemic racism and inequity and help more newborn babies enter the world safely.
Winning Is Winning
Nike and Wieden+Kennedy Australia
I love the celebration of disability inclusion, reminding us of every athlete’s unbreakable spirit and unapologetic hunger to win. Winning isn’t just about showing up, it’s about pushing boundaries, defying assumptions and personal triumphs. The message shows success isn’t defined by society’s standards, but by one’s own personal ambitions. On the heels of Assume That I Can — which I can’t stop thinking about — the spirit and empowerment advertising is giving those we assume are incapable is brilliant. It forces us to challenge our own biases, celebrate diversity and make those on the fringe the drivers of culture.
