Hershey's and BETC Havas São Paulo created the One-Word Dictionary in Brazil in 2022, filling a linguistic gap by defining 'sororidade' through women's own
Hershey's Rewrites the Dictionary to Champion Sisterhood in Brazil
Hershey's 'One-Word Dictionary' is a 2022 integrated campaign by BETC Havas São Paulo that responded to the absence of the word 'sororidade' — Portuguese for sisterhood — from major Portuguese-language dictionaries, producing a hand-bound book of definitions written entirely by women as part of the brand's Her for She empowerment platform.
The campaign, published in Brazil in May 2022, began with a discovery made during the development of Hershey's Her for She initiative. According to reporting by Adweek on 6 May 2022, BETC Havas found that 'sororidade' was absent from nearly all major Portuguese dictionaries — a gap that the agency and client treated not as a footnote but as a creative brief. The solution was direct: commission a dictionary dedicated to that single word, written by the people who understand it best.
Rather than producing a conventional print advertisement or broadcast spot, Hershey's and BETC Havas invited Brazilian women from a wide range of professional backgrounds — including artists, writers, athletes, illustrators, activists, musicians, and scientists — to contribute their own definitions of 'sororidade'. The result was a one-of-a-kind reference object: an A3-format, hand-bound book containing multiple authored definitions of a word that institutional language had overlooked. As reported by It's Nice That on 18 May 2022, the finished object reads as much as an art book as a linguistic document. One hundred copies were produced and distributed to influencers across Brazil, extending the campaign's reach into social and digital channels and generating wider public conversation around the HerShe platform. The campaign was classified under the Public Interest category and is documented on Clapboard as containing one primary media asset, a short documentary-style making-of video produced by Motionhand Filmes. Clapboard rates this campaign 71 out of 100.
Hershey's Her for She platform positions the brand as an active participant in conversations about women's empowerment in Brazil. The strategic foundation of the One-Word Dictionary campaign rests on a specific, verifiable cultural observation rather than a generalised sentiment: a word central to female solidarity had been structurally excluded from the Portuguese-language canon. That linguistic absence became the campaign's entire argument.
In Brazil, the confectionery and snacks sector is competitive and brand-driven. Globally, the chocolate-confectionery market was valued at approximately $186.3 billion in 2022, according to Grand View Research, with molded bars representing the largest product segment at around 35.5% of that market, also per Grand View Research. Hershey's operates in Brazil alongside major international competitors including Mars — which reported $20.0 billion in 2022 confectionery sales according to Business Wire — and Mondelēz International, whose Lacta brand holds significant equity in the Brazilian chocolate market. In this environment, Hershey's choice to compete on cultural relevance rather than product feature is a deliberate strategic posture.
The Her for She platform, of which this 2022 campaign forms part, situates Hershey's within a broader movement of purpose-led marketing that has gained traction across the snacks and confectionery category. By grounding the campaign in a documentary and social experiment format rather than conventional advertising, BETC Havas shifted the brand's register from promotional to editorial. The decision to produce a physical, collectible artefact — the hand-bound dictionary itself — gave the campaign durability and press-worthiness well beyond its initial May 2022 release window in Brazil, earning coverage from Adweek, It's Nice That, and Branding News within days of launch.
The One-Word Dictionary is a hand-bound, A3-format book produced in a limited edition of 100 copies. As reported by It's Nice That on 18 May 2022, the publication was hand-sewn and finished to a standard that positions it closer to an artist's book than a marketing deliverable, with seven Brazilian female talents among those contributing definitions of 'sororidade' in the edition highlighted by that outlet.
The creative team at BETC Havas São Paulo was led by Chief Creative Officer Erh Ray and Creative Vice President Andrea Siqueira, with Creative Director Marcelo Ribeiro and Associate Creative Director Victor Castelo shaping the concept's execution, as documented by Clapboard and corroborated by Siqueira Work. Account direction was handled by Fabiane Veiga, with Giovana Pagliarini as Account Supervisor and Daniela Lima as Content Director. Community management was carried out by Yasmin Ribeiro and Carina Nascimento, and production was overseen by Anna Luisa Ferraz. Motion content was produced by Motionhand Filmes, whose making-of documentary gave the physical artefact a digital life suited to influencer and social distribution across Brazil.
The editorial and illustrative contributions came from women working across writing, music, science, activism, and film — fields chosen deliberately to demonstrate that 'sororidade' carries meaning across every domain of public life, not merely within activist or academic discourse. As Branding.news reported on 13 May 2022, the campaign also emphasised the production process itself, using the making-of video to show the craft involved in assembling each copy by hand. That transparency of process reinforced the campaign's authenticity, distinguishing it from cosmetic purpose-marketing by showing that the object and its labour were real. The campaign's documentary and social experiment format — rare in the confectionery and snacks category — contributed to its selection as a Cannes Lions finalist in the Design category, specifically in the B05: Books subcategory in 2022, as reported by Clapboard.
The One-Word Dictionary earned a Cannes Lions 2022 finalist nomination in the Design category, subcategory B05: Books, as reported by Clapboard. That recognition from the industry's most scrutinised awards programme is the primary verified performance benchmark for this campaign. Coverage appeared in Adweek, It's Nice That, and Branding.news within the first two weeks of the May 2022 launch in Brazil, indicating immediate earned-media traction across both industry and design press.
No independently verified sales-lift, brand-tracker, or reach figures for the One-Word Dictionary campaign are publicly available. The campaign's structural effectiveness, however, is observable. Producing 100 hand-bound, A3-format copies and distributing them to influencers across Brazil created a high-value, low-volume seeding strategy that prioritised quality of impression over volume of reach. The documentary format of the making-of video extended the campaign's narrative into digital channels without requiring a conventional media buy. The public interest classification of the work — rather than a straight product campaign — allowed Hershey's to occupy editorial and cultural space in Brazil that conventional confectionery advertising rarely accesses.
Clapboard scores the One-Word Dictionary at 71 out of 100. The score reflects strong conceptual integrity, a credible and verifiable cultural insight, and genuine craft in production, offset by the campaign's limited measurable reach data and the relatively contained distribution of the physical artefact. The work demonstrates that the HerShe platform has produced at least one piece of creative output capable of standing at an international awards level, which strengthens Hershey's brand positioning in the Brazilian market beyond the confectionery and snacks category alone.
Hershey's One-Word Dictionary is a 2022 integrated campaign by BETC Havas São Paulo in Brazil. It produced a hand-bound, A3-format book defining the word 'sororidade' — Portuguese for sisterhood — after the agency discovered the term was absent from major Portuguese dictionaries. Women from varied professional backgrounds authored the definitions.
BETC Havas discovered that 'sororidade', the Portuguese word for sisterhood, was missing from nearly all major Portuguese dictionaries. As reported by Adweek in May 2022, this linguistic gap became the campaign's creative foundation, resulting in a one-word dictionary written entirely by Brazilian women as part of the HerShe empowerment platform.
Brazilian women from writing, music, science, activism, film, and illustration contributed definitions of 'sororidade'. As reported by It's Nice That in May 2022, the hand-sewn book featured seven female talents in the highlighted edition. The broader campaign invited contributions from artists, writers, athletes, and illustrators across Brazil.
The One-Word Dictionary was a Cannes Lions 2022 finalist in the Design category, subcategory B05: Books, as reported by Clapboard. The campaign, created by BETC Havas São Paulo for Hershey's Brazil, received positive coverage from Adweek, It's Nice That, and Branding.news within two weeks of its May 2022 launch.
One hundred hand-bound copies of the dictionary were produced and distributed to influencers across Brazil, as documented by Clapboard. A documentary-style making-of video produced by Motionhand Filmes extended the campaign into digital and social channels, amplifying the physical artefact's reach beyond its limited print run.
Clapboard rates the Hershey's One-Word Dictionary campaign 71 out of 100. The score reflects strong conceptual integrity and production craft, grounded in a verifiable cultural insight about the Portuguese language in Brazil, offset by limited publicly available reach or performance data from the May 2022 campaign.
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