Globally, 32% of women don't feel comfortable swimming in public. In the middle East and several parts of Eastern Europe, it's three times higher. Driven by the belief that sport belongs to all, adidas brand launched its first Full-Cover Swimwear Collection.

BEYOND THE SURFACE was a campaign that sparked a worldwide conversation about making swimming more inclusive for all women.

Its hero piece is a film, celebrates the power of water and its ability to defy restrictions, featuring 5 truly unique women breaking down their own barriers and embracing water and illustrating a poem by spoken word-artist and sports inclusivity activist, Asma Elbadawiand.

These women became the face of adidas’s new swimwear collection around the world.

We then created the world’s first Liquid Billboard and inviting every woman to become adidas ambassadors by just diving in.

Universally, water represents freedom. But, for most women in MENA, water represents barriers, limitations and restrictions, due to cultural reasons and lack of body confidence.

While our task was to launch the brand’s new inclusive swimwear collection, we wanted to use this as an opportunity to inspire women to feel comfortable in water and create a new mental association with water that would reposition it from a place of restrictions into a place of personal comfort and freedom.

The campaign started with a global launch film featuring 5 truly unique women breaking down their own barriers and embracing water, visualized over the powerful poetry of activist and female sports advocate Asma Elbadawi.

The 5 women became the face of adidas’s new swimwear collection across social media, in-store, and other digital platforms.

We then created the world’s first Liquid Billboard at one of the most visited beaches of the region and invited every woman to become ambassadors for the new collection by just diving in.

Their experiences were transformed into personalized posters in real-time and live-streamed on the city’s largest digital display.

For once, the woman of the city saw themselves the way they have always seen professionals and athletes being celebrated.

With conversations in over 50 countries across 6 continents, the campaign continues to encourage more women to find their comfort in water

+350M total reach

+$6M earned media

45% View Through Rate vs industry average of 2%

17.7% engagement rate on social media

70% sell through rates in just the first 4 weeks across flagship stores