For fifty years, Nike championed sports empowerment for all, transcending levels and contexts. Despite triumphs, the relentless pursuit of victory erected barriers in sports and life. This year, Nike aimed to redefine sports victory globally, sparking progress across sports and culture.

In Japan, a sustained decline in sports participation among female teens prompted this year’s campaign. As a part of its global campaign, Nike has singled out the pressure to be perfect as a key barrier that female Gen Zs, face in Japan. Speaking with Japanese youth revealed that the idea of perfectionism is deeply ingrained in Japanese culture and starts from an early age when school and after-school sports activities enforce conformity. In a country that values conformity over individualism, Nike helped highlight the power of sport as a tool for youth to break free from the constriction of perfection, and embrace and express their own unique selves.

Research showed Nike that Japan’s participation in sports has been on a trending decline, especially among Japanese female Gen Zs. This campaign aimed to reframe sports, from something familiar and tired, to a vital tool that offers an escape from the pressures of daily life. The research also pointed to Japanese female Gen Zs feeling specific pressure and expectations to be perfect.

The campaign's film follows Aika, a Japanese Gen Z protagonist navigating cultural expectations, discovering historical challenges faced by Japanese women through time travel. The creative idea emphasizes sport as a transformative tool, liberating individuals from daily pressures and then to embrace authenticity. Featuring several Nike athletes, the film draws inspiration from contemporary expressions of sport, empowering Aika to live unapologetically. She embraces her individuality with confidence, culminating in the support of preceding generations of Japanese women whom she meets along her journey.

The current definition of what victory and winning means in sport, is starting to feel alienating and elitist. In Japan, these sentiments are outsized, as the culture tends towards perfectionism, and highly equates victory as an achievement of perfection.

Nike rejects this black and white view, and instead believes that victory lies beyond the simple idea of winning or losing. Instead, sport offers a daily escape from the pressures to be perfect, by allowing participants to discover their true selves and liberate themselves through play.

With a momentum shift in Japan challenging the pursuit of perfection, Nike has a unique voice in this conversation. It aims to reframe the concept of victory, shifting the focus away from being perfect and offering Gen Z discovery and release from these pressures.

The film follows Aika, a Japanese Gen Z protagonist, contending with cultural pressures such as academic success, career expectations, and social media comparisons. Aika witnesses the historical burdens faced by Japanese women, realizing she is not alone in these struggles as she travels through time.

The narrative positions sport as a transformative tool, allowing individuals to break free from daily pressures, and embrace their authentic selves. The film gains momentum as Nike athletes, including skaters Yurin Fujii & Ginwoo Onodera and breaker Ami Yuasa, symbolize contemporary expressions of sport, adding inspiration to our main protagonist and the voice of Gen Z Aika's journey. It culminates with Aika receiving the support of generations of Japanese women before her, empowering her to live life unapologetically, embracing her individuality with confidence and authenticity.

For the first time, a sports brand championed a different kind of victory that resonated with female Gen Zs in Japan. We challenged the outdated concept of victory in Japan through setting a clear message to the youth that sports allows them to break free from the pressures of conformity. In order to maximize our messaging efforts, we took over the cultural heart of Tokyo and met the youth where they spend their time both digitally and physically.

As a result, the campaign took over social media, with positive respondents such as "Loooove this! I needed these words“, and even people beyond the youth resonated with it with “It's not only young kids who think like this😓”.