32% of women in the world don’t feel comfortable swimming in public.

In the Middle East, that number rises to 88%.

Being raised in a society where swimming isn’t widely accepted as appropriate for women, they lack the motivation to step into water. In addition, being surrounded by ads with models and professional athletes has further deteriorated their body confidence.

The world’s first swimmable billboard. Made to encourage every woman in Dubai to become ambassadors of adidas’s new inclusive swimwear collection, irrespective of their shapes, ethnicities, abilities or religion.

By physically diving in, each woman became part of the global conversation.

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 5-meter high and 3-meter deep that doubles as a fully usable swimming pool capable of holding 11500 gallons of water, was built in less than three weeks.

The structure was fitted with special underwater cameras that transformed every woman’s experience into personalized adidas posters, and live-streamed every dive on the city’s largest digital display at Dubai Mall.

Women who’ve only seen athletes and models on billboards, saw themselves celebrated the same way. Breaking down personal and societal barriers to finding their confidence in water.

350 million total reach

$6 million earned media

60+ countries across 6 continents

17.7% engagement rate on social media

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