Cannes Lions
WIEDEN+KENNEDY, Portland / NIKE / 2022
Overview
Entries
Credits
Background
There’s a team in America that’s won 99% of its games - over the course of 25 years. They walked into the last 6 Olympics and walked out with the Gold. They were about to 7-peat in Tokyo, because this team does not lose games on the Olympic stage. Ever. They don’t even let it come close. They win on average by 30 points. In Rio, they never even let another team lead for more than 181 seconds!
You’d think this dominate team would be “America’s Team.” That the country would rally around them, put their jerseys on our backs and their highlights on our feeds. Instead, most Americans had no idea who they are. Because they’re a WOMEN’S team:
"IT’S THE WALK OF OUR LIFE: OVERLOOKED STORYLINES, NOT HEARD ABOUT, NOT SEEN. BUT THIS ONE IS LIKE THE GLARING ONE, WHERE YOU’RE LIKE, REALLY?" - Sue Bird
Idea
The Greatest Dynasty Ever – a campaign schooling American sports fans on someone they should already know: The USA Women’s National Basketball Team.
Strategy
When sports fans debate the greatest dynasties in sports history, they only mention men’s teams. Nike wanted to set the record straight that the greatest dynasty ever was a women’s team. Not because it’s a nice thing to do, but because it’s statistically true.
Execution
PART 1: TELL THEIR STORY
Rally Americans around the greatest dynasty they’d never heard of before they 7-peat in Tokyo.
PART 2: CELEBRATE THEIR (INEVITABLE) WIN
Cement their status as the “The Greatest Dynasty Ever” after their Gold Medal win
On (date) USAB became back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back world champions. To celebrate, Nike launched a film that officially declared them “the Greatest Dynasty Ever.”
The film ran right after their Gold Medal win in Olympics Coverage on Hulu and NBC streaming platforms.
Nike welcomed the team home too. We brought the message home through digital OOH in key WNBA citie - including at LAX when the team arrived triumphant from Tokyo.
NIKE brought the momentum to the WNBA and key audiences through NBA Summer league, 3x WNBA regular season games.
Finally, we made sure the “Greatest Dynasty Ever” graced the back cover of SLAM magazine's first WNBA edition.
Outcome
The campaign delivered 168M total impressions, 45M overall reach, 27.6M views and 9.1K new Nike members were inspired to join us from 8/7 - 8/22.
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