Germany is one of the greatest sporting nations on earth, but has an unhealthy obsession with winning at all costs. This has created a binary machine where people either fit the mold or get left behind.

It’s causing many young Germans to abandon sport because they feel left out, unable to bring their own ideas, styles, or beliefs to an outdated system. This problem is even more pronounced for immigrant communities and women.

But Nike has always believed that sport is far more than winning and losing. Sport and athletes have the power to create positive change and move the world forward. We needed to communicate that to a young, diverse generation of German athletes.

So, the task was clear: redefine and democratize winning for young Germans. We did that by telling Zeina Nassar’s incredible story to showcase the true power of sport.

This film isn’t about getting knocked down, it’s about getting back up. And in doing so,fighting for a future that’s fair for every woman. Ultimately, showing girls across Germany that they’re worth fighting for.

We told Zeina's incredible story, not only showcasing her as one of Germany’s best boxers but to shine light on how she does it for her community too. We explore her early struggles with family and cultural norms. We celebrate how she rewrote the boxing rule book by helping overturn an international regulation prohibiting competing in a hijab–a win for women across the world. And we show how she continues to lead the way in supporting the next generation of female athletes.

The music of the film also carries a special meaning. We took Rammstein’s ‘Sonne’, an iconic track in the boxing world, and gave it a fresh remix with a strong and emotional female

Germany’s sporting system was built to win. And while that seems like a good thing, the binary nature of this approach was forcing young Germans to conform or abandon sport all together. So, just as culture was opening up and embracing their individuality, sport was choking it out.

It was clear that we needed to connect the dots between sport and culture by redefining and democratizing winning. We needed to show that sport is a powerful change agent for all Germans, even if they don’t fit the mold of a traditional “German athlete”.

We accomplished this by telling the story of Zeina Nassar to showcase the true power of sport—how it builds resilience, creates community, and provides a new, more impactful kind of winning.

We promoted Sonne to a nationwide audience in Germany as the second phase of our ‘Just Do It’ campaign in 2019. The film ran in targeted digital media from 5–16 of December. We served it up to people via immersive, long-form viewing environments like YouTube. We tapped into the Teads video network to reach the greatest audience possible.

The film garnered 3 million impressions and 9 million views, with an above-benchmark 33% video completion rate. And after our campaign, Germans felt that Nike was more connected to German culture, with +3pp of Germans and +2pp of Berlinners agreeing that ‘Nike gets my country and my culture.’