We approached Scout with questions largely centered around the one: “How differently must a paralympian train?”

What we found was that Scout trains like any other elite athlete - with guts, tenacity, self-sacrifice and relentless commitment to proving their doubters wrong.

It’s this realization, paired with Scout’s eloquent insight and wisdom, that guided the film.

When it came time to roll cameras, we simply did our best to stay out of her way. Our only cheat was filming her morning routine at night at the end of the shoot - it just wasn’t possible to set up a shoot around her 4:30a.m. wake-up time. And more to the point: we didn’t want to interrupt her routine when she had only weeks to train for her race!

We focused on gaining Scout’s trust and respect during the shoot, preparing her for a relaxed and engaged interview afterwards. Our interview technique was to record voice-only. The absence of a camera makes our subjects so much freer to share their inner thoughts. With Scout, we simply had to shift attention away from her handicap and toward her incredible will and unshakeable sense of agency.

This film was a favorite on our team and was received enthusiastically by Nike...but even then we didn’t anticipate the magnitude of its impact. From genuine outpourings of emotion, to millions of impressions across the social spectrum, Unlimited Scout was a massive success. It earned media in AdWeek and Creativity Online, and was featured in Ace Metrix’s year-end rankings of 2016 ads. Ace Metrix calculated that, based on viewer engagement and keyword input, Unlimited Scout was the most inspirational ad of 2016.