Nike has always believed that sport has the power to move the world forward. One way to do that is to create a level playing field where men and women have equal opportunity to pursue the sports they love.

That was not happening in the Middle East. Cultural, family, and religious pressure was causing many women to abandon sport at an early age or never start at all—especially water sports where dressing modestly presents even more challenges.

So, Nike created the Victory Swim collection. A first-of-its kind performance swimwear line for modest women.

Rather than focusing on the performance of the product, we set out to make a statement. We invited women back into the water by creating an unstoppable community—united by their love of watersport. We showed them that every time they get in the water, they’re not alone—they’re supported by a powerful community of women just like them.

Women in the Middle East must overcome many barriers to pursue their love for water: covering oneself after a certain age, cultural taboos, swimming pools dominated by men, and the fear of being the only woman in the water.

Nike knew they needed a fresh way to launch their VICTORY SWIM COLLECTION - a first-of-its-kind range of modest performance swimwear for women.

They had to create an unstoppable community of swimmers - united by their love for the water.

Our anthemic film inspired women across the Middle East to take to the water and showed that together nothing can stop them.

Female sport participation in the Middle East is quite low. Cultural, family, and religious pressure, causes many women to leave sport at an early age or never start at all—especially water sports where dressing modestly presents even more challenges.

We thought we understood the barriers these women were up against. However, after interviewing several modest athletes we learned about another, potentially bigger problem—their fear of being alone. We heard from them, time and time again, that they were afraid of being the only woman in the water, the only competitive swimmer who covers, the only daughter to pursue sport.

“I’m afraid of being the only one in the water.” - sourced from first-hand research

Knowing that gave us a sharp insight and a clear path forward. If we could alleviate the feeling of loneliness, we may be able to encourage more women to stick with the sport they love.

Nike kicked off the campaign with messages to inspire women and girls worldwide to take to the water. Nike’s full-length anthem film dropped on October 30 on YouTube, and a 60-second version on @nike, @nikewomen and @nikeswim on Instagram. Nike promoted the film and cut-downs with paid digital and social media through mid-November in the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

The film reached women and girls worldwide, with 22.6 views of our campaign AV in paid media, and 1.37M views of the anthem film across Nike social globally. The view-through rate was 34.14% in paid media, which was double the rate of past campaigns. The film also received PR coverage in 34 titles with a total reach of 30M.