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 everytime 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.

We thought we understood all 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 chooses to cover, the only daughter in the family 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. And in retail locations across those markets, Nike displayed powerful images and clips from the film alongside the Victory Swim collection.

Then, Nike launched a month-long swim clinic at the Hamdan Sports Complex and provided free member access to beginner and intermediate swim classes (48 in total) with Olympic swimmer and coach Sarra Lajnef for the month of November.

Nike also created a WhatsApp Business Group to coincide with the Dubai Fitness Challenge in November to provide members with a curated 30-day program to support their physical and holistic well-being.

The campaign 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. PR coverage for the film had a total reach of 30M. Retail locations with the campaign AV saw a 21% revenue increase and 74% increase in traffic versus the previous week. Nike’s swim clinic classes were fully booked within an hour of the program launch, with 148 swimmers participating throughout the month. Coverage of the swim clinic had a total reach of 35M. The WhatsApp community led to a 63% increase in active members across Nike Training Club and the Nike Training club, with 12K NTC live participants during the month of the Dubai Fitness Challenge.