Nike explores just what makes Serena Williams such a stunningly successful tennis player after winning her 22nd Grand Slam title at Wimbledon with a campaign focusing on her unlimited willpower.

Rolled out on 9 July, just hours after Serena triumphed at The Championships for the seventh time, the campaign links to Nike’s ongoing Rio 2016 Olympic games ‘Unlimited’ initiative.

Serena strand within the wider initiative is spearheaded by a film focused on her will to win and features the copyline: ‘Work ethic of an underdog. Willpower of a champion. This is Unlimited Serena’ and carries the brand’s overarching #justdoit hashtag.

The video is supported socially across Nike’s channels – including Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/BHpQVdQDRtO/

and Twitter.

UNLIMITED SERENA #justdoit @serenawilliams pic.twitter.com/MIKD8heJj7

— NikeCourt (@Nikecourt) July 9, 2016

All assets links to her page on the Nike Unlimited web hub dedicated to the player who has just tied the all-time tennis record for Grand Slam wins – drawing level with Steffi Graf.

The site has several features that showcases her achievements thus far: including a a summary of her tournament record – 22 Grand Slam singles titles, 15 Grand Slam doubles wins, 4 Olympic gold medals and 37 major tournament victories – as well as attitudinal and inspirational quotes from the player about her commitment to progress: ‘I’m not going to just sit back and say “I’m Good Enough”’ and ‘There’s no day that goes by that I feel like losing.’

The site also explores her mental and physical approach to training: ‘At the beginning of each year, Serena sets goals. Unsparingly, she assesses her game, what her competition does better and then finds the way forward. She doesn’t talk about her goals; her game does that for
her.’

The site also urges fans to ‘Shop Serena’s Look’ and drives them to the direct Nike purchasing platform at http://store.nike.com/gb/en_gb/pw/serena-williams/82h

Comment

The ‘Unlimited’ theme is a part of the Nike’s Rio 2016 Olympic marketing programme which, without any official IOC event rights, will see Nike once again build its campaigns around its highest profile athlete ambassadors.

Of whom Serena Williams is one of the biggest.

All the spots in the ‘Unlimited’ series are based on the behind-the-scenes training process of Nike brand ambassadors – as summed up by the campaign copy:

‘Summer is the starting line to unlock your potential. Make the most of every opportunity—only when you push your limits can you go beyond. Whatever it is, get after it.’

In addition to the Serena marketing strand, Nike has already released additional phases of the campaign with creative focusing on Allyson Felix,