Nike is rolling out a bold and powerful new campaign that aims to champion women in the Middle East and challenge female stereotypes.
The colourful creative revolves around the question ‘What will they say about you?’ and it focuses on six successful female ambassador athletes who have achieved success against the odds and, in some cases, against cultural expectations.
The sports women endorsers fronting the initiative are figure skater Zahra Lari, Parkour trainer Amal Mourad, boxer Arifa Bseiso and singer Balqees Fathi,
In addition to posting the spot on the Nike Women YouTube channel on 17 February,
a subtitled version of the core spot is also amplified across Nike’s Twitter channel.
What will they say about you?
Maybe they'll say you showed them what's possible. #justdoit pic.twitter.com/NZbQLC1JuB— Nike Middle East (@NikeMiddleEast) February 18, 2017
إيش حيقولوا عنك؟
يمكن يقولوا إنك تخطيتي كل التوقعات.
justdoit# pic.twitter.com/2IP79Z7lnK— Nike Middle East (@NikeMiddleEast) February 18, 2017
National Emirati Parkour coach Mourad said the campaign phrase ‘What will they say about you’ is ‘every little girl’s nightmare growing up’.
‘We hear this every time we do something that might be met with criticism. There’s a fear to stand out and do something that’s not part of the norm,’ explains Mourad.
‘But I’ve learned that, if you genuinely want to do something amazing, you can’t be afraid of hearing this phrase. Don’t be afraid of your own greatness.’
Activative Comment:
Thus far the spot has racked up half a million YouTube views and around 20,000 active Twitter interactions (Likes/Retweets) in its first four days – which shows solid engagement.
Although a quick glance at the comments on the tweet shows mixed reactions to the ad.
Nevertheless, there are plenty of positive comments across Nike’s Middle East social platforms and these suggest the sportswear giant’s bravery has struck the right balance between change and culture.
In the last 18 months a new wave of female focused initiatives aimed at encouraging more women to exercise and play sport have emerged from the world’s biggest sporting behemoths such as Adidas, Reebok, Under Armo0ur and Nike.
And the umbrella objective behind this and Nike other’s new female focused campaigns is to eventually turn Nike’s women’s sportswear division into an $11bn business by 2020.
In order to work towards this objective, Nike’s marketing strategy has been scrapping stereotypes in its advertising in a renewed bid to appeal to a new generation of women.
These Nike initiatives have spanned ‘Nike+ Training Club’ (which including a Middle East activation strand and which saw more than half a million women worldwide get involved in running)
and other campaigns in regions where women wouldn’t typically exercise or wear athletic clothing such as Nike India’s recent ‘Da Da Ding’ initiative (see case study).
Nike’s ‘What Will They Think’ follows on from the launch of its ‘Equality’ campaign which stars Nike athletes, including LeBron James and Serena Williams amplifying their voices in an effort to uplift, open eyes and bring the positive values that sport can represent into wider focus (see case study).
These campaigns suggest Nike continues to be a brave brand championing socio-cultural change.
Links:
Nike Women
https://www.youtube.com/user/NikeWomen
https://uk.pinterest.com/nikewomen/
https://www.instagram.com/nikewomen/
https://www.facebook.com/NikeWomen
http://www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/women
