Nike’s ‘We Play Real’ campaign, by Wieden + Kennedy Portland, launched on 7 March to leverage International Women’s Day 2021 and to promotes levelling the playing field for black female sports and women around the world.
The hero spot honours the ‘seemingly magical’ accomplishments of black women by highlighting that their successes are not magic at all, but rather the result of the ‘blood, sweat and tears’ that women put into excelling at whatever game they’re playing – w whether it is on the field, the pitch, the court or in the everyday world.
The film features scenes starring several of Nike’s elite female athlete ambassadors (including tennis super stars Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, WNBA and Women’s US Soccer players, plus track and field record holder Caster Semenya) intercut with footage of Black Lives Matter activists, NASA astronaut Mae C Jemison and late Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.
The commercial is backed by a voiceover from actor Dominique Fishback (of ‘Show Me a Hero’ and ‘The Deuce’) reading spoken-word verse: “Even when the world tells us it’s never going to be enough, we’ve got that thing—that hooping, soccer-playing, game-changing, oh-so-resilient, double-a outing, butterfly-stroking thing. We worked for all this. You thought history made itself? Nah, this ain’t magic. This is the real thing.”
The ad closes with the tagline: “We Play Real. Level The Playing Field For Black Women.”
Nike states that black women are rarely recognised for the hard work they put in and asks viewers to join the brand in celebrating their hard work and to help level the playing field.
The spot notched up 4.5m YouTube views on Nike’s own channel in 48 hours.
The hero spot is backed by a social strand which leverages the NBA All-Star Weekend (held on International Women’s Day) with Nike NBA male athletes using their personal Instagram handles to help uplift black women who have made a significant impact on sport, society and culture.
The pairings for this phase of the campaign include LeBron James sharing a story from Las Vegas Aces’ A’ja Wilson, Draymond Green spreading the word about Natasha Cloud of the Washington Mystics and the Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant supporting Shelly Bell who is the founder and CEO of Black Girl Ventures.
Black Girl Ventures is the latest benefactor of the combined $140m investment from Nike Converse, Jordan Brand and Michael Jordan, addressing racial inequality.
The organization will receive $500,000 to go toward supporting entrepreneurship of those who identify as Black and Brown-woman founders.
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