Nike: What if you can? | Wieden+Kennedy

Sport is growing fast in Saudi Arabia, it’s everywhere and it’s unmissable. But for young women, sport is still something foreign and intimidating. Some don’t see the opportunity, some don’t feel supported, some don’t know the rules or where to start. So whilst there’s a small percentage of girls leading the charge, left in the sidelines are millions more waiting for the right moment to get involved.

To fill Saudi girls with confidence and excitement to begin their sport journey, Nike will help them realize their hidden potential. With our campaign, we want every girl to confidently ask herself…but what if I can?

The campaign film tells a story about a teenage girl discovering the joy of movement. She unknowingly finds her inner potential, explores it, and begins to embrace its wonderful power. Through this journey, our hero experiences more than physical sport, she finds her confidence and freedom.

To visually portray the discovery of hidden potential, we show our hero seamlessly traveling between two worlds: from a mundane situation to a sports action. With this visual device, we wanted to show that simple everyday actions can become your sports skills, if you give it a try.

It was crucial to make the film genuine and true to the region. This is why, to bring this story to life, we collaborated with one of the country’s best-known and the first female filmmaker of the Kingdom, Haifaa Al Mansour. Haifaa brought to the project the level of craft and authenticity deeply rooted in Saudi culture. The film was shot in Riyadh and brought together young female Saudi athletes: from a taekwondo champion, to professional ballers and swimmers, to self-taught skateboarders and dancers.