Nike's digital campaign salutes 'The Toughest Athletes'

The one-minute ad film by Nike defines would-be mothers through athletic terms and taps into the powerful potential of motherhood.

Nike, in its latest advertisement, “The Toughest Athletes,” captured women during their pregnancy and early motherhood days, and the intensity of strength that they exemplify during the two transformative phases of their lives. 

“What is an athlete? Someone who moves? Sounds like you. Someone who gets it done, no matter what. You do that. Someone who listens to her body, also you. Someone who defies gravity, you..” the advertisement said. 

The ad features as many as 20 mothers across various stages of their pregnancy, along with global icons like Serena Williams, Alex Morgan, Perri Edwards, Bianca Williams, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and Nia Ali, “The Toughest Athletes” portrays the correlation of sports and motherhood during their pre and post-partum journeys.

A blog post by Nike revealed that the advertisement was filmed during the global pandemic. It further added that “The Toughest Athletes” was compiled from more than 22 hours of intimate footage shot by the mothers featured and their friends and families. Each respective shoot was directed via Zoom to keep each individual's health and safety a priority. It also claimed that the ad film represents women from across the globe, including countries like the United Kingdom, United States, Singapore, France, Australia, Jamaica, and more. This helped them illustrate that motherhood is an ultramarathon.

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The film is a part of Nike’s line of maternal clothing called Nike (M), which is available in North America, Europe, and Africa at nike.com. The collection is set to be released in selected regions of Asia Pacific and Latin American markets, beginning from late 2021. 

In addition to their material collection, Nike has also collaborated with pre-and post-natal exercise expert Jane Wake to create four audio-guided workouts specifically for motherhood in the Nike Run Club app.