Empowering Women in Sports: Lessons from Nike’s 2025 Campaign

After nearly three decades away from the Super Bowl, Nike made a statement that reverberated far beyond the game. Their “So Win” campaign didn’t just mark a return to advertising’s biggest stage—it became a cultural moment that proved storytelling still has the power to move audiences in 2025.

The Setup: 27 Years in the Making

Nike’s last Super Bowl commercial aired in 1998, featuring the iconic “Good vs. Evil” soccer campaign. For years, the brand had mastered digital marketing and athlete endorsements, seemingly having no need for the expensive Super Bowl spotlight. Their absence spoke to their confidence—they could dominate without buying their way into America’s living rooms.

But 2025 was different. Women’s sports were experiencing unprecedented growth, with NCAA Women’s March Madness viewership up 121% from the previous year. Female athletes were breaking records, selling out stadiums, and commanding attention. Yet they were still facing the same tired criticisms that had dogged women in sports for generations.

Nike saw an opportunity not just to sell shoes, but to tell a story that needed to be told.

The Story: Raw, Unapologetic, and Necessary

The 60-second “So Win” ad opens in stark black and white. No flashy graphics. No elaborate sets. Just raw, powerful imagery of female athletes doing what they do best—dominating their sports.

Grammy-winner Doechii’s voice cuts through with a litany of everything women athletes are told they can’t be: demanding, relentless, confident, dominant. Each “can’t” is met with footage of athletes like Caitlin Clark, Sha’Carri Richardson, A’ja Wilson, Jordan Chiles, and Sabrina Ionescu doing exactly that—being all the things they’re told they shouldn’t be.

The message is simple but revolutionary: They say you can’t. So do it anyway. And win.

What makes the storytelling so effective is its specificity. This wasn’t a generic empowerment ad. It spoke directly to the lived experience of female athletes who are constantly told to shrink themselves, be quieter, take up less space, and be grateful for whatever attention they receive. The ad didn’t just celebrate women in sports—it acknowledged the barriers they face and turned those barriers into fuel.

The Results: When Storytelling Meets Cultural Momentum

The numbers tell a story of their own—and they’re staggering:

Immediate Impact: The ad garnered over 66 million views on Instagram within 24 hours, making it Nike’s most-watched video on the platform. Nike’s logo appeared 819 times across 521 unique frames during Super Bowl coverage, more than any other brand. According to Samba TV’s co-founder, Nike didn’t just show up during the Super Bowl—it dominated the screen.

Industry Recognition: The campaign won the prestigious Super Clio Award for the best ad of Super Bowl LIX, with the jury of industry leaders praising its pitch-perfect pacing, script, and message of strength.

Audience Engagement: According to Zappi, the ad scored an impressive 86 for sales impact and 98 for brand impact, placing it in the top 2% of all ads among the under-35 demographic. Nike generated the most social media engagement of any advertiser during the game, sparking conversations across social media, sports talk shows, and news outlets.

Strategic Timing: Nike released the ad online before the Super Bowl, ensuring maximum social engagement before it even aired during the game. By the time it hit television screens, the conversation was already in full swing—a masterclass in modern campaign strategy.

Why This Storytelling Worked in 2025

Nike’s success with “So Win” offers critical lessons for storytellers in an increasingly fragmented media landscape:

1. They Chose Substance Over Spectacle

The decision to shoot in black and white gave the campaign a raw, cinematic quality that felt intimate yet impactful. In a sea of Super Bowl ads featuring talking animals, elaborate CGI, and celebrity cameos, Nike stripped everything back to focus on the message and the athletes. Sometimes less really is more.

2. They Tapped Into a Cultural Moment

This wasn’t manufactured relevance. Women’s sports were genuinely having a breakthrough moment in 2025, and Nike amplified that momentum rather than trying to create it from scratch. The best storytelling recognizes what’s already happening and gives it a voice.

3. They Made the Athletes the Heroes

Nicole Graham, Nike’s Chief Marketing Officer, emphasized that “the athlete is at the center of everything we do, from product creation to storytelling”. The ad featured real athletes with real stories—women who had actually faced the criticisms the ad addressed. Jordan Chiles reflected that winning isn’t just about medals but about overcoming and proving you’re capable of more than imagined.

4. They Took a Stand

In the words of Autodesk CMO Dara Treseder, Nike understood the moment and owned it—when gender equity is under attack, they didn’t tiptoe, they took a stand. In 2025’s cultural climate, brands that try to please everyone end up connecting with no one. Nike knew their audience and spoke directly to them, even if it meant some wouldn’t appreciate the message.

5. They Used the Right Voice

Choosing Grammy-winner Doechii as the narrator was brilliant. Her fierce, rhythmic delivery transformed what could have been a standard voiceover into a battle cry. By choosing a rapper instead of a traditional sports narrator, Nike ensured every word hit hard and stuck.

The Broader Implications for 2025 and Beyond

Nike’s campaign arrived at a pivotal moment in marketing. While many brands in 2025 have pulled back from purpose-driven messaging amid backlash against diversity initiatives, Nike leaned in—and won big.

The campaign’s success challenges the narrative that consumers are tired of brands taking stands on social issues. What they’re tired of is inauthenticity. When a brand like Nike, with decades of history supporting athletes and pushing boundaries, tells a story that aligns with their values and resonates with their audience’s experiences, people respond.

The “So Win” campaign also demonstrates how storytelling in 2025 requires a multi-platform strategy. The ad wasn’t just a 60-second TV spot—it was a social-first campaign that included athlete extensions, still photography, and ongoing social media content. The story didn’t end when the Super Bowl broadcast did; it continued across platforms, allowing the conversation to grow organically.

Lessons for Your Brand’s Storytelling

You don’t need Nike’s budget or a Super Bowl slot to apply these principles:

Understand the moment you’re in. What’s happening in your industry or your customers’ lives right now? What conversations are they already having? The best stories amplify existing momentum.

Strip away the excess. In a world of information overload, simplicity and clarity cut through. Focus on your core message and let everything else fall away.

Be specific, not generic. Nike didn’t create a vague “girl power” ad. They spoke to specific criticisms that female athletes actually face. Who is your specific audience, and what specific challenges do they face?

Have the courage to take a stand. Not everyone will agree with your message, and that’s okay. Trying to appeal to everyone means you’ll resonate with no one.

Let your story breathe across platforms. One piece of content isn’t a story—it’s the beginning of a conversation. How will you continue the narrative across channels and time?

The Ongoing Story

Nike’s “So Win” isn’t just a campaign—it’s the launch of a new brand anthem that the company plans to build on throughout 2025 and beyond. It represents a return to Nike’s roots of athlete-centered storytelling, the very foundation that made the brand iconic in the first place.

In an era where artificial intelligence, data analytics, and programmatic advertising dominate marketing conversations, “So Win” reminds us of a fundamental truth: the best technology and the biggest budgets can’t replace a story that speaks to something real in people’s lives.

Twenty-seven years between Super Bowl ads might seem like a long break, but Nike used that time to understand exactly what story needed to be told and exactly when to tell it. That timing, combined with authentic storytelling, powerful imagery, and the courage to take a stand, created one of 2025’s most memorable campaigns.

Your Move

What story does your brand need to tell in 2026? What’s happening in your customers’ world that you can amplify rather than ignore? What stand are you willing to take, even if it means some people won’t agree?

Nike showed us that in 2025, the most powerful marketing still comes from understanding people, respecting their intelligence, and having something meaningful to say. The platforms may evolve, the technology may advance, but great storytelling remains constant: it speaks to something real, gives voice to something that needs to be said, and invites people to be part of something bigger than themselves.

So when they say you can’t create powerful storytelling without a massive budget? Do it anyway. And win.

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References

1. Media Shower. (2025). How Nike’s “So Win” Campaign is Scoring Big. Retrieved from https://blog-origin.mediashower.com/blog/nike-so-win-ad/
2. Pretty Little Marketer. (2025). Lessons from Nike’s 2025 Super Bowl ad. Retrieved from https://www.prettylittlemarketer.com/blog/lessons-from-nikes-so-win
3. Medium. (2025). Nike’s “So Win”: A Masterclass in Storytelling. Retrieved from https://medium.com/marketing-in-the-age-of-digital
4. ADWEEK. (2025). Nike Wins Super Bowl With More Screen Time Than Other Brands. Retrieved from https://www.adweek.com/convergent-tv/nike-wins-super-bowl-59-screen-time/
5. Marketing Dive. (2025). Just did it: Women-focused Super Bowl LIX ads score as other marketers falter. Retrieved from https://www.marketingdive.com/news/just-did-it-women-focused-super-bowl-LIX-ads-score-other-marketers-falter/732444/