Across the globe, sport participation is on the decline for young people, and historically marginalised communities are impacted even more. In London, the community that is dropping out of sport the most is young Black women. Our objective was to bring young Black women in London closer to sport, while also increasing Nike’s role within their relationship to sport.

We created ‘How We Do’: a campaign that reimagines sport with our audience at the heart of it. ‘How We Do’ shows young women real examples of sport that fits them: sport that’s as vibrant, joyous, and expressive as they are; that takes place in their own communities; and with role models and athletes they can relate to.

The campaign was led by Nella Rose, an influential London-based creator who is not only relevant and massively popular with our audience, but is also equally disengaged from sport. In ‘How We Do’, Nella overcomes her own sport inhibitions, finding a new way to do sport that fits her, her culture, her personality, and her style, showing other young Black women in London that they too can make sport their own.

Our strategy was to show young Black women in London that you can Make Sport Your Own by creating a new expression of sport where they can see themselves, their experiences, and their culture reflected. Where they no longer have to change who they are to fit into sport because sport now fits them. Sport that truly feels like their own.

This meant every aspect of our campaign needed to feel like it reflected our audience, from the tone and format to the stories and talent. So rather than creating traditional ads, our approach was to create social-first content, prioritising the platforms where our audience spend their time: YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. The content—even the workouts—needed to feel like the content they consume: entertaining, empowering, joyful, and real. Most importantly, they needed to see people and experiences they can relate to, which informed our choice of influencers, athletes, and coaches.

We started by creating content for YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram—the platforms where our audience is. We captured the real experiences of three friends from South London (representing our audience) and Nella Rose as they tried boxing for the first time at local Black-owned gym Dwaynamics. To show that sport isn’t just about performance and winning, we showed their complete journey: their apprehensions, challenges, joys, and lessons, along with inspirational advice from elite British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith.

To give our campaign scale and to drive trial and physical activity, we also created ‘How We Do’ experiences at local Nike retail stores in London and in the Nike Training Club (NTC) app, led by Nella Rose herself. At retail, fitness and boxing classes gave our audience an approachable and accessible way to try something new, and in NTC, yoga and dance classes hosted by Nella Rose helped expand the definition of sport.

‘How We Do’ not only engaged our audience,

3.7 million YouTube completed views, +69% vs. benchmark

Instagram engagement rate +116% vs. channel average

Instagram organic views +29% vs. benchmark

but also changed how they view Nike and sport:

#1 Brand Resonance among teen women, +1 vs. last year

+10pts lift in “Makes sport and fitness accessible”, up +14 vs. last year

+5pts lift in “Inspires Me”, up +1 vs. last year