CALIA’s brand belief is to inspire women everywhere to “Stay the Path” and commit to their fitness journeys, no matter where their path leads. Every path starts somewhere, and for many women, including Carrie Underwood, their fitness journeys started with childhood sports.

Playing high school softball taught Carrie the determination, confidence and leadership that have fueled her success. Our idea, “What Sports Taught Me,” brought Carrie back to her hometown of Checotah, Oklahoma, to meet with three young women athletes at her former high school. They shared stories of the impact sports have had on their lives and their dreams for the future. Through a social hero film, we captured emotional stories that showed that no matter what path you’re on, the lessons sports teach will last forever. We asked women and girls to participate in the campaign through social media by telling us what sports taught them using #StayThePath.

“What Sports Taught Me” premiered across CALIA’s YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram during back-to-school time for millions of U.S. students and parents. The campaign brought the impact of sports to life in the midst of a highly relevant cultural moment, and a top retail traffic period for DICK's Sporting Goods stores.

We kicked off the campaign by sharing a never-before-seen photo of Carrie from her high school softball team on Instagram and Facebook. Following this kick-off, our campaign came to life through social placements of the hero film, as well as 30-second shorts highlighting each athlete’s story. For each video, we posed a different question to our audience about the role of sports in their lives to encourage social participation and sharing. We used strategic retargeting to sequentially serve the videos as a chapter-like story of our campaign message, in order to drive click-through to the hero film.

-1.1 million views on Facebook

-1.8 million views on YouTube

-725 thousand views on Instagram

-50MM social impressions

-$25 million donated to high school sports

-1800 sports programs saved