W+K Amsterdam Champions Real Girls of Moscow With Bold New Nike Ads

Russia launches a national campaign to celebrate the girls who are breaking stereotypes and embracing sport as a part of their everyday life. 

#betterforit is more than just a hashtag. It’s a call to action to share, promote and embrace women’s fitness and sports. With this rallying cry, Nike invites a global community of athletes to push themselves further, whether it’s a personal best in their latest marathon or a weekend run. #betterforit offers athletes a collective inspiration to reach new heights and a place to share their experience.

In Russia, sport participation is rapidly growing, and there is a group of women who are driving this movement. Free-thinking and free-spirited, their confidence comes from sport and fitness. These women are more comfortable in sneakers than heels, preferring exercise to fad diets. In the new #betterforit campaign created by Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, Nike names these women the ‘Real Girls of Moscow’ and shines a light on both sporting legends and the everyday athlete – all of whom inspire woman to be more active. 

The campaign in Moscow is headlined with large outdoor murals, five short online films, and digital and social activations that harness the bold voice of women today and address the dynamic world of sport and fitness with a lighthearted tone and humor. 

The #betterforit movement includes insights from top athletes including Katya Izotova (former World Champion Thai Boxing), Diana Vishneva (ballet dancer) and Adelina Sotnikova (2014 Olympic Gold medalist in Figure Skating). Each athlete is immortalized in a series of giant outdoor murals in Moscow and in animated GIFs geo-located to the original mural so people can find it in Moscow city.

The same athletes are featured in a series of short films shot by world-renowned sport and fashion photographer, Carlos Serrao. The films, which are each representative of five different disciplines – yoga, long jumping, boxing, figure skating, ballet - highlight a woman’s inner thoughts while working hard towards their goals. 

The #betterforit movement culminated in Moscow when Nike took over Gorky park for a 10 day immersive sport experience. More than 25,000 girls came together over the course of the 10 days to participate in activities ranging from yoga to dance. The experience kicked-off with a global N+TC Tour stop and ended with a Nike Women’s 10k race. Both events featured special athlete guests and were part of the Nike Women’s event series, which united more than 200,000 women and girls from across the globe in 2015, and featured Moscow as a tour stop for the first time.

“One of priorities of the company is to grow sport participation and inspire more people to be active. We are witnessing a sport boom in Russia and we are happy to fuel this change and perception of sport among youth” – comments Massimo Giunco, Brand Director, Nike Russia. 

David Smith, W+K Amsterdam Creative Director says: “We wanted to give this work a sense of legacy. So many ads today are about a one second moment, and we wanted more, we wanted pieces that would be remembered for a long time. So we broke the usual parameters of advertising and created a series of giant outdoor murals. The results are fantastic. The scale and beauty of the photography really gives these girls the heroic stature they deserved.“

The online films were shared on the Nike Woman Russia Facebook and YouTube Channel, while the mural GIFs are being shared via Instagram, VK and on the global Nike Woman #BetterForIt tumblr.