Adidas – Make Waves With Waves, won D&AD New Blood Awards 2019

Adidas - Make Waves With Waves | D&AD New Blood Awards 2019

Adidas campaign Make Waves With Waves empowering black girls to swim won D&AD New Blood Awards 2019

Not all athletes are born equal. adidas has found that in London, Paris, New York and Tokyo alone, over 50% of girls don’t play competitive or individual sports and over 25% of girls stop playing sport between the ages of 14-17.

Why? Because they don’t see a future.
There are too many barriers stopping their progression. There’s a legacy of inequality and opportunity. Lack of infrastructure, lack of access, lack of role models, lack of funding. A legacy that adidas wants to change.

70% of black girls can’t swim and 5.5 times more black kids die drowning than white kids. But why? Lack of funding, facilities and ultimately HAIR.

For black girls, hair is a huge part of identity. Social pressure to always look good, the damaging effects of chlorine on afro hair and racial discrimination in swim cap sizes is preventing many black girls from getting in the pool.

On World Afro Day Adidas will launch Make Waves With Waves, a campaign empowering black girls to swim. Starting with free swimming lessons for the young women of London’s black communities. We’ll also release a range of swim caps fit for all black hair types, after-swim haircare products and haircare tutorials. Providing a way to protect their waves so they can focus on making waves in the pool.

This idea was a creative response to a hypothetical brief set by adidas as part of the New Blood Awards programme.