Nike unveils Olympics campaign: 'Winning Isn’t for Everyone'

In her 2018 U.S. Open final match versus Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams exchanged words with the umpire and smashed her tennis racket in frustration over a missed shot. Kobe Bryant’s obsession with winning and distaste for losing made him notorious for hogging the ball on the court, impacting his relationships with his teammates.

These moments could be viewed as rude, unsportsmanlike acts. They could also be seen as exemplary of the drive it takes to be an athlete of the highest caliber. 

Nike’s Olympics 2024 campaign, Winning Isn’t For Everyone, highlights the fact that to be the greatest means defeating the competition — which requires an emotional drive to win and doesn’t always leave room for niceties. Nike worked with longtime creative agency partner Wieden + Kennedy Portland to ideate the campaign creative.

The campaign includes several Olympians heading to Paris at the end of the month, including LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Sha’Carri Richardson, Jakob Ingebrigtsen and A’ja Wilson. Each is driven by the need to win at all costs — which is what got them to their elite level of athleticism.

In the campaign’s hero film, viewers see clips of these athletes excelling at their sport and the determination on their faces while they’re in the game. They’re set against a monologue voiced by actor Willem Dafoe, asking the audience to make a character judgment: Are these athletes bad people? 

Dafoe’s monologue lists narratives these athletes have heard about themselves time and again: “I have no empathy. I don’t respect you. I’m never satisfied. I have an obsession with power. I’m loud.” 

While they may sound like qualities that would make one a “bad person,” when juxtaposed with the video clips of the athletes at the top of their game, these qualities are necessary for athletes to excel to the level they have.

As the extreme lengths these athletes will go to win becomes clearer, Dafoe’s monologue turns irrational and almost taunting: “I’m delusional. I’m maniacal. Do you think I’m a bad person? Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, am I?” 

The tone of the film becomes frenetic, driving home the campaign’s title, which reinforces this level of intense dedication for sport is not for the faint of heart. Winning isn’t for everyone — you have to be comfortable making losers out of everyone else.

Though the campaign’s stars are competing in this year’s Olympics, Bryant and Williams are also included since they “embody that mindset,” said a Nike spokesperson.

The insights for the campaign came from the athletes themselves and conversations they have had with the brand over years of partnership, the spokesperson added. It is meant to represent the athletes’ inner thoughts when they’re competing on their fields of play and “celebrate what it takes to be a winner.”

“This is about celebrating the voice of the athlete,” says Nicole Graham, chief marketing officer at Nike, Inc. “It’s a story about what it takes to be the best. It reminds the world that there's nothing wrong with wanting to win.”

In addition to the hero film, an out-of-home (OOH) component will run across U.S. cities including Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Chicago, Atlanta, Phoenix and Portland. The OOH takeover expands globally to markets including Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, India, Australia, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Germany, Turkey and South Africa. 

The large-scale OOH creative includes images of the athletes with their game faces on alongside punchy quotes in large, visually confronting text. Some photos accompany the tagline, “Winning isn’t for everyone,” while others have more personalized messages approved by the athletes themselves.

For example, A’ja Wilson’s portrait accompanies the copy, “I love winning for my haters,” Qinwen Zheng’s photo accompanies the quote, “There’s only one souvenir I want from Paris,” and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s likeness accompanies the phrase, “If you don’t want to win, you’ve already lost.”

Giving both the text and portraits equal space was an intentional choice, making both the athletes and their mindsets feel larger-than-life, noted the Nike spokesperson.

“Advertising is notorious for creating these heroes on large structures with beautiful images of people we admire,” they said. “Also confronting the text on such a massive scale here is provocative because it’s a forward, assertive tone that we are taking.”

The campaign will be rounded out with dedicated athlete extension films and visuals, as well as social media partnerships with many of the athletes.

On the ground in Paris, Nike has partnered with the Centre Pompidou, where it will open its Art of Victory exhibition showing the Air Max 1’s design history.