A 90-second argument for return-to-play
On 30 July 2020 Nike releases You Can't Stop Us, a 90-second film by long-running creative partner Wieden+Kennedy Portland.1 The spot publishes during the resumption of major team sports after the COVID-19 stoppages and runs as the third instalment in Nike's You Can't Stop Us platform that begins earlier in 2020.1, 2 Megan Rapinoe narrates over a montage of athletes from across disciplines, races, abilities and genders, framing collective sport as a force for unity.2
The split-screen edit
The film stitches together 36 pairs of clips, archival footage and new footage shot to match it, into a single split-screen frame in which the action on the left mirrors the action on the right.3 The edit by Peter Wiedensmith and Jessica Baclesse and visual effects by A52 align matching gestures, ball trajectories and crowd movements between athletes such as LeBron James and Serena Williams, joining footage from different sports into a continuous visual rhythm.3 The technique turns a constraint of the moment, the difficulty of staging new productions during the pandemic, into a craft signature of the film.
The campaign earns the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Commercial in 2021 and reinforces the long-term creative partnership between Nike and Wieden+Kennedy that began in 1982 and produced Just Do It in 1988.1, 2
Source: Marketing The Rainbow Youtube
Written with AI assistance, edited by a human. Find out more about our Use of AI.
1. Adweek, two pieces. Mónica Marie Zorrilla, "Nike Cheers Unity in Latest for 'You Can't Stop Us' Campaign", 30 July 2020, published under the headline "Clever Video Editing Portrays a Message of Unity in Nike's Latest Powerful Spot", for the release of the spot on 30 July 2020 as the third commercial in Nike's You Can't Stop Us campaign, made by Wieden+Kennedy Portland, following two earlier spots in the same campaign and debuting to coincide with the NBA's return during the pandemic. T.L. Stanley, "Nike's Unifying Ad 'You Can't Stop Us' Wins Emmy for Year's Best Commercial", 15 September 2021, for the spot running 90 seconds, and for its Emmy for outstanding commercial, honoured at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles in 2021. https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/clever-video-editing-portrays-a-message-of-unity-in-nikes-latest-powerful-spot/ https://www.adweek.com/agencies/nikes-unifying-ad-you-cant-stop-us-wins-emmy-for-years-best-commercial/
2. Wieden+Kennedy, "Nike: You Can't Stop Us", work page dated July 2020, for the film being the third in Nike's campaign of the same name, debuting to coincide with the NBA's return, made by the Portland office as a split screen film narrated by Megan Rapinoe and meant to inspire athletes to come together to create change. Wikipedia, "Wieden+Kennedy" and "Nike, Inc.", both read on 25 September 2026, for the agency having taken Nike on as a client on its founding in 1982, for Dan Wieden coining "Just Do It" for a 1988 Nike campaign, and for Wieden+Kennedy remaining Nike's primary advertising agency. The Nike newsroom listed with this verse now redirects to the NIKE, Inc. newsroom, which no longer carries the release the work page links to; that release address redirects to the newsroom front page, page not reachable on 25 September 2026. https://www.wk.com/work/nike-you-cant-stop-us/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wieden%2BKennedy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike,_Inc. https://news.nike.com/news/watch-nike-you-can-t-stop-us-film https://news.nike.com/
3. It's Nice That, Jenny Brewer, "Nike's split-screen You Can't Stop Us ad perfectly matches old and new footage", 6 August 2020, for the 90 second film combining 72 clips in 36 sequences, each showing two athletes as if part of a single shot, with "new footage meticulously made to match the pre-existing footage" in a five day shoot, for the editors Peter Wiedensmith and Jessica Baclesse and the VFX studio A52, and for Serena Williams and LeBron James among the athletes in the film. Muse by Clios, Tim Nudd, "Nike's New Ad Is an Editing Marvel, and Maybe the Best Covid Spot Yet", 30 July 2020, for the 36 split screen moments, which Muse describes as stitched together from archival video although its own credit list names a production company, a DP and a production designer, and for the full credits, editorial by Joint with Wiedensmith and Baclesse, visual effects and colour by A52; off whitelist and used for corroboration only. https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/oscar-hudson-wieden-kennedy-nike-you-cant-stop-us-advertising-060820 https://musebyclios.com/sports/nikes-new-ad-editing-marvel-and-maybe-best-covid-spot-yet
