Sports reIllustrated addresses one of the most pressing issues in youth athletics: 48% of all girls drop out of sports by age 14, primarily due to body image concerns.
By transforming Sports Illustrated – an iconic but often criticized publication – into a platform celebrating diverse young female athletes, we challenged traditional representations of athletic bodies while providing positive role models for the next generation.
The campaign connected Dove's body confidence mission directly to sports participation, highlighting a critical issue while providing actionable solutions through the Body Confident Program. This multi-faceted approach ensured both awareness and impact, strengthening the connection between positive body image and athletic participation.
In today's landscape, sports participation offers girls crucial benefits for physical health, mental wellbeing, and future success. Research shows female athletes are more likely to graduate college, secure leadership positions, and develop lifelong confidence.
With the steep drop out rate of girls in sports, too many young women are missing out on these benefits.
We reimagined the traditional Sports Illustrated by creating a special issue "Sports reIllustrated" that celebrates young female athletes of all shapes, sizes, and abilities. Featuring 10-year-old wrestler Honor Smoke on the cover and profiling ten diverse young athletes, the magazine emphasized that athleticism transcends body type.
The Sports reIllustrated execution was designed for maximum creative and strategic impact.
Pre-Launch (Nov 2024): We built anticipation through targeted press announcements and strategic media engagement, highlighting the partnership with Sports Illustrated without revealing details.
Launch Phase (Early Feb): We revealed the Sports reIllustrated special edition featuring 10-year-old wrestler Honor Smoke on the cover and profiling ten diverse young athletes. We distributed the magazne to the 400,000+ print Sports Illustrated subscribers. We strategically timed this release during the heightened sports conversation of Super Bowl week.
We amplified this message beyond the launch through a diverse Body Confident Collective of female athletes including Billie Jean King and Sabrina Ionescu who helped spread our #KeepHerConfident message.
Most significantly, we transformed a publication historically criticized for narrow beauty standards into a champion for diverse athletic representation, challenging systemic barriers to girls' sports participation while providing resources through Dove's Body Confident Program.
