As the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand kicked off, adidas and Augusto have released a powerful new campaign to celebrate the achievements of the current Black Ferns players, iconising them as inspiration for generations to come.
Given women’s rugby only started in 1991, the current Black Ferns are the beginning of the story, having largely pursued their own path to greatness, with no existing female role models to look up to within rugby. An almost impossible task, they have helped grow the status of women’s rugby and will now get to proudly wear the newly designed black jersey from adidas and take on the world in their own backyard.
To recognise this, and the generation of young women the current team are now inspiring, adidas and Augusto sought to show the influence female role models can have on young girls via an inspirational hero film.
Featuring four of the Black Ferns – Les Elder, Chelsea Bremner, Chelsea Semple, and Portia Woodman – the film is tied together by up and coming drummer, 11-year-old girl Zhene Soeira (@zhene.soeiro), who delivers a punchy punk beat.
“We’re so excited for the opportunities this iconic sporting moment delivers for current players, and hope that it can inspire the next generation of women’s rugby players to take up the sport,” says adidas Senior Manager of Brand Communications, Andy Lane.
To hero the players in the way they deserve to be recognised, Augusto also enlisted the artistic eyes of the ‘Dream Girls Art Collective’ to capture each Black Ferns player and their story via an empowering twist of the iconic All Blacks posters of old.
“The biggest stage in women’s World Rugby is the perfect platform to iconise our phenomenal athletes and showcase the role models they are,” says Augusto ECD, Adam Thompson. “We’re proud to be able to deliver an adidas campaign that will help give the Black Ferns the recognition they finally deserve.”
