The summer holidays seem to barely begin before brands unleash back-to-school campaigns instilling dread into the young. Rejecting the usual tropes of uniforms and autumnal scenes, Nike’s new back-to-school campaign favours joy, celebrating the idea of ‘finding magic in the mundane.’

Created by Soursop the campaign entitled, ‘Never Done Playing’, is made up of a series of films and photography centred around this idea of the magic in small moments demonstrated through sport. The films show the joy of family time in summer with the first starring Dutch star footballer Virgil van Dijk and his family transforming mundane, everyday chores into play, and showing how any normal task can be turned into a form of sport. 

Virgil Van Dijk and his two daughters are shown gardening on a Sunday as the family manage to turn the everyday tasks in the garden into an epic football match.

A second campaign film shows YouTube and Channel 5 TV personalities, the Grimwades family turning work from home into a monumental dance battle. The third and fourth feature families discovered through street casting, one of which turns a walk around the block into a 100m race and the other transforms the chore of doing laundry into a game of tennis doubles. 

Alongside the three hero films, directed by India Rose Harris of production company KODE and photography from Lucas Garrido, are tongue-in-cheek hero stills featuring van Dijk gardening before being enticed into the game.

The playful campaign reinjects life into the back-to-school period, reminding families that the holidays aren’t over just yet and inspiring the audience of millennial parents to find the fun in the everyday moments of family life.