adidas made a billboard women could swim in to launch modest swimwear in Dubai

adidas was launching its first inclusive full-cover swimwear line in the Middle East, where many women feel uncomfortable swimming in public — an adidas-commissioned YouGov survey found only 12% of women in the UAE were completely comfortable in a swimsuit at a public beach or pool. The obvious move was a glossy campaign with models in the swimwear, which in the Gulf risks backlash and still only depicts the freedom it talks about.

Havas Creative Dubai instead built the world's first 'liquid billboard': a reinforced transparent acrylic pool, 5 meters high and 3 meters deep, holding 11,500 gallons of water — built by 32 people over three weeks on Kite Beach, one of Dubai's busiest public beaches. Women were invited to take a public dive 'Beyond the Surface', including amputee triathlete Dareen Barbar and Raha Moharrak, the first Saudi woman to climb Everest.

Footage from the swims was aired on a digital screen above the Dubai Mall ice rink next to the adidas flagship, turning participants into the campaign. The stunt won the Design Grand Prix at Dubai Lynx 2022 and a Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2022.

Turn the billboard into the swim itself

A swimmable billboard sidesteps the region's sensitivities about showing women's bodies while making the boldest possible statement about them.

Every participant became both medium and message — real women, not models, doing the thing the product enables.

The build was inherently press-worthy, so earned media did the distribution.

It tied the stunt directly to the product's reason to exist: choice and confidence in the water.

When the message is permission, demonstrating it beats describing it: a billboard you can swim in proves inclusion in a way a printed image never could.

The Liquid Billboard won the Design Grand Prix at Dubai Lynx 2022 and helped adidas's 'Beyond the Surface' swim campaign sweep regional and global awards; Dubai Lynx later named adidas its 2025 Advertiser of the Year, citing 43 awards across Dubai Lynx and Cannes over three years.