This First-Of-Its-Kind Olympic Sponsorship Isn’t ‘Just Another Cool Sports Ad’

At this year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, the medical apparel brand FIGS became the first brand to outfit all of Team USA’s 250+ healthcare professionals. To accompany this sponsorship, creative agency Mother partnered with ProdCo director Lana Senaoui on the anthemic film, ‘Anatomy of a Champion’.

Juxtaposing visceral, dynamic shots of athletes’ injuries and recovery with a reworded version of the nursery rhyme ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’, the rhythmic yet realistic video pays tribute to the medics who give their hearts to build the bodies that break records.

Speaking to LBB’s Ben Conway, the director shares how the team battled high altitude at the US Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to capture as authentic footage as possible, and the detailed research and genuine connections that are needed to bring the best out of non-actors.

LBB> How did you get involved in this project? FIGS is the first brand to sponsor the Team USA medics in this way - did that add any excitement or pressure when you saw the idea?

Lana> When I saw the concept, I was instantly drawn to the creative. It was such a fresh and unique angle that stood out from the usual athlete-focused campaigns - I loved the humour and grittiness. I loved the juxtaposition of realistic images with this very cutesy nursery rhyme. It’s not every day you get to work with creative like this.

I don’t work in healthcare, so I wasn’t familiar with FIGS and was surprised when I did some research to find how hugely popular it is in the medical community. FIGS is an ambitious, daring brand and I actually find it very exciting to work on younger brands where you have more space to shape its identity for years to come.

LBB> You mention the nursery rhyme that the film is centred around - a rewording of ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ - how did that inform how and what you shot?

Lana> My treatment was 100% inspired by the song. The approach was to focus on eight different body parts (head, shoulders, knees, toes, eyes, ears, mouth, and nose) and match each one with a specific injury, rather than just showing random vignettes. That approach really shaped the casting and the type of injuries we chose to highlight. 

For example, we paired heads with concussions, shoulders with dislocations, knees with ACL tears, and toes with fractures. I specifically chose healthcare professionals and athletes based on the most common injuries associated with their sports.

We started working on the lyrics during pre-production. It was a collaborative effort and we kept tweaking and refining the lyrics over the course of a month. Once we had them locked in, I designed the shooting board to align with the lyrics. I did extensive research on sports injury and sports medicine which inspired the scenes, and the scenes influenced the lyrics. It was a really great experience working with Derek Man Lui, Felix Richter and Tomas Nathan Coleman at Mother and the FIGS team; they were so open to ideas and really encouraged that deep dive into research. It was a mutual inspiration thing.

Before we started shooting, we had a rough demo from the genius composer Phil Kay, which we later developed during post-production.

LBB> You shot at the Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, with 14 healthcare professionals and current and alumni Olympians and Paralympians - what was it like directing these people who were recreating what they do on a daily basis? How much did they add to their performances from their real life experiences?

Lana> It was about building a genuine connection with the healthcare professionals and athletes. I had met them on Zoom calls before flying to Colorado and spent over 12 hours at the fitting to meet with each healthcare professional and athlete. I had one-on-one conversations to walk them through the scenes and my ideas, and asked for their input. I’d say, “This is the line I wrote - does it feel right to you?” And they’d often come back with, “Yes, but I’d also say this and that.”

By the time we were on set, they knew who I was and weren’t nervous. Most of them nailed their scenes by the second or third take, which was amazing and a big reason we were able to shoot everything in just two days. I had been clear with them from the start about the challenges of shooting within such a tight schedule, and they were fully supportive.

The energy on set was incredible, and I think that had a lot to do with how they were treated - not just as actors, but as collaborators. This approach made their performances feel genuine and authentic because they were contributing from a real place. They weren’t just reciting lines, they were part of the creative process, which made everything feel real and meaningful. They knew that this wasn’t just an ad, it was a campaign centred on their sacrifices and the medical professions they gave their lives to, and I think that resonated with them.

Take Kara Winger, she’s a world-record-holding javelin thrower who has torn her ACL twice. I already knew from my research that she had competed with an ACL injury, so I asked her how we could make her scene reflect her experience. We sat down and recreated the emotions, reactions, and conversations she had with healthcare practitioners during her injuries. We made sure she had a scene with Jenna, her actual Team USA physiotherapist for many years, and it made the experience feel a lot more familiar and comfortable for both of them. It was all about being authentic to her real story.

LBB> How did you research how HCPs respond to injuries and work with athletes?

Lana> Thanks to this job I finally learned the difference between tendons and ligaments. This job demanded a lot of research - unlike others where you can just dream up ideas, this one was grounded in reality and insight. I watched hundreds of hours of sports injuries, physiotherapy footage, manual realignment of fractured bones and cauliflower ear draining. I got familiar with terms like BMDs, EMG sensors and vestibular testing.

Mother and FIGS scheduled Zoom calls with the healthcare professionals to expand the research. It was technically a casting call, but unlike any casting call I’ve ever done. These weren’t actors, so my focus was on understanding what they do rather than asking them to act. It became more about asking them questions, finding out how they would naturally respond on and off the field. They really appreciated that I had done my research, which made them more open and excited to share their experiences.

LBB> How did you ensure the situations in the film were accurate from a medical standpoint, but also shot in an interesting way?

Lana> It was crucial to make the medical world look and feel exciting. Medical environments are often shot in a very sterile, cold way, and this visual approach didn’t align with the FIGS brand, nor did it fit the uplifting tone of the campaign. I wanted to create something that felt authentic but also visually exciting, vibrant and just fun to watch.

While working on the treatment I visited my physiotherapist in Cairo and bombarded him with questions which helped a lot with my research. I focused on the details I found the most visually and sonically intriguing.

Once the job was awarded, FIGS coordinated many calls with the Team USA Medical Team to run my ideas by them and what technologies they provide in Colorado Springs to ensure authenticity. Some ideas died while new ones were born.

LBB> How important was narrative in this piece? The concept and song obviously dictates you have to show lots of different athletes with a variety of injuries - so was it a challenge to show character development?

Lana> Narrative is everything to me. I’m generally allergic to vignettes in projects, and I always try to inject a narrative into every treatment I write. Sometimes agencies are open to that, sometimes they’re not, but storytelling is where my heart truly lies. It’s what makes me love the work I do. It’s what makes me feel like I chose the right profession. Storytelling, crafting narratives - that’s what really excites me.

When I saw this project, I immediately felt it was the perfect opportunity to weave in a narrative. I got extremely lucky to work with creatives who not only appreciated this approach but also encouraged me to develop a narrative arc and character development. The idea of cross-cutting between different recovery journeys and culminating in a resolution or triumphant moment for one of the athletes was incredibly exciting for me.

From the beginning, I was clear that I didn’t want this to be just to be seen as another ‘cool sports ad’ - it is not that, it is an ad for healthcare professionals involved in sport. That’s what makes it so unique. I asked the team outright, “Are we trying to make a cool ad?,” and when they said no, I was relieved. We all agreed that we didn’t want something flashy or superficial. We wanted storytelling, humour, raw human emotion - something that felt authentic and real, not just cool.

LBB> Did you get to use any interesting camera techniques or equipment on this project? What did you shoot with, and how did it enhance the storytelling - or overcome a specific creative challenge?

Lana> This film was the first time I didn’t get to choose the location. The Colorado Springs Olympic & Paralympic Training Center was our set, which is a huge honour to be invited to film at, but brings some practical limitations. Typically, my work is hyper-stylised, where I handpick every single detail but this time I didn’t have that luxury, and we were also tight on shooting days.

That said, I think production limitations can sometimes be a good thing. They push you out of your comfort zone and force you to think creatively. For me, it was about how to create a cinematic feel, almost like a film trailer.

With the location locked, I had to focus on finding creative angles and making every shot count. We weren’t relying on fancy camera techniques or excessive movement, it was more about capturing the right emotion and performance and humour. It was about embracing the limitations and realising that just because a shot is static doesn’t mean it lacks power. Having a talented DP like Octavio Arias onboard was also amazing - he’s superhuman. People saw the 90+ shot list and thought we were insane to try and get this in two days.

LBB> As well as the music, the sound design and edit play a huge role in the intensity of this piece - how did you work with the editor and sound team to achieve the effect you wanted?

Lana> I have a thing for rhythmic editing. From the very first moment when I saw this deck I knew we would have to cut.. to.. the.. beat.. and I knew that we needed a punchy sound design.

Working with a phenomenal music, sound design and editing team was crucial. I was lucky to collaborate with editor Paul O’Reilly, sound designer Khaled Hamdy, and composer Phil Kay, who all had an incredible sense of timing and rhythm. They all knew from the beginning that sound was the driving force behind this project. Every shot I wrote, I was thinking about the sound it produced before thinking about the angle and we all worked accordingly to maximise it. We needed viewers to feel what the athletes and healthcare professionals were feeling to be drawn into the visceral experience.

Our sound designer, Khaled Hamdy, who was amazing, recorded everything in his studio, meticulously crafting those realistic sounds by scraping wood and crunching things. The end result was a piece that wasn’t just seen - it was felt.

LBB> What was your favourite part of the production as a whole? And what was the hardest challenge? 

Lana> My favourite part of the production was working with the healthcare professionals and athletes. Initially, I was pretty nervous because I’d never worked with non-actors before. Typically, when you're working with real people, you have to approach it almost like a documentary - just keep rolling and hope you capture the right moments. But in this project, every shot was meticulously planned out, especially because we were simulating actual medical procedures. It had to be precise, so we needed everyone to deliver on the action. 

I was worried about that, but they all exceeded my expectations. Watching them shine on set was a highlight, especially the healthcare practitioners - these doctors, nurses, therapists, and chiropractors who are usually behind the scenes and not used to being in front of the camera like athletes are.

The one challenge I was not prepared for was the high altitude in Colorado Springs. The elevation was so high that at times we actually needed oxygen masks. The USA Olympic Committee built the arena there to push athletes to their limits, but it certainly pushed my crew and me as well!

LBB> What lessons from this project will you take with you onto future productions?

Lana> One lesson I’m taking away is the importance of embracing challenges and limitations. Stepping out of my comfort zone and working with a non-actor cast pushed me to focus more on performance rather than camera angles and movement. These constraints ended up benefiting and working in favour of the film.

Another key takeaway is the value of working with a production company that genuinely supports and believes in your vision. ProdCo are the kind of producers who prioritise creativity and quality. Ian Pons Jewell, Zico Judge and Jon Adams are not the type of producers who discuss numbers, they discuss craft, and production value. Their commitment to supporting the director and focusing on the creative aspect is something that’s very rare in our industry. Working with Ian is always incredibly inspiring and he has been supportive from beginning to end.