Under Armour leveraged artificial intelligence (AI) and human insights to take the classic pre-game hype speech to the next level for a global brand campaign called ‘The Ultimate Team Talk’ which blended new tech with insights from elite soccer stars like Trent Alexander-Arnold and Antonio Rüdiger.
According to the advertiser, the script was crafted entirely by ChatGPT, while the central speech was delivered by UK actor/rapper Ashley Walters (best known for starring in Top Boy and as a member of the So Solid Crew).
Launched on 7 August, a week prior to the kick-off of the 2023/24 European football season, the Baltimore-based sportswear brand’s fiery 90-second locker room speech spot deployed in multiple markets.
The campaign’s self-stated mission was to ‘create the most inspirational team talk of all time’ which was designed to help team sport athletes go all-out for something bigger than themselves, the team’.
Initially, Under Armour began planning the campaign by identifying a set of key factors which contribute to motivation, inspiration and optimal performance among athletes. It consulted sports psychology literature and held interviews with European footballers such as Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, Real Madrid’s Antonio Rüdiger, Eintracht Frankfurt’s Laura Freigang, Manchester City’s Alex Greenwood, Manchester United’s Jayde Riviere and Arsenal’s Reuell Walters.
The subsequent insights formed ‘12 elements likely to increase the effectiveness of a pre-game talk delivered by a coach or captain in a team sport environment’ which were posted on Under Armour’s website.
1. Mastery Mindset:Reminding team sport athletes of the practice and hard work they’ve put in can help them feel prepared for the challenge ahead. This reinforces their confidence and readiness to perform.
2. Sweat Over Scores: The focus should be on the grind, not the glory. By highlighting efforts rather than outcomes, a growth mindset is cultivated, which can lead to improved performance and resilience.
3. Visualise Victory:Encouraging athletes to envision their triumphs can be a powerful tool for self-belief. This can help them approach the game with a positive and winning mindset.
4. Confident Control: Focusing on controllable aspects of performance can foster a sense of individual power. This can help athletes feel more in control and less anxious about the game.
5. Unleash the Underdog: Turning a perceived disadvantage into a driving force can motivate athletes to perform better. This can help them see challenges as opportunities rather than obstacles.
6. We are the House: Referencing shared symbols and team colours can forge bonds among athletes. This can enhance team unity and a sense of belonging.
7. Harness the Heartbeat: Using emotive language can make the heart race and inspire performance. This can help athletes connect emotionally with both the game and their teammates.
8. Channel the Charge: Encouraging calmness and focus can help channel energy towards the mission, not machismo. This can help athletes stay composed and focused during the game.
9. Simplify to Amplify: Picking three mission-critical points and echoing them consistently can help athletes remember and focus on what’s most important. This can help simplify the message and amplify its impact.
10. Speak with Spark: Using pauses sparingly and repetition effectively can hammer home the message. This can help ensure the key points are remembered and internalised.
11. Mountains of Momentum: Developing the speech to a peak that emboldens the mission can create a sense of momentum. This can help athletes feel more motivated and ready to take on the challenge.
12. Impact in Instants: Keeping the speech brief, significant and filled with sincere emotion can make it more impactful. This can help ensure the message is powerful, memorable and resonant with the athletes.
Then the brand team partnered Hedgehog Labs (HHL) and fed ChatGPT a series of directions informed by the research: the most important of which was to “Utilize language that invokes a fierce sense of camaraderie and a defender mentality.”
After optimising several variables – such as tone and duration – ChatGPT generated the script (as well as delivery instructions for Walters), which went through an internal review process before being approved for production and release.
A brand PR campaign statement said: “We were able to harness innovative AI technology to create ‘The ultimate team talk’ and prove that human-AI collaboration can fundamentally impact how athletes achieve peak performance. We also concluded that the conscientious application of [AI] models, like ChatGPT, can inspire but cannot replace humans’ deep understanding of consumers’ hearts and minds. At Under Armour, we pride ourselves on our ability to put the athlete at the center of everything we do, and it’s with those insights and firsthand experiences that we can join forces with new technology to defy convention and create something legendary.”
Comment
Just in case you thought AI was only threatening marketers’ careers, this campaign rolled out in the same month that Coca-Cola launched a beverage called Y3000 which itself was created with the help of artificial intelligence.
So maybe the bots are coming for all of our jobs after all.
But by blending both man and machine, here Under Armour emphasised its brand belief that the power of AI in marketing must be funnelled through human instinct, ingenuity and approval.
In other words, the future is Human + Tech.
The ad is an extension of Under Armour’s ongoing ‘Protect This House’ marketing platform which first rolled out 20 years ago and was relaunched in the USA in March 2023 and launched across Europe through this Ultimate Team Talk.
The platform seeks to bring to life Under Armour’s brand vision to ‘inspire you with performance solutions you never knew you needed and can’t imagine living without. We believe in waking up every morning to make athletes better’.
Initially, the idea aimed to rally athletes to defend their turf, but in its fresh iteration it shifts the focus to ‘a mentality that’s bigger than going all-out for yourself, but for the team’.
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.