Why Bodyarmor used creepy AI visuals for its regional Super Bowl ad

AI-generated artwork—in all its uncanny glory—gets a creepy workout in a new spot from Bodyarmor, the Coca-Cola-owned sports drink brand, which will run the spot regionally during the Super Bowl. In “Field of Fake,” AI-generated sports highlights roll like a grotesque episode of “SportsCenter,” with athletes shooting footballs into basketball hoops, bodies mutating as they compete and sports drinks resembling rods of neon goo shoved into faces. A robotic voice-over delivers nonsense lines such as “electrolytes equal mouth success.” The 30-second commercial, produced by Bodyarmor along with Full Contact Advertising, will air in 20 U.S. markets and all of Canada during the Super Bowl. A Spanish-language version will air nationally on Univision’s coverage of the Big Game. The brand contrasts the AI with filmed highlights of actual athletes, underscoring a division between real and artificial. Bodyarmor execs say that differentiation separates the brand in a crowded sports-drink market including brands such as PepsiCo’s Gatorade and Logan Paul’s fast-rising Prime. Fascinating and comical Bodyarmor, which typically creates its own ads, collaborated with Full Contact on “Field of Fake.” The idea came during a joint brainstorming session, according to Tom Gargiulo, BodyArmor’s chief marketing officer. The ad centers around Bodyarmor not having artificial sweeteners, flavors or dyes. “Ultimately, we said, ‘Okay, what’s, what’s the opposite of real? Artificial. And what’s the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to artificial? Artificial intelligence,’” Gargiulo said. Also read: How AI is shaping Super Bowl marketing Bodyarmour is not the first brand to leverage the unsettling imperfections of AI in an ad. Burger King France celebrated “A.I.lloween” last year with a series of terrifying images of people eating its food. Ryan Reynolds-backed Mint Mobile demonstrated the limitations of a ChatGPT ad script. And the digital privacy firm Transcend presented a cautionary tale of an AI recipe gone wrong. These misadventures haven’t stopped the industry from leveraging the technology as they look to efficient and future-focused ad strategies. One of the most notable proponents of AI in marketing happens to be Coca-Cola, Bodyarmor’s parent. Did that conflict come up as Bodyarmor considered its approach? “It did to a certain extent,” Gargiulo said, “but at the end of the day, I think we’re leveraging AI in a very different way, where we’re kind of poking fun at some of our competitors, and how artificial their products are, and how artificial their communication is. And we thought this is a great platform in order to do it.” Related: How ChatGPT would script Super Bowl commercials Footage in the ad “was generated using GenAI video and audio pipeline, finished with traditional VFX and supplemented with machine learning tools,” according to Kristen Rumble, VP, brand strategy and creative at Bodyarmor. “It was fascinating and honestly, quite comical, to see how AI interpreted and ultimately brought to life the category and sports in general.” Athlete roster “Field of Fake” continues an advertising theme begun late last year when Bodyarmor debuted “Nothing is More Real,” showing athletes overcoming hardships for the “real love” of competing. Athletes featured in “Field of Fake” include NFL players Christian McCaffrey, CeeDee Lamb and Joe Burrow; soccer star Alex Morgan; MLB's Ronald Acuna Jr.; and NHL star Connor McDavid, who is making his debut as a Bodyarmor endorser. McDavid is a key figure as Bodyarmor expands to Canada for the first time, announcing the partnership in a social media video with former NHLers Ryan Whitney and Paul Bissonnette, who host the “Spittin Chiclets” hockey podcast. Welcome to the team, @cmcdavid97 🙌🇨🇦 https://t.co/TKEisAGOJZ— BODYARMOR (@DrinkBODYARMOR) January 31, 2024 McDavid formerly endorsed BioSteel before that brand declared bankruptcy last year. Bodyarmor had considered a national Super Bowl buy, but between limited inventory and ancillary costs that come with the ad, the brand found a regional ad made better financial sense, Gargiulo said. The markets selected for the ad range from big metros such as Philadelphia, Atlanta and Dallas, to Missoula, Montana and Fargo, North Dakota. The selected markets are “incredibly important to our bottler network,” Gargiulo said. A national Super Bowl ad costs about $7 million for 30 seconds of screen time.

Why Bodyarmor used creepy AI visuals for its regional Super Bowl ad

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