• by Sarah Mahoney , Staff Writer @mahoney_sarah, August 8, 2023

Q. What do you get when you ask an AI program to write an inspiring pep talk based not just on the greatest motivational speeches of all time, but the personal inspirations of Under Armour's athletes and the company's standard marketing rhetoric as well?

A. "The Ultimate Team Talk," a surprisingly moving ad that arrives just in time for the start of the European football season.

Under Armour says the ad, which opens by crediting AI, uses insights from Under Armour players like Trent Alexander-Arnold and Antonio Rüdiger, and is designed to help team sport athletes focus on team outcomes over individual achievement. It's all brought to high-decibel life by British actor Ashely ("Top Boy") Walters.

In a blog post explaining the ad, the company says the firsthand data was supported by insights from Paul Winsper, Under Armour's vice president of athletic performance, "combined with a systematic review of sports psychology literature and an analysis of real-life and cinematic speeches. The research was synthesized into a set of principles and themes to underpin the AI model's output, including grit and determination, preparedness, growth mindset, positive framing, visualization, and underdog energy -- principles that were core to the responses from the Under Armour athletes."

While marketers (along with the rest of the world) are experimenting with large-language model-based chatbots like ChatGPT, Bard and dozens of new competitors, it's still the Wild West. There are few established guidelines. Who gets authorship credit for such an ad, for example? The bot that wrote it? Or the person who wrote the prompt that produced it? And should viewers know text and images are AI-generated, as they do about the Under Armour ad?

In May, the Republican National Committee launched an attack ad on President Biden, sparking speculation that the coming election cycle will rely heavily on AI-generated doomsday imagery. That ad also labels the images as AI-created, but in small type, so few viewers will notice the disclaimer.

The Baltimore-based Under Armour just released financial results for the first quarter of its fiscal year. And while the company managed to do somewhat better than expectations and maintain its forecast for the year ahead, the numbers show how the company is still struggling in its transformation efforts.

Revenue slipped 2% to $1.3 billion. In North America, they sank 9% to $827 million. Wholesale revenues dropped 6%. Direct-to-consumer results fared much better, up 4%, with e-commerce rising 6% and sales at its retail stores rising 3%.

Apparel sales – the company’s largest category – fell 5% to $825 million. Footwear revenues added 5% to $364 million.