• by Barbara Lippert , Columnist, August 6, 2024

Sometimes, AI gets it right, even when ranking emotions.

At this year’s Paris Olympics, a new AI-based creative effectiveness ranking by DAIVID tested 47 ads based on “the likely intensity of positive emotions each ad would generate.” 

In the end, “The Vault” for Powerade—featuring gymnast Simone Biles—rose to number one and  was named “the most emotionally engaging ad from the Paris Games.”

I would agree. The beautiful, almost two-minute film soars in every way. (Shorter cuts will appear on TV and online.) It’s a pitch-perfect rendering of the story of Biles’ dramatic comeback from the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, which had been delayed due to COVID, and did not allow the athletes to bring friends or family to support them. 

Biles shocked the world when she abruptly withdrew from the team final after developing what gymnasts call the “twisties,” causing her to lose spatial awareness in the middle of a vault.

After leaving the games, she was the object of vile online abuse from every quarter, not only the sports world. It has now resurfaced that even JD Vance, who was running for Senate at the time, weighed in. He said,  “It reflects pretty poorly on our sort of therapeutic society that we try to praise people, not for moments of strength, not for moments of heroism, but for their weakest moments.”

But by having the strength to acknowledge her vulnerability, treating her mental health as seriously as her physical well-being, Biles the GOAT set an example for other Olympians and athletes.

By becoming an accidental ambassador for therapy, she’s making the pressure-cooker world of professional sports a more survivable place.

This is especially true for female gymnasts, who for decades were teenagers, like Kerri Strug, who vaulted with a broken ankle in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and famously had to be carried by her beaming trainer to accept her medal. These teens were ground down by abuse and injury and retired before they were 20.

Now gymnastics is becoming a sport of strong women who grow and compete through much longer careers. At 27, Biles is the oldest all-around champion, part of a gold-winning American team that is also the oldest ever. She’s also one of many gymnasts who were sexually abused by--and spoke out against --Dr. Larry Nassar and the cover-ups at USA Gymnastics.

So the Powerade “Pause is Powerful” platform, started in 2022, to acknowledge that taking time out is healthy, is the perfect foundation for the spot.

”Vault” was exquisitely directed by Kim Gehrig, an Emmy award winner, through production company Somesuch.  The global campaign was created by WPP Open X, led by Ogilvy. 

And as anyone who saw Biles in one of her gold-medal-winning performances on the floor at the Paris Olympics can attest, being able to watch her fly, powered only by brain, determination and muscle memory, is a gift.

“The Vault “ tells her story in an artful, insightful way. The production is as great as Bile’s athletic prowess. It’s also honest. We see Biles facing the camera without makeup. But while capturing one dazzling, soaring, perfect vault from beginning to end, there’s a moment when she’s up in the air vertically, in slow motion, and the shot of her body has the beauty of “Vitruvian Man” by Da Vinci.

The ad opens on a close-up of Biles’ unlacquered face, as she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. We hear layers of audio clips of what was said about her Tokyo performance—all savagely critical—that mirror what was going on inside her head that day.

As she starts running, progressing through the flawless performance, we hear the winningest gymnast in her own voice.

She says, “I had no idea where I was in the air. You could see it in my eyes in the pictures. I was petrified. I felt broken, that’s why I decided to take a pause.... For years, I was only celebrated for my wins.  And now it’s like, for being a human and being vulnerable.”

As cuts from her childhood and now married life, even one including her dog, are incorporated, she says, “One moment you’re on top of the world, the next you find yourself gasping for air.  I had to relearn to trust myself.  And do it for the little girl.”

She lands, and leaves the gym, stepping over a Powerade bottle. (The only product shot, and a subtle one.) Then we see a little girl watching her.

The spot has a groundbreaking quality in terms of its compassion and beauty.

But don’t take my word for it—even AI could detect it.