💡 Best ideas: Puma, Adidas, Atleti & English clubs.
nutmeg fc #64
Rarely does one come across an idea as definitive as this one by Monks and Nvidia for Puma. A perfect amalgamation of idea, strategic thinking and execution. Art and results.
And one more thing: Happy April Fool's Day.
Now, seriously.
I saw this idea shared on Linkedin as if it was confirmation that artificial intelligence had definitively replaced creatives. Huh? Quite the opposite. This execution (because it is not an idea) is a succession of visual and discursive clichés that confirm that artificial intelligence is a resource at the service of creativity, but never its replacement. We are on an accelerated trajectory towards homogeneity and the only way to differentiate and stand out is through human creativity to find insights and tell original stories that connect and impact.
For example:
125 years Jubiläumstrikot (Adidas + DFB).
In the launch of the latest jersey it will make for the German national football team, Adidas puts all the focus on the one thing Nike will never be able to beat: the history. A story with humour, and an irony for those who are aware of the subplot.
But, it would be unfair not to give artificial intelligence its chance to show what it can do. So I asked ChatGPT to create the same ad, taking into account that the jersey has a classic design and that it is the last Adidas release for the German national team before being replaced by Nike.
This is their proposal:
AD IDEA: ‘THE LAST CHAPTER, THE ETERNAL STORY’.
📽 Concept of the spot: The ad is a tribute to the history of the German national team and its relationship with Adidas. It is narrated as a farewell letter: iconic images of the Mannschaft over the years, from Beckenbauer in the 70s, through Matthäus in the 90s, to Klose in 2014, interspersed with shots of the new jersey.
🎶 Music: An epic and melancholic version of the German national anthem, played on piano and strings.
🖋 Voice-over narration (optional): ‘There are stories that don't end, they just turn the page. From day one, we walked together, we scored goals, we lifted cups, we made history. Today, we close this chapter with pride, with the jersey that says it all: our essence, our identity, our last masterpiece. Because football goes on, but history is never forgotten. Danke, Adidas.’
📷 Final visual: The jersey in the foreground, with the Adidas logo, the German flag and the four stars above the crest. Then it slowly fades to just the crest and the phrase: ‘The last chapter. The eternal story.’
📢 Slogan: ‘Dress it with history. Play it with pride.’
SuperFans (FC + Liverpool FC).
FC25 has just unlocked a new obsession for gamers: now your face (or something resembling it) can be among the fans in EA Sports' video game matches. The narrative of this content reminds me very, very much of Welcome to Wrexham.
And now, the ChatGPT proposal:
CAMPAIGN IDEA: ‘THIS IS ANFIELD. THIS IS EA FC 25.
📽 Spot concept: The campaign plays on the mystique of Anfield and the passion of Liverpool fans to immerse players in a unique experience inside EA FC 25. It focuses on the connection between real life and the game, showing how fans and players experience the same intensity, whether in the stadium or on screen.
🎬 Scene 1 - ‘The Road to Anfield ’A young boy walks through the streets of Liverpool, wearing a Reds jersey and holding a controller. As he plays EA FC 25 in his room, the scene changes and he now appears inside the Anfield tunnel, ready to enter the pitch alongside Salah, Van Dijk and Klopp.
🎬 Scene 2 - ‘From Screen to Field “Footage of a Liverpool player scoring a goal in EA FC 25 is intercut with real footage of a match at Anfield, showing identical celebrations, fans” reactions and the vibrant atmosphere of the stadium.
🎬 Scene 3 - ‘You'll Never Play Alone ’A fan at home plays an online match, and the image transitions to a real fan at The Kop singing You'll Never Walk Alone, showing how the spirit of Liverpool transcends the physical and digital world.
📢 Final slogan: ‘THIS IS ANFIELD. THIS IS EA FC 25."(With the iconic “This Is Anfield” banner shining on screen before the game's release date).
🔴 Extras to generate engagement:
Special Liverpool edition in EA FC 25: Exclusive Anfield skins, unique celebrations and career mode with Klopp.
Road to Anfield Challenge: Online tournament where the best players can win a trip to watch a match at Anfield.
Special social media filter: Allows fans to ‘place’ themselves at Anfield with their in-game avatar.
120 years of CFC (Chelsea FC).
Chelsea is 120 years old and they decided to write it beautifully.
ChatGPT's proposal:
SPOT: ‘125 YEARS OF BLUE BLOOD’.
📽 Concept: An exciting journey through 125 years of Chelsea FC, narrated with archive footage and accompanied by a voiceover celebrating the club's history. From the early days at Stamford Bridge to magical Champions League nights, the spot pays tribute to the moments that made Chelsea a footballing giant.
🎶 Music: An epic and emotive arrangement of ‘Blue is the Colour’ mixed with sounds of fans chanting at Stamford Bridge.
SPOT SCRIPT.
🔹 (Opening - 1905, the origins)
📷 Black and white. Photos of Chelsea's first teams, images of Stamford Bridge in its early days.
🎙 Voice-over: ‘It all starts in 1905. A club born at Stamford Bridge, built with passion and blue in its blood.’
🔹 (Decades of Growth - 50s to 90s)
📷 Clips of greats such as Peter Osgood, Ron Harris and Gianfranco Zola. League titles, FA Cup, and iconic club moments in black and white and colour.
🎙 Voiceover: ‘We got up, we fell, we got up again. We earned the respect, the glory and the love of millions.’
🔹 (Modern era - 2000s onwards)
📷 Footage of Premier League titles with Lampard, Drogba, Terry and co. Drogba's goal in the 2012 Champions League final, the Cup lifted in Porto in 2021
🎙 Voiceover: ‘We conquered England. We conquered Europe. Twice. From the heroes in Munich to the glory in Porto, our history is still being written.’
🔹 (Closing - A Timeless Club)
📷 Images of Stamford Bridge full, fans waving blue flags, kids in Chelsea shirts.
🎙 Voiceover: ‘125 years of passion, of struggle, of indelible moments. We are not just a club, we are a family. We are Chelsea. And the best... is yet to come.’
📢 Final screen: Chelsea crest with the phrase: ‘125 YEARS OF BLUE BLOOD’(Chelsea FC - 1905 - ∞).
🔵 Extras:
Special edition commemorative shirt.
Social media documentary with interviews with club legends.
Hashtag: #Chelsea125 for fans to share their memories.
Sunderland til I drown (Sunderland AFC + Green Football's Great Save).
As part of an initiative with Green Football's Great Save, Sunderland have recovered a historic crest and modified it to show rising sea levels. This is a problem that is particularly affecting Sunderland Harbour as they tell in X's video (I'm leaving the link because it can't be indexed).
I like the idea of modifying a historical element to show a change over time, but it bothers me that these kind of initiatives are only done for a single game.
I couldn't find the name of the initiative so I made it up. Sorry for the pun.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1900593123270500590
Now, what would ChatGPT have proposed?
CAMPAIGN: ‘THE GAME WE CAN'T LOSE’ 🌊⚽
📽 Concept: Sunderland AFC, a club with deep roots on the North East coast of England, uses its voice to warn about rising sea levels. The campaign combines powerful imagery of their stadium, community and the effect of climate change on coastal cities like Sunderland.
🎬 Main Spot: ‘The Stadium Under Water’.
🔹 (Opening - Sunderland's Passion)
📷 Images of the fans at the Stadium of Light, red and white flags waving, vibrant chants.
🎙 Voiceover: ‘Here, football is more than a game. It is our identity, our passion, our home.’
🔹 (Change of tone - The Invisible Threat)
📷 Images of the North Sea pounding the coast of Sunderland, flooded streets in other coastal towns.
🎙 Voiceover: ‘But our home is in danger. The sea level keeps rising. If we don't do something, we will lose everything.’
🔹 (Visual Impact - A Devastating Future)
📷 Digitally manipulated images of the partially flooded Stadium of Light, the streets of Sunderland under water, players walking in a waterlogged dressing room.
🎙 Voiceover: ‘Imagine a day when the stadium is empty. Not because of a bad result, but because the sea has beaten us.’
🔹 (Call to action - Victory is Possible)
📷 Children playing football in Sunderland, fans cleaning beaches, images of sustainable projects.
🎙 Voiceover: ‘But this game is not over yet. We can win if we all play together. Reduce, recycle, take action. Because this is our home. And we will defend it.’
📢 Final screen:
🔴⚪ ‘The game we can't lose. Act now.’ (Sunderland AFC x Green Football's Great Save)
Campaign Extras:
✅ Special T-shirt: Sunderland launches a limited edition with blue detailing in honour of the fight against climate change. Part of the proceeds go to environmental organisations.
✅ Green Action Day: A home match where the club promotes sustainable actions and donates tickets to green volunteers.
✅ Viral hashtag: #SaveOurHome - Fans share photos of Sunderland with messages about the climate crisis.
Forever in love (Atlético de Madrid).
I'm getting repetitive sharing Atlético de Madrid stories, but their ability to find the extraordinary in the little things is to be envied. This is a story about love, but not the one with fireworks, but the one that defines who we are.
ChatGPT would have proposed the following:
TITLE: ‘LOYALTY IS ALSO LOVE’.
🎬 SCENE 1 - OUTSIDE / MORNING
📍 A neighbourhood bar. An older man, Ramón, in his 70s, enters and sits at his usual table. He is wearing an Atlético de Madrid scarf, worn out by time.
🎶 (Ambient sound: murmurs, cups clinking, a match playing on the radio in the background).
🎬 SCENE 2 - INTERIOR / MINUTES LATER
📍 A young waitress, Lucía, serves him coffee without asking. She smiles.
🗣 LUCÍA ‘Here you are, Don Ramón, as always.’
🗣 RAMÓN (smiles) ‘You don't change what you love.’
📍 At another table, a boy with his father looks at Ramón's scarf.
🗣 CHILD (whispering) ‘Dad, why is he wearing that if there's no match today?’
🗣 FATHER (smiling) ‘Because some colours are not worn only on Sundays.’
🎬 SCENE 3 - OUTDOOR / AFTERNOON
📍 Ramón leaves the bar and puts his scarf on properly as the wind waves it lightly. He walks down the street, where a worn wall displays graffiti: ‘Never stop believing’.
🎙 Voiceover: ‘Loyalty is also love.’
📢 SCREEN TEXT: Atlético de Madrid. (No slogan, just the small shield in the lower corner.)
🎶 (Soft music, slowly fades out with the sound of the wind).
🖤 FADE OUT.
Anyway...
Artificial intelligence does not come to replace creatives. It is a tool to enhance their work, to help them find information, to speed up the technical part. In the ChatGPT proposals this is obvious: the insights are insipid, the nuances disappear, the proposals are similar to each other. Ideas have no voice, no soul, nothing to make them unique.
Artificial intelligence does come to replace bad creatives, because if we can't think of an idea that beats what ChatGPT thinks in a fraction of a second, then we're screwed.