PUMA India, the renowned sports brand, has introduced an innovative AI-led campaign named PUMA DIVE for the current sporting season. Virat Kohli, the ace cricketer and PUMA ambassador, made the campaign announcement on his social media platform, sharing an image of himself diving and encouraging fans to rate it, the company announced in a release on Friday.
In the past, fans have drawn parallels between Virat Kohli’s iconic on-pitch dives and PUMA’s distinctive leaping cat logo, resulting in viral content. This season, PUMA has harnessed the enthusiasm of fans for spotting the leaping cat and provided a platform to reward them for sharing images of dives on X (formerly Twitter).
During the two-month-long campaign, participants are encouraged to upload images of remarkable dives in everyday life, ranging from swimming and skydiving to artists performing at concerts or even self-participation at PUMA’s offline events in malls and stores this season, using the hashtag #PUMADive. The brand emphasizes that once you witness the dive, you won’t be able to forget it.
What sets PUMA DIVE apart is the integration of generative AI, which can evaluate the accuracy of each dive in relation to PUMA’s iconic leaping cat logo in under a minute. Participants whose dive images closely resemble the PUMA logo will receive greater rewards.
Outstanding entries during the season stand a chance to either play a real-life cricket match against PUMA’s brand ambassador, Virat Kohli, or win his special boots. Every participant is assured of receiving a reward.
Karthik Balagopalan, Managing Director of PUMA India, commented, “Our #PUMADive campaign combines fun with AI technology and offers once-in-a-lifetime rewards, such as the opportunity to play with our star ambassador Virat Kohli, contributing to an all-encompassing fan experience.”
The campaign, exclusively conceptualized by Leo Burnett India for PUMA, is expected to attract enthusiasts from around the world, participating in this distinctive engagement.
Sachin Kamble, National Creative Director at Leo Burnett India, said, “When it comes to embracing the sporting season, we at Leo Burnett noticed a simple observation. Whether it’s a diving catch at mid-wicket or a goalkeeper saving a top-corner penalty, all dives in sport and in life resemble the PUMA logo. We leveraged AI technology to launch the PUMA Dive campaign for fans, offering them dive scores for each dive they capture and share, completely gamifying the two-screen experience. Our grand plan is to make ‘PUMA Dive’ a universal phrase because ‘once you see it, you can’t unsee it’.”
