Background:

To promote professional heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua’s renewed partnership with Under Armour and his upcoming fight with Francis Ngannou, UA  wanted to create a promo video to use on social channels and PR.  The issue is that Anthony Joshua was in training so we wouldn’t have access to him for shooting any custom content.  Welcome AI.  In collaboration with Anthony and his team, we leveraged an AI & VFX pipeline to create new “footage” that allowed us to tell the Anthony Joshua x Under Armour narrative and create Under Armour’s first AI commercial campaign.  

Concept:

Anthony Joshua is determined to be a third time World Champion, but that dream is made today, with the battle in front of him. The theme of fading, time and sand reflects not only the stage in his career, but also the iconic location of the fight in Saudi Arabia. Joshua's story is a natural fit with Under Armour's "Protect This House." Joshua's house is his legacy and the only way to protect that future is now.

Use of AI: 

AI was used to generate images, videos, motion graphics, stylize pre-existing live action footage and create the VO narration to capture the ferocious intensity of Joshua’s dedication to boxing and allow us to tell this unique narrative. Additionally, our team used its web-based AI production pipeline “Toolkit” to train on UA’s apparel (baselayer). The team was given permission to use Joshua’s image and voice, creating a first-of-its kind, colossal story that captures his ethos without requiring him to physically be on set. We worked closely with Joshua’s team every step of the way to maintain real-time approvals for the work, including approval of the VO font that our team created after training on the tonality of AJ’s voice.