'It all started with a dive,' Virat Kohli receives praise from Jonty Rhodes for extraordinary fielding skills

Former South African legendary cricketer Jonty Rhodes all praise for Indian cricketing legend Virat Kohli.

Bengaluru, September 29, 2023 –  Star Indian cricketer and PUMA Brand Ambassador Virat Kohli received praise from former South African maestro Jonty Rhodes for his diving skills when he announced the unique AI-led campaign called PUMA DIVE through social media on Friday. Sharing an image of himself diving on X, Virat Kohli invited fans to rate it, posting, "Think this definitely is a 100% score. What do you guys think? #PUMADive."

The top batter received applause from one of the best fielders of all-time Jonty Rodhes, who replied, "Nice one, Virat! It all started with a dive for me too. Reminiscing some special memories. Hope you make some this year. Not against us though #PUMADive." As part of his reply to Virat, Jonty also posted a diving image of himself from a historic game in the year 1992.  

Virat’s fans in the past have often compared his iconic dives on the pitch to PUMA’s leaping cat logo, creating content that has gone viral several times. This season, PUMA has taken the fans’ love for spotting the cat and created a platform to reward them for every image of a dive that they upload on X (formerly Twitter). 

Under the two-month-long campaign, participants will be invited to upload images of the best dives in everyday life – be it swimming, sky diving, artists at concerts, to even self-participation at PUMA’s offline events at malls and stores this season with hashtag PUMADive. With #PUMADive, the brand promises that once you see the dive, you can’t unsee it! 

“Fans are the heart and soul of the sporting culture of our country. As a brand, PUMA wants to give these fans a fun way to engage to celebrate iconic moments. Our #PUMADive campaign is a reflection of PUMA’s unique approach to capturing a collective emotion and creating innovative ways for people to own and express it. This campaign is an immersive mix of fun and AI-led technology with once-in-a-lifetime rewards such as playing a game with our star ambassador Virat Kohli, building an all-round fan experience,” said Karthik Balagopalan, Managing Director, PUMA India. 

What makes PUMA DIVE unique is the integration of generative AI, which will assess the accuracy of each dive in relation to the PUMA’s iconic leaping cat logo, in under a minute. The closer a participant’s image of a dive matches the PUMA logo, the greater the reward they receive.

Top entries in the season have the unique chance to play a real life cricket match against PUMA brand ambassador Virat Kohli or win his special boots. Every participant is guaranteed a reward.

Conceptualised by Leo Burnett India exclusively for PUMA, the campaign is expected to see enthusiasts from around the world taking part in this unique engagement. 

“When it is about owing the sporting season, we at Leo Burnett spotted a simple observation. Be it a diving catch at mid-wicket, or a goal-keeper saving a top-corner penalty; all dives in sport and in life resemble the PUMA logo. We leaned on AI technology to open the PUMA DIVE campaign for fans, offering them dive scores for each dive they capture and share, gamifying the two-screen experience entirely. Our big plan is to make ‘’PUMA DIVE’ a universal phrase because ‘once you see it, you can’t unsee it’,” said Sachin Kamble, National Creative Director, Leo Burnett India.