How generative AI is transforming sports marketing worldwide

It’s like Bob Dylan said, “The Times They Are A-Changin’!” AI is making waves in every city, town, and sector. Sports marketing is no different, but what’s interesting is the competing responses.

Some agencies are leaning all in, using AI to do what they couldn’t before – like having an AI Jose Mourinho reply with video messages to fans. It’s a brave new world for sports creatives, and here are just a few of the best ways that generative AI is leading it.

AI-generated visuals for speed and scale

The easiest and most common use of generative AI is to make a photo. Setting up photoshoots, preparing products, and designing the finer details can all be costly, and people tend to skip these for the smaller things like fliers, emails, or invitations. AI solves all of that. 

And now, thanks to further advancements in generative AI, you can also use this tech to generate assets for video ads. A great example here can be found in Adobe’s Firefly AI tool. You can use Adobe Firefly for AI video generation .

Your yearly Christmas party can have a photo of Jokovich in a reindeer sweater with a cup of eggnog in hand. Not to mention the uses for ideation and planning – Nike’s Travis Scott collab used AI for storyboarding and meshing with CGI and live action video to make a Cactus Jack-style Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory a reality. 

Fans get face-to-face with their favourites

The Snickers AI campaign won a Grand Award at the Clios in 2024, and for good reason – it’s fun! Football fans get the chance to chat with the incomparable Portuguese football manager José Mourinho and get replies to support or tease their friends with or enjoy a little more of the man’s iconic wit. 

The campaign was created with three models: OpenAI for the text, Sync for the video, and ElevenLabs for the voice. It’s a concept that has since opened the floodgate for anyone to use the face of their brand for personalised content. 

Smarter strategies with AI

Behind the scenes, AI is working hard as an advisor by analysing data, looking at trends, creating suggestions, and giving critiques. “What does ChatGPT think?”, is a common answer to a chewy problem. 

If you can come up with one idea, you could ask AI to critique it, suggest similar ones, and even predict how people will react to it. Asking AI how to approach these different situations provides a quick and robust analysis that some otherwise may not have considered. It adds another layer of preparation to any creative or iterative process. 

React, pivot, and create faster With AI

Everything is getting faster thanks to AI. Sports commentary, reactions, analyses, and reports can all be made within seconds of a match finishing. If you know you’ve got a great, timely idea, AI can help you build your campaign while it’s relevant. 

The Lidl jacket is a perfect example. When Liam Gallahger and Berghaus debuted a designer jacket that ran in the corporate colours of the budget supermarket chain Lidl, fans jumped on it and teased the luxury brand for looking budget. It went viral, and when something goes viral, you have barely a day or two to capitalize on that hype.

Lidl built on the joke by erecting a billboard in front of Liam and Berghaus’ design with the words “Lidl Jacket.” and a potato. This kept the joke going and Lidl had the presence of mind to convert it with their own jacket line in the style of Berghaus’ too.

With AI, you can run through a whole host of concepts in mere minutes then hit the ground running when you find a winner. Did Pele just score an own goal? Tweet an AI image of him in the other team’s jersey! Your ideas will only get better from there.

Virtual influencers & digital athletes

Hatsune Miku is, famously, a digital popstar. Japan loves her, fills stadiums for her, and buys albums from her. And the kicker is, of course, she’s not real: Miku is a hologram anime character whose voice is computer-generated.

Virtual influencers have already become a big part of online culture, and AI brings these virtual celebrities into the hands of creative marketing teams, too. You can create a whole virtual basketball team in a few hours and with AI tools they can grow just as big an online following as Hatsune Miku. It’s open season for athlete marketing.

New ways to sell with AI merch & more

What makes AI digital merch exciting is how it can evolve dynamically. It’s a concept that’s still in the developmental phase – practically embryonic – but even then, imagine a desktop background that tracks all your favourite stats, keeps you up to date with news about your favourite players, and suggests local sporting events. 

Or imagine an AI voice assistant Alcaraz that guides you through your daily commute and to-do list. Or imagine asking AI which sneakers John Cena wore on WWE Raw after WrestleMania 41 and where to buy them? By making new connections faster than ever, AI has the potential to really change the game for sports merchandising.

The Ethical foul line

The only reason that the world isn’t steeped in AI is the ethics. People are fuzzy on it, not to mention the laws. What counts as parody? What should be considered a deepfake? Who owns the copyright anyways? It’s all up for debate, so brands tend to be erring on the side of caution when it comes to outright implementing AI. 

Touting the fact that celebrity likenesses are authorised, like in the Snickers AI ad, or blending AI with live action and CGI to keep copyright in hand, like Nike’s Travis Scott collab, the laws around AI are still forming and so is public opinion. So keeping a tight balance between curiosity and prudent skepticism seems to be key as we explore AI and its future uses.

Bottom line

What happens next in the world of sports marketing and beyond is practically anything you can imagine. You have the power of a whole creative team in your pocket should you choose to use it. The question is how to use it…and if you even should. 

The opportunities regarding AI are as endless as the questions surrounding its use. There aren’t any refs for something like this. So in the meantime, the world of sports marketing is at least playing it safe using AI and toeing the line by having fun with it.