Responses by Wes Walker, director at Tool and executive creative director on Forever is Made Now.
Background: Under Armour wanted to create a video to promote its renewed partnership with two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, known as AJ, ahead of his “Knockout Clash” with heavyweight mixed martial artist and professional boxer Francis Ngannou. AJ’s prep for his upcoming fight required all of his attention, so he was not available for an in-person production.
Design thinking: To deliver on the desired visual fidelity, we took a mixed-media production approach powered by AI—combining AI, CG and licensed footage. AI offered an opportunity to create surreal, high-concept footage without access to shooting custom content. We used it to build the campaign’s surreal world, mixed with CGI while leveraging existing footage of AJ owned by Under Armour.
The commercial’s fundamental story was inspired by Percy Bysshe Shelly’s sobering sonnet “Ozymandias” from 1818. It reminds us of change, impermanence and the fallibility of the statues we build up of ourselves (both real and imagined) in pursuit of greatness. The insight we drew from studying AJ’s approach to his fight was “Forever is Made Now”—each moment matters most, more than a legacy one is building up of themselves.
Challenges: Because we’re working with cutting-edge tools in a new realm, we focused on how to use AI to its fullest potential while also honoring and celebrating human creativity. There’s no “magic button” with AI to create all of these elements, and it required a team of talented industry professionals and artists to bring this to life. Given the understandable cloud of misconception and apprehensions surrounding the emergence of AI and the work that goes into it, we also released a companion making-of video to address these concerns and questions.
Specific project demands: Having only four weeks from concept to delivery to produce this project was both a challenge and opportunity. Because everyone was aware of the time constraints, we were able to work with Under Armour and AJ’s team directly to streamline the creative process. This awareness paved the way for immediate feedback and approvals, and forced us to make gut decisions—which often result in the best creative outcome. We worked with a highly experienced team of 21 people, and this approach gave our team a chance to come together in a uniquely collaborative way.
Favorite details: We’re proud to be on the forefront of coming up with an innovative solution to craft a brand-new narrative for Under Armour and helping to show brands a new way of creating commercials by combining AI with traditional filmmaking methods.
New lessons: AI is the future, and how we interact with it as a tool while centering people is key. There are so many misconceptions abound about what AI can and can’t do, why we use it, and what its trajectory and its potentials are. We countered this by educating ourselves and our audience about our process, tools and new workflows, mixing formats in seamless ways.
Releasing our making-of film opened eyes to the fact that AI is simply a part of the pipeline—it’s not everything. We will still need incredibly talented directors, editors, colorists, VFX artists, producers and so many more team members to create the work we know and love. Instead of fearing these new tools, we learned to embrace them with curiosity and an experimental approach. This film is a snapshot of a moment in time. As the pace of AI development accelerates, within two-to-three months time, the tools available to us will dramatically increase in fidelity and photorealism. The opportunities ahead for brand storytelling are immense.
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