AI Names Powerade Ad Featuring Simone Biles Discussing Mental Health Struggles as Paris Olympic Ad Winner

A Powerade campaign featuring gymnast Simone Biles that reflects on the mental and physical strains of being an Olympic athlete is the most emotionally engaging ad from the Paris Games, according to a new AI ranking by DAIVID.

The new chart, released days after the sporting event started in the French capital, was created by the creative effectiveness platform – which helps advertisers measure and improve the effectiveness of their content at scale – using its new AI-powered solution, DAIVID Self-Serve.

Currently in beta, the company’s new tool uses a model that is trained using millions of consumer data points to predict the emotional and business impact of an ad. With the sporting spectacle in full swing, all of the Paris Olympic ads already released online were uploaded to DAIVID’s platform via its API. Its predictive AI then ranked them based on the likely intensity of positive emotions each ad would generate. Altogether, 47 ads were tested as part of the study. 

“The Vault” – the latest iteration of the Coca-Cola-owned brand’s “Pause is Power” campaign, inspired by Biles’s decision to take a break from competing to focus on her mental health during the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo – topped the chart, vaulting its way to the top of the podium after generating the most intense positive emotions (53.8%). It also generated an overall Creative Effectiveness Score – a composite metric scored out of 10 that combines the three main drivers of effectiveness: attention, emotions and memory – of 6.8. 

In second place in DAIVID’s ranking of the most emotionally engaging ads of the Paris Olympics is Coke’s “It’s Magic When The World Comes Together”, which celebrates human connection, just ahead of “TeamGB TeamTalk”, by UK bank NatWest, in third.  

Spots from sportswear brand Athleta and petfood company Nulo make up the rest of the top 5. Ads from Allianz, Corona, Knix and Visa also feature in the top 10. Ads to miss out include Aldi’s “Has Kevin Met His Match” (18th) and Nike’s “Winning Isn’t For Everyone” (19th). 

To see the full chart, click here.