'It all started with a dive', Virat Kohli, Jonty Rhodes take PUMA DIVE into the sporting season

The commencement of the PUMA DIVE initiative stole the spotlight when superstar cricketer Virat Kohli was applauded by Jonty Rhodes, a former South African genius in cricket, for his adherence to the dive.

Kohli, the renowned PUMA brand ambassador, introduced this distinctive campaign driven by artificial intelligence (AI) on social media.

Acknowledging Kohli's exceptional dive, Jonty posted his own diving image from a memorable 1992 match stating, "Great job, Virat! My journey also began with a dive. Here's to creating special memories. Preferably not at our expense #PUMADive".

A renowned batsman, Virat particularly caught the attention of his fans for his dive that strikingly mirrored the PUMA cat logo, a comparison made on numerous occasions.

To rejoice in this affectionate connection made by the fans, PUMA decided to honor them each time they share an image of a dive on X (formerly Twitter).

PUMA's unique, two-month-long campaign is inviting contributions in the form of the best dive images captured in daily life - from swimming and sky-diving to concert performances and participation at PUMA's offline activities happening at shopping centers and retail locations.

These images would carry the hashtag #PUMADive.PUMA India's Managing Director, Karthik Balagopalan, expressed how the essence of sports culture resides in the fans.

He further said, "The #PUMADive campaign is PUMA's creative way of endorsing these iconic moments and the innovative means of expressing collective emotions by the fans.

"The uniqueness of PUMA DIVE lies in its integration of AI, which evaluates the accuracy of the dive in comparison to PUMA's iconic logo within a minute. The accuracy of the dive determines the reward for the participant.

With a chance to compete against Virat Kohli in real-life cricket or winning his special boots, the campaign guarantees a reward for every participant. This unique campaign, crafted exclusively by Leo Burnett India, will have enthusiasts from all over the world engaging in it.

Sachin Kamble, the National Creative Director of Leo Burnett India, stated that, "In sport and life, every dive is a mirror image of the iconic PUMA logo. Using AI technology for scoring the dives shared by fans, we've gamified the entire process. The ultimate aim is to enshrine 'PUMA DIVE' as a universal phrase corresponding to the saying 'once seen, cannot be unseen'."