2026 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

In Canada, one in two girls drops out of sport by adolescence. Not because they lack passion, but because they aren’t supported or represented in the same way boys are. In partnership with Canada Soccer, Visa created Play & Stay to change that – an initiative to help girls stay in sport by supporting their ambitions on the field. An increasingly important thing to advocate for, as research shows that when kids stay in the game, they learn core skills that make them more successful – not just on the field, but in whatever they pursue in life.

The brief was simple – raise awareness about Visa’s Play & Stay program. Instead of doing a traditional campaign to tell the story of the problem, the agency dug deeper and discovered that girls don’t understand what a future in sport could mean for them because they had simply never seen it before.

A quiet bias and inequity that was speaking volumes to these young players. So they asked themselves: what if they could show girls the women they could become if they stayed in the game?

That insight led to “Field the Future” – a brand stunt designed to give young athletes tangible proof that they belong. An idea that could only be achieved in a meaningful way using AI. They invited a group of diverse young soccer players from across Canada to what they believed was an ordinary photoshoot. Behind the scenes, as each girl chatted on set, a team of creative technologists and storytellers captured their stories, personalities, and ambitions. Those real, emotional inputs became data points for a custom AI pipeline, combining multiple generative AI tools (static and motion) to create hyper-personalized, photorealistic portraits of their “future selves.” The result was a real-time, living representation of their potential.

Every output was uniquely crafted: from freckles to braids, body posture to bone structure, even the settings that reflected their ambitions – coach, pro athlete, sports lawyer, or broadcaster. The AI operated in near real time, turning each story into an image that felt deeply personal and human. It wasn’t just a production shortcut – it was the only way to deliver bespoke, emotion-driven creative with speed.

With a cross-disciplinary production team of AI engineers and visual artists, each partner played a role in ensuring the technology served the story – not the other way around. The portraits became both a personal artifact for the girls and a centerpiece for paid social and stadium media, integrating seamlessly across broadcast, digital, and live environments. The emotional response was profound. Parents cried. Girls finally saw themselves in the future of sport, literally. The portraits debuted on the Jumbotron during a Canadian

Women’s National Team match, sparking a nationwide conversation about visibility and Belonging.

What started as a private moment between the girls and their parents scaled into a national message of possibility. The campaign surpassed its impressions goal by 92%, achieved 122% reach, and maintained a 90% viewability rate across platforms.

Credits

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