Gatorade exists to fuel athletes and spark what’s within. While Gatorade is primarily known for creating programs that focus on physical access, it also wanted to tackle one of the biggest emotional and psychological access barriers—confidence. Because there’s nothing more ‘within’ than confidence. Strategic idea: Reverse confidence erosion Through extensive research we uncovered that lack of confidence hadn’t always been an issue for girls. A number of factors contribute to their confidence erosion—lack of role models and female coaches; gender discrimination and inequality; scrutiny on social media and in real life. Without a supportive system of women and other females that teens can look up to, see themselves in, learn from, lean on and who have lived it, once-confident girls begin to doubt themselves, their ability and, sadly, their place within sport. Creative Idea: Introduce girls to a real role model at the peak of her confidence, thanks to AI Based on the real life experience of Rachel Yankey (seven time Premier League champion, England football Hall of Famer and Arsenal legend, the club with the largest global female fanbase), Gatorade created a first of its kind campaign using de-aging technology to bring to life the story of her start in football. At nine, Rachel presented as a boy called Ray (an acronym of her full name Rachel Aba Yankey) and cut off her hair to join a boys football team. Fuelled by confidence in her ability, Rachel pushed past barriers of gender discrimination to play the sport she loved. Sadly, many girls can relate to Rachel’s story. But, listening to a retelling of an event that happened in the past is rarely as compelling and impactful as hearing it directly from the person going through the experience. Ray, the Confidence Coach Alongside Rachel Yankey and Laia Aleixandri (Manchester City and Spain footballer) at Gatorade’s Fuel Tomorrow 5v5 tournament during the UEFA's Women's Champions League finals, we introduced girls to Ray and using advanced technology, allowed the 9 year old to tell her powerful story herself. From a few faded photographs of Rachel Yankey during childhood, a young body double, CGI, voice recordings and AI, we were able to create Ray sharing her story. Ray connected with athletes of today, because she, like them, is a girl who refused to let her confidence be eroded, despite the challenges she faced.