Puresport ditches AI-generated product shots for oil paintings

With AI-generated imagery becoming an increasingly routine part of branded work, Puresport has decided to go against the grain with a distinctly traditional campaign. The London-based sports nutrition and running culture brand has launched its Pomegranate Ultra Electrolytes with Team GB Olympic silver medallist Amy Hunt via a series of original still-life paintings.

Created by artists Trish Walsh-O’Neill, Tomás King, Tony Robinson and Patricia Robinson, the works take their cues from the visual language of classical fruit studies, but interpret the product in markedly different ways. The campaign was internally codenamed ‘exquisite taste’ – a reference to the pomegranate flavour and Hunt’s interest in art history and galleries.

For Puresport, the campaign is less about making a statement about technology and more about emphasising the belief that there is no shortcut to greatness. “In 2026, the easy thing to do is upload some product shots to an AI workflow and generate hundreds of assets,” explains Mikey Robinson, head of creative at Puresport. “We said, what’s the opposite of that? What’s the hard thing to do?”

Not taking the easy option feels like a particularly pertinent choice given that speed, optimisation and performance tend to be the dominant visual cues within sport. Puresport’s paintings instead foreground process and imperfection, aligning with its For The Long Run tagline and Hunt’s own journey as an athlete.

“Things in life that are worth doing take time, take application,” says Emma Grimshaw, head of design at Puresport. “That’s Amy’s story in running, and in making this product. Trial and error from flavour to packaging. These paintings are a reflection of effort.”

“We sent the artists the same materials – a bottle, a sachet and a box – and said as long as the packaging is prominent we’re happy for you to be creatively free and use your preferred medium,” adds Robinson. “The brief was really open and I think that shows in the variety of interpretations.

“One placed flowers in a bottle, one used an oil can to nod to the mechanics of running, and one referenced a photo of a pomegranate tree he had from his travels. ‘Puresport commissions oil paintings’ is a catchy headline but actually there’s a dark and moody oil painting, a vibrant summery watercolour, one is in acrylic paint and one is in gauche.”

The resulting work is rolling out across Puresport’s organic and paid social channels. As Robinson notes, “Luxury brands like Burberry, Jacquemus and Loewe do craftful executions all the time. But it’s less common in our category. We hope it inspires more brands to work with artists of all kinds more often in similar ways.”