{"id":178715,"date":"2025-09-29T23:49:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T23:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/178715\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T23:49:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T23:49:08","slug":"mitchell-ness-uses-ai-to-crunch-128-years-of-afl-data-into-emotional-baggage-in-new-work-via-2045-campaign-brief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/178715\/","title":{"rendered":"Mitchell &#038; Ness uses AI to crunch 128 years of AFL data into Emotional Baggage in new work via 2045 \u2013 Campaign Brief"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t    September 30 2025, 9:28 am | BY Ricki Green | <a href=\"#comments\">No Comments<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t    \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Hero_Website_Header.jpg\" alt=\"Mitchell &amp; Ness uses AI to crunch 128 years of AFL data into Emotional Baggage in new work via 2045\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t    \tSports lifestyle and nostalgia apparel company Mitchell &amp; Ness has teamed up with creative agency 2045 to launch \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mitchellandness.com.au\/pages\/ebi?gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=22988440224&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjw3OjGBhDYARIsADd-uX6JW0hnpuF6Pi9xQhhfVjkse7t-YygD2n5IRYjDaIGOjJwZtyowaMYaAv4jEALw_wcB\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Emotional Baggage<\/a>\u2018, a campaign that uses AI to turn 128 years of AFL triumph and tragedy into literal baggage.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Emotional Baggage Index ingests every premiership, drought, wooden spoon and grand final loss since 1897 and translates the data into 18 handcrafted bags that reflect the emotional load carried by each club\u2019s fans. St Kilda emerged as the most burdened, Brisbane the lightest, instantly igniting debate across talkback and social.<\/p>\n<p>SEN called it \u201ca first-of-its-kind algorithm that transforms 128 years of sporting droughts, heartbreaks, unexpected victories and dynasties into unbiased numbers,\u201d while Champion Data\u2019s Daniel Hoyne noted on SEN Sportsday that \u201cit reframes what fandom actually feels like, not just what the ladder says.\u201d While Perth station 6PR unpacked the ladder live on air, as callers weighed in on whether the algorithm got their club right.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t    \t\t<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUsing AI to turn more than a century of blood, sweat and tears into a range of literal luggage has driven the most brand engagement since Mitchell &amp; Ness launched in Australia,\u201d says Aaron Kilner, Head of Brand &amp; Marketing at Mitchell &amp; Ness. \u201cAnd yes, Saints fans \u2013 your Emotional Bagge will require a crane to transport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Talkback and socials have already turned the ladder into sport within the sport, with fans arguing whether Sydney deserved their suit bag, or if Collingwood\u2019s boxing bag was fair.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t    \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Hero_Ladder_Formula.jpg\" alt=\"Mitchell &amp; Ness uses AI to crunch 128 years of AFL data into Emotional Baggage in new work via 2045\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cFooty fandom isn\u2019t rational \u2013 it\u2019s a generational narrative,\u201d says Christopher McKee, Executive Creative Director at 2045. \u201cWe built an index that weights droughts, gut-punch losses and rare highs, then expressed it as an artisanal baggage carousel you actually want to stand around.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Adds Tim Evans, Founder of 2045: \u201cOur job was to distil 128 seasons of joy, misery and everything between into one number \u2013 then get people to debate. Special shout out to the redditors who unironically applied Jungian theory to the Index.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The collection appeared during Footy Fest at the MCG, and the collection will finally be auctioned off to raise funds for children\u2019s cancer charity, My Room during the annual Footy Show Telethon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"September 30 2025, 9:28 am | BY Ricki Green | No Comments Sports lifestyle and nostalgia apparel company&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-178715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}