Embracing AI in Brand Storytelling

This past December, Coca-Cola released a set of holiday ads made entirely from generative AI. They asked three different studios to create their own interpretations of the 1995 Coke holiday spot called “Holidays Are Coming” using AI video-generation models, including Leonardo, Luma, and Runway. The brand got three unique adaptations from studios Silverside AI, the Wild Card, and Jason Zada’s Secret Level.

Even though the AI ads were supposed to be a reimagining of Coke’s holiday ads from the '90s, which is a pretty innocuous concept, the backlash was intense. The reactions were passionate and numerous enough to get coverage from The New York Times, USA Today, NBS News, and more. Despite the backlash, the ads were effective and these new AI ads also got the job done. Coke is confident that its early experimentation is not only fun, but a meaningful investment that—despite the negative reviews in the short term—is setting the company up for long-term marketing success.

In this episode, host Jeff Beer talks to Pratik Thakar, Coca-Cola's global vice president for generative AI, about the companies' approach to using AI, creative risk-taking, and those holiday ads.