Tis the season and the gift under the Christmas tree this year is an electric one. Coca Cola, who have a history of strong advertising, employed the use of AI studios for this year’s holiday ads.
Reaching back to the classic Christmas ads of the 1990s, Coca Cola tried to bring new life to one of their most successful and memorable advertisements. Mixing that nostalgic power with a modern day technology.
What Was Different About This Year’s Holiday Advertising?
To elaborate, Coca Cola sought to incorporate AI generative imagery into this year’s holiday ad. With ‘weights’ used to associate certain results as better than others.
In order to achieve this the Coca Cola brand hired three studios to work on their project. Secret Level, Silverside AI and Wild card. Each studio is primarily based in creating work using generative technology with an emphasis on modern tech trends. So modern in fact, the studios themselves were only founded earlier this year.
If you think that seems like a bold move by such a major brand, you would be correct. For the most part. The common practice of many businesses is to rely on tried and true avenues for getting work done. This includes the teams you use to carry out your marketing projects.
Coca Cola is no different in this. You likely have seen the same or similar enough adverts for the Coca Cola brand before now. With that very same classic Christmas ad being rebuilt several times over.
Yet, the brand is not averse to risk and taking a chance on something new.
A New Age of Advertising?
Every year, businesses and marketers alike seek the next major marketing push. The key ingredient that lets an advertisement explode into widespread notoriety.
If you think back to a time in the early 2000s, when many a business was looking for a new way to market to an unenthusiastic audience, there is one advert that may stick out to you.
A chocolate company, one with a great deal of prestige, elected to push an ad in which its legacy brand was represented by. Well, a gorilla playing drums.
It was shocking, exciting and almost entirely irrelevant to the brand itself. Except for the purple theme and slogan. Yet it was widely shared and brought millions of eyes to the brand. It wasn’t a matter of convincing the audience to be invested in Cadbury. This was not the dry delivery of a system management seminar, it was pure fun.
Organic and entertaining all by itself.
AI functions in a similar way. As it stands, the use of AI in advertisement is the new excitement by itself. Coca Cola didn’t need three AI studios in order to create its ad. Especially when you consider that it was based entirely upon old marketing from nearly two decades ago.
Or Another Trend?
No, the real prospect of Coke’s advertising here was the incorporation of the newest tech frenzy that to this day dominates our cultural senses.
The narrative within Coca Cola’s holiday advertising hasn’t changed. Santa Claus, amongst massive red lorries adorned with Coca Cola branding, enjoys the very fizzy beverage in question along with smiling families. What changed, the core of it, was the implementation of AI. And it was Successful.
Regardless of whether the response was coloured negatively or positively, the usage of AI technology has had thousands discussing Coca Cola’s advertising again. Which is something that hasn’t been talked about so significantly in years.
How this drive towards AI technology in advertising plays out is something we will only know in the years to come. We have seen the limitations of the technology play out over the short years we have known it. In spite of its wider usage, there remains to be seen a case in which AI truly shines.
Pushing a boundary that could not be tread without its use. In many ways, it does speak to the current state of the industry. With the likes of Jaguar almost entirely rebranding itself just recently, it’s clear that the struggle to find the next major marketing success continues.
AI has proven that it can generate discussion and awareness but as it is, it remains a niche addition. A flair sprinkled atop the same advertising ideas that have been around for the last decade. That powerful potential remains untapped for now.
Though if a business can build something unique from the nascent AI technology that exists, it’ll likely be one of the biggest shifts in the marketing world yet.
Contact Us
If you are concerned about your own advertising keeping up with modern trends, get in touch. We are happy to discuss and help you better navigate this evolving landscape. With both tools and years of experience to help you build your digital brand.
Contact us today to discuss our consultancy services. We will work closely with you to refine your advertising strategy and more. So that you can make the most of your business opportunities.
