How Coca-Cola is elevating marketing efforts with Generative AI

Beverage giant Coca-Cola has kickstarted its journey towards embracing Artificial Intelligence (AI) across segments by marrying it with human talent. It has launched a limited product line with the help of AI, leveraged it to improve consumer experience for on-ground events, and worked on a user-generated campaign. 

Staying ahead of the curve, Coca-Cola also appointed Pratik Thakar as its Global Head of Generative AI, becoming one of the first conglomerates to do so. Since then, the brand has introduced many new AI initiatives under Thakar's creative vision to strengthen the brand's voice. 

Coca-Cola uses AI in myriad ways but the underlying objective that runs through every AI initiative of the brand is two-way communication with their audiences. This also leads to improved demand and recall. 

Here are a few ways the brand has used AI:

The Masterpiece

Coca-Cola’s 'The Masterpiece' is the epitome of AI-driven storytelling. The ad showcases a young artist who is looking for inspiration, in a museum and brings some of the classic paintings - ‘The Scream’, ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’, to life. Created in collaboration with OpenAI's DALL-E2 and ChatGPT, the ad campaign is a visual delight for viewers, it exemplifies what AI in conjunction with creativity can create. 

Y3000 - A peek into the future

Coca‑Cola Y3000 Zero Sugar was co-created with human and artificial intelligence by understanding how consumers envision the future through emotions, aspirations, colors, flavors and more. Fans’ perspectives from around the world, combined with insights gathered from artificial intelligence, helped inspire Coca‑Cola to create the unique taste of Y3000. This campaign has a futuristic—and optimistic—visual identity. 

Co-created with artificial intelligence, the design showcases liquid in a morphing, evolving state, communicated through form and color changes that emphasize a positive future. A light-toned color palette featuring violet, magenta and cyan against a silver base gives a futuristic feel. The iconic Spencerian Script features a connected matrix with fluid dot clusters that merge to represent the human connections of our future planet. 

Create Real Magic

The emergence of AI also elevated anxiety, especially in creators and artists. With its ‘Create Real Magic’ campaign, Coke offered digital artists an opportunity to make artwork using Coke’s trademark assets. Artists could access the Coke bottle, Santa Claus, and Polar Bear from their iconic ad campaigns and more from their archives. This was an experiment for Coca‑Cola made by OpenAI and Bain & Company. Artists could download and submit their work and winners were to be featured on Coke’s digital billboards in New York’s Time Square and London’s Piccadilly Circus.

This contest allowed audiences to make use of AI to play around with their creativity and endorsed engagement with Coke. This contest put a new twist to classic Coke campaigns.

Music Festivals

Coke has integrated AI into music by letting audiences create a song, album cover, and music videos by answering a set of questions in festivals by setting up music studios. The new Coke AI studio was available at Lollapalooza and the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Festival attendees could sign up at the festival as an individual or group and answer questions that shape their “Real Stars” identity. 

With this, Coke has started integrating AI for on-ground events, making the best use of this consumer touch point. 

Vending machines

Coca-Cola has introduced AI into a number of vending machines. These machines will record orders and endorse drinks and flavors preferred to their location.

Coca-Cola stocked the right products at the right location and noticed a 15% increase in its vending machines’ transactions, and the necessity for restocking visits dropped by 18%.

Coke has a “Vending Bot” which adjusts its own tone, and cadence according to each individual user and curates each conversation accordingly. The vending machines can change their “mood” depending on where they would be situated – with machines in a shopping mall displaying a colorful, fun persona, those in a gym focused on better performance, and the ones at a hospital more utilitarian. This enabled the brand to stock certain products at certain locations and understand the demographic.

By integrating AI in production innovation and crafting marketing campaigns, Coke is refining its brand image and voice in the market and trying to establish itself as a tech-centric innovative brand.