How Coca-Cola Reinvented a Holiday Classic With AI

Navigating new challenges

One potential hitch came late in the process, when the Coca-Cola client asked Silverside AI if it could develop customized versions of the spot for various cities and global markets. 

“Our immediate reaction was, ‘of course not, it’s too late,’” Pereira said. “But then we said, ‘wait – this isn’t the old world anymore. Maybe we can.’”

Within a few days, Silverside AI delivered 110 different versions of the spot, including 27 key market localizations that feature skylines customized to the cities in which they will air.

While AI can make the creative process faster and more flexible, it also presents challenges. One is keeping up with the fast-evolving technology – new AI tools emerged from the time Silverside AI started working on the ad in June to its launch this month, said Pereira.

AI also does not allow the same “level of precision and control” in post-production, he added, explaining that animators adjusted and polished the ad to match Coca-Cola’s color scheme, logo, and the look of the trucks. 

Nevertheless, Pereira praised AI for simplifying project management tasks that often eat into creatives’ time: “When technology with the power of AI steps into the process, creativity becomes way more important than project management.”

“For the last five years, I’ve been hearing creatives complain about doing more for less money, that things have become impossible,” he continued. “It’s not impossible anymore. AI allows us to take great ideas that would have died without the budgets and bring them to life, for multiple ideas to get made, to elevate the level of everything.” 

As Coca-Cola’s iconic campaign debuts its AI makeover to the world, it is indicative of where AI could take advertising, Wrubel said. 

“The quality and ability for creatives to generate breakthrough creativity is only going to get better,” he said. “This is a journey, and the only way to move on the journey is to use the tools and make things.”