Note: we wrote more about the response to this campaign in The Creative Divide: How Coca-Cola's AI Christmas Ad Challenges Industry Assumptions, and other AI-driven campaigns in AI in Advertising: The Future is Now (and It's Pretty Smart).

Coca-Cola's AI Ad: Holiday Cheer or Holiday Jeer?

Hold onto your Santa hats, folks! Coca-Cola decided to spice up the 2024 holiday season by letting AI take the reins of its iconic "Holidays are Coming" ad. Yeah, you heard that right – robots reimagining a Christmas classic. What could possibly go wrong? Well, as it turns out, quite a bit. This bold move stirred up more than just a fizzy drink, sparking a debate hotter than a cup of cocoa on a cold winter's night. Let's unwrap this digital drama, shall we?

The Bots Behind the Brand: Who Made This Thing?

Coca-Cola didn't just ask Siri to whip up a holiday ad. They assembled a digital dream team of AI wizards to conjure up this controversial commercial. Think of it as the Avengers of artificial intelligence, but instead of saving the world, they're selling soda. Here's the lowdown on the key players:

We've got Secret Level, Silverside AI (headed by Rob Wrubel), and Wild Card – three AI studios that dared to digitally recreate a beloved classic, as Forbes explains. Silverside AI used the Leonardo AI platform for the images and then jazzed them up into videos with Luma and Runway, according to Marketing Brew. Meanwhile, WPP Open X teamed up with Coca-Cola to supercharge their global ad game with AI, and NVIDIA brought the heavy-duty tech with its Omniverse platform, as detailed by NVIDIA's blog.

Decoding the Digital Elves: The AI Tech That Powered the Ad

So, what kind of digital sorcery did these AI elves use? Let's peek under the hood and see the tech that powered this polar-izing ad:

Silverside AI used Leonardo to crank out a gazillion images, as reported by both Marketing Brew and Forbes. Luma and Runway then turned those pics into moving pictures. Near the end, a mysterious AI called Kling stepped in to polish things up – think of it as the digital Santa adding the final sparkle. And, of course, NVIDIA's Omniverse was the digital workshop where all these AI tools came together, as explained in their blog post.

The clever (or maybe not-so-clever) part? They deliberately avoided making realistic humans with AI, which is still tricky. Instead, they focused on that warm, fuzzy, nostalgic vibe, as seen in the actual ad on YouTube. Did it work? That's the million-dollar question, as discussed by Forrester.

The Big Shots Calling the Shots: Who Greenlit This AI Adventure?

Behind every controversial ad, there's a team of execs making the big decisions. Here's a who's who of the key figures who decided to roll the dice on this AI experiment:

Rob Wrubel of Silverside AI was one of the masterminds behind the ad's creation, as covered by Marketing Brew and Forbes. Mark Read, CEO of WPP, steered the partnership to bring AI into Coca-Cola's global marketing, as detailed in NVIDIA's blog. Jensen Huang, NVIDIA's CEO, provided the digital tools that made it all possible. And at the top of the soda pyramid, James Quincey, Coca-Cola's CEO, gave the thumbs-up and even defended the AI approach amidst the backlash, according to Yahoo! News.

From Pixels to Polar Bears: How They Made an AI Ad

Forget expensive film crews and snowy locations. Coca-Cola's AI ad was cooked up in the digital kitchen, and it was a whole lot faster and cheaper than the old-school way, as highlighted in the YouTube ad itself.

First, the AI studios generated tons of images using tools like Leonardo. Then, they used Luma and Runway to stitch those images together and make them move, as explained by both Marketing Brew and Forbes. The mysterious Kling AI came in at the end for some final touches. And NVIDIA's Omniverse, as they explain in their blog, was the glue that held it all together, allowing them to blend all those AI-generated bits into one (hopefully) seamless ad.

The whole process was lightning-fast compared to traditional methods. But did this speedy, AI-powered approach hit the mark? Or did it leave viewers feeling colder than a can of soda left out in the snow? The controversy it sparked, as reported by Yahoo! News, suggests that the jury's still out on whether AI can truly capture the magic of the holidays. One thing's for sure: this ad is a sign of the times, and it's got everyone talking about the future of creativity in the age of AI.