Coca-Cola's latest AI-generated Christmas video has "Big Red" lovers seeing … red. The video, which was designed to evoke the nostalgia of the company’s 1995 “Holidays Are Coming” commercial, truly sucks. The animation is bad (by any standard) and lacks the warmth and creativity traditionally associated with Coca-Cola's holiday campaigns. If you haven't seen it, it kind of looks like Polar Express on bad acid. Oddly, this is not why people are mad. For some reason, people are calling out AI as the villain.
The video was created in collaboration with three AI studios—Secret Level, Silverside AI, and Wild Card—using four generative AI models. It attempted to combine tradition with innovation – and fell flat. Why did Coca-Cola release it? The execs at Coke had to know it sucked.
In a statement, a Coca-Cola spokesperson emphasized the company’s ongoing exploration of new creative approaches: “The Coca-Cola Company has celebrated a long history of capturing the magic of the holidays in content, film, events, and retail activations for decades around the globe. We are always exploring new ways to connect with consumers and experiment with different approaches. This year, we crafted films through a collaboration of human storytellers and the power of generative AI.”
Awesome! It's great to try new things. Push the envelope. Explore new creative boundaries… but there's no reason to release a substandard product. In practice, Coke wasn't breaking new creative ground; they were trying to use technology to reduce production costs and see if they could figure out how to save millions of dollars on what would otherwise be a multi-million dollar animation project. It turns out that in 2024… you can't. Maybe this will be possible in 2025 or 2026, but not today.
The fact that this video was in no way ready for primetime should not have been lost on anyone – but, apparently, it was.
There are some rules you really can't break. Know your audience. Have a North Star. Understand your vision, mission and values – and stick to them. Evaluate your work honestly. Complexity doesn’t equal quality; simplicity is often harder to achieve. Above all, start with a business outcome in mind, not a process. Coca-Cola’s goal should have been to evoke holiday joy and strengthen its emotional bond with the audience, not to "do a generative AI project." This kind of poorly-executed AI experiment doesn’t help anyone: brands, creatives, or the tech itself. Hopefully, we can all learn from this mistake.
As always your thoughts and comments are both welcome and encouraged. Just reply to this email. -s
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ABOUT SHELLY PALMER
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.
