Marketing - A real-world application of LLMs to generate content

Coca-Cola launches AI-generated holiday ads [link]

The same company that popularized the jolly image of Santa Claus for its 1931 Christmas ad campaign has launched AI-generated holiday ads. The ad is like one run in 1995, with the same soundtrack and trucks traveling wintry roads.

Predictably, some are unhappy, as users took to social media to complain. But those complaints are in stark contrast to the the high ranking of the ads ... when people don't know they are AI-generated.

"We didn’t tell them they were watching an AI ad or that they were to compare it to the beloved original," wrote Andrew Tindall of System1, one of the creative studios that produces it.

The ad earned a 5.9 out of 6 ranking, indicating near-universal positive consumer sentiment.

"It was hugely distinctive, with 98% of viewers knowing the ad was for Coke in 15 seconds," wrote Tindall. "No one had any sort of negative reaction to it."

Coke, for its part, said AI reduced the time and cost to produce the ad. This is a strong signal GenAI is breaking into the mainstream.