How Coke is using AI to make ads with artists through its Real Magic Creative Academy

Coca-Cola Co.—which has leaned into AI-enabled marketing more than most marketers—is relying on a diverse group of digital artists and companies focused on tech and fashion to help create ads that will debut in the coming weeks.

The work will be informed by what the beverage giant has dubbed the Real Magic Creative Academy, a three-day event held last week. The event included 30 creators who were selected earlier this year when Coca-Cola opened a digital “sandbox” allowing them to create Coke-related art using DALL-E and GPT-4 (the latest version of ChatGPT from OpenAI). Technology companies Nvidia and Bain & Company also participated. Creative sessions took place with fashion brands A Bathing Ape and Highsnobiety.

Also read: Coca-Cola partners with Bain

Pratik Thakar, senior director of generative AI at Coca-Cola, said the program underscores Coke’s desire to be at the forefront of AI in marketing and popular culture, while building on its equity in art and collaboration. Work from the academy will appear in future Coke advertising, he said.

“TikTok made everyone an entertainer. Instagram made everyone an influencer. Generative AI is making everyone an artist,” Thakar said in an interview. “So, we want to collaborate with artists, give them this superpower called AI, bring them some of the tools which they may not have access to, and give them this world-class brand in their hands. It’s like a dream come true.”

Thakar described generative AI as providing a “white canvas” for creators, saying their work could one day be viewed with the same reverence given to Andy Warhol’s art today. Warhol’s artwork featured prominently in Coke’s “Masterpiece” ad earlier this year, and the brand subsequently released NFTs based on the work.

Thakar likened the event to a developers’ conference in Silicon Valley, “but you usually don’t see that in CPG companies.”

Participants were given “real world briefs,” according to Thakar, who declined to describe them ahead of their appearance in Coke marketing. But work from those briefs is expected to appear as part of Coca-Cola marketing programs in the coming weeks.

Collaborating with the Japanese fashion brand A Bathing Ape and the fashion and lifestyle brand Highsnobiety is helping Coke to stay current, Thakar said. “That’s where we want to play. We want to stay ahead of the curve. We want to play in pop culture, and partner with all these different artists and creators.”

The “Create Real Magic” campaign and “Real Magic Academy” were supported by OpenX, WPP's dedicated Coke agency.