Why Coca-Cola is launching a holiday movie series on Amazon Prime Video—and how branded TV content is evolving

Coca-Cola is looking to get into the holiday movie craze with a new branded content series streaming on Amazon Prime Video. 

Those logging onto Amazon’s streaming platform Prime Video today to find their next holiday binge will be greeted by a new anthology series: “Christmas Always Finds a Way.” The trio of yuletide shorts (ranging from 10-12 minutes) appears just like other series on the platform, such as “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” or “The Boys.” However, this series is a production of “Real Magic Presents,” a new filmmaking branch of Coca-Cola.

“Christmas Always Finds a Way” isn’t like Coca-Cola’s other iconic holiday ads in that it both has minimal branding and is presented as a singular piece of entertainment, rather than an ad. Each film is meant to evoke the holiday spirit that Coke has become a harbinger of via its iconic Christmas Santa or polar bear characters.

While branded content is not new to the TV space, the rise in streaming has opened up new opportunities for brands to create more long-form content. 

The first production from “Real Magic Presents” is an extension of Coke’s “Real Magic” platform, launched last year with the mission to reach consumers in new ways outside of traditional advertising. Selman Careaga, category president for Coca-Cola, told Ad Age that “Christmas Always Finds a Way” is an effort to reach consumers where the brand knows they’re already engaging with content—on streaming platforms.

Christmas is a time of tradition when “families get together, when they might sit to watch a film,” said Careaga. “We have other projects that target more of a Gen Z crowd…but this one is really about an all-family target.”

“Alma,” the first in the series, is a Spanish-language sci-fi adjacent tale set in a small town in Mexico. Directed by award-winning Brazilian filmmaker Vellas, it follows an in-need-of-cheer mother who works at a Christmas decoration factory and begins having her jolliness reignited by a computer that questions her about the meaning of Christmas. 

“Les Petits Mondes de Noël” is a classic love story, helmed by Parisian director J.B. Braud, about two young French people who flirt through the window displays of their neighboring shops.

The last in the anthology, “Christmas Bites,” finds an anti-Santa vampire meeting his girlfriend’s parents for the first time on Christmas Eve. As tension begins to build between the undead date and his potential in-laws, a visit from good old Saint Nick turns the night on an unexpected ride. The English-language comedy was led by “Russian Doll” director Alex Buono.

Coke partnered with its bespoke unit OpenX within holding company WPP for the creative development of the series. It was produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s company Imagine Entertainment in partnership with Prettybird.

When tuning into each film, one might expect Coke’s ribbon-like logo to be scrawled throughout or for bottles to be placed in each scene. But the series’ branding is actually quite minimal. A title card reads, “Real Magic Films” with an illustration of two bottles clinking above it. In each short, a character inevitably takes a swig of Coke, but not with any flair or dramatics. It isn’t until a few slides into the end credit of each that a “brought to you by Coca-Cola” screen appears.

“As we onboarded television and film screenwriters, we laid out the assignment—how can this feel like Coke without really being a commercial?” said Marc Gilbar, executive VP of brands and documentaries at Imagine Entertainment. “Coca-Cola benefits from never feeling forced because it’s everywhere and it's beloved, especially around Christmas. It's attached to Santa Claus, which is a real benefit that most brands don't have, frankly.”

As consumer habits continue to shift away from linear TV toward streaming and digital video, where many pay for an ad-free experience, “Christmas Always Finds a Way” is an example of how brands are looking to innovate and reach consumers outside of traditional 30-second spots. Currently, Prime Video doesn’t offer an ad-supported subscription for its Prime content (it does offer ads on content hosted by its Freevee platform).

Gilbar said that ad breaks are “a holdover to the way in which media was divided up and people were watching television, and we've grown far beyond that now. Audience behaviors are different and platforms like Amazon Prime is where you go to watch stuff. We believe that there is a role for brands in that environment.”

“From Amazon Ads perspective, the ability to make this type of content discoverable and presented in ways where customers can engage with it, connect with it, and making that entire process as seamless as possible is going to be something that continues to be a benefit to everybody involved,” said Tanner Elton, VP of U.S. sales for Amazon Ads.

Elton said that “Christmas Always Finds a Way” will be presented on the Prime Video platform in the exact same way and alongside other programming on the platform. Plus, it will be promoted on Amazon’s other platforms, such as creative on Fire TV and live watch-alongs on Twitch. 

Elton added that branded TV is “an opportunity for brands to engage with customers in a different way. I think the key is that it has to be authentic and has to be relevant.”

“Christmas Always Finds a Way” is Coke’s first experiment with “Real Magic Presents”—Careaga said the brand is “going to learn how people react to it” as inspiration for how it will innovate next.

“You can expect definitely some new ideas popping up in 2023, but this is our first step,” said Careaga. “You can definitely expect some more new ideas in this space in the future and I hope it will be as exciting as this one.”