Groundbreaking Digital Experience and Films Fuse Holiday Heritage With Cutting-Edge Tech

Coca‑Cola and Christmas have been synonymous for nearly a century. The deliciously refreshing beverage is a key ingredient to holiday celebrations around the world, and the brand’s storied advertising assets signal the start of the season. 

From the caravan of red trucks twinkling with festive lights, to the iconic polar bears, to artist Haddon Sundblom’s classic 1931 rendering of Santa Claus, the brand’s archives are loaded with timeless symbols of joy and togetherness associated with the most wonderful time of the year.

Building on last year's message that "The World Needs More Santas," Coca‑Cola continues to celebrate the spirit of Santa within each of us through engaging experiences that merge human storytelling with technological innovation.

This year’s campaign marries the brand’s rich holiday heritage with cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other groundbreaking digital tools to Create Real Magic™ throughout the season.

“Our marketing is about creating unique experiences. This year’s campaign is a great example of how we’re fusing human artistry with creative uses of artificial intelligence and other digital tools,” said Manolo Arroyo, EVP and Global Chief Marketing Officer of The Coca‑Cola Company. “We’re innovating to find new ways to connect with our consumers through our cherished holiday assets while staying true to our core values of spreading happiness and creating Real Magic.”

From the Archives to AI

A first-of-its-kind digital experience lets consumers have a real-time, AI-powered conversation with Santa to generate a customized snow globe to share on social media. Coca‑Cola collaborated with industry-leading partners to develop the custom tools that power the “Create Real Magic” experience—which is accessible by scanning on-pack QR codes or by visiting CreateRealMagic.com—and offers a direct line to chat with Santa in more than 45 languages. 

The consumer experience, which brings Santa from the Coca‑Cola archives to consumer screens in stunning detail, is made possible through collaborations with top creative and technology partners including Accenture, Microsoft, Leonardo.ai, Mimic and OpenAI.

“Until now, we have only presented the 1931 Sundblom Santa in static images, not dynamically,” said Pratik Thakar, Coca‑Cola’s Global Head of Generative AI. “Thanks to these technologies, which we coinvented with our partners and are only available to us, we captured the specific nuances of how Santa looks, talks and behaves.”

The experience prompts users to share their cherished holiday memories, kicking off a real-time, personalized chat with Santa. Santa listens to and responds to stories and answers questions about everything from the day’s weather forecast at the North Pole, to his favorite reindeer.  

This is the second consecutive AI-driven Coca‑Cola holiday activation. In 2023, the brand launched the Create Real Magic holiday greeting card generator in more than 40 countries, reimagining festive Coca‑Cola images and characters through the creative prism of AI tools. 

“This space continues to evolve every week, with new technology platforms and updates, which challenges us to stay ahead of the curve,” Thakar said. “With Create Real Magic, every iteration represents a big leap forward from a technological standpoint.”

A custom model created by Leonardo.ai reacts and responds to the conversation in real time by combining AI-generated images and video alongside traditional holiday songs in a digital snow globe. Users can send the personalized animations, which feature vintage touches like a Coca‑Cola Georgia Green glass Contour Bottle as holiday gifts.  

A Coca‑Cola First: AI-Driven Storytelling

In another first for the brand, Coca‑Cola is venturing into AI-driven storytelling by using the imaginative power of emerging technology, combined with human creativity, to refresh its seasonal advertising. Creative technologists from three production houses—Secret Level Entertainment Studio (Los Angeles), The Wild Card (Kuala Lumpur) and Silverside AI Tech Lab (San Francisco)—used cutting-edge tools and technologies to reimagine the iconic 1995 commercial, “Holidays Are Coming.”

The three spots showcase the programmatic, hyper-local capabilities of AI. Coca‑Cola North America’s geo-specific media buy for the campaign includes tailoring the films with localized elements. “For example, viewers in Boston will see the Coca‑Cola Christmas trucks passing by a ‘Welcome to Boston’ billboard,” Thakar explained. “Another superpower of AI is that we can create personalized and programmatic content like this at scale.”

In addition, last year’s lauded Coca‑Cola ad ‘The World Needs More Santas’ will return, soundtracked by British singer-songwriter Celeste’s cover of “Anyone Can Be Santa.” The film serves as a poignant reminder that even one act of Christmas kindness can spark the “inner Santa” in each of us and multiply the real magic of the season.

‘IRL’ Real Holiday Magic

Coca‑Cola also will Create Real Holiday Magic IRL through bespoke “Anyone Can Be Santa” experiences in Finland, New York City, Mexico, the Philippines and Japan. Additionally, the Coca‑Cola Caravan will hit the road for the “Kindness Travels” tour. Local Coca‑Cola teams will host events with social impact partners to tackle inequality, promote inclusion and help deliver a better shared future. Click here to follow the Caravan’s stops across the U.S.