The Future of Advertising Isn’t AI. It’s Taste.

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Hello Creative Souls,

Very few brands have achieved the level of success that Coca-Cola has, in branding. Of course, there have been some misfires (or calculated risks? Hello, New Coke!).

From their cans, bottle labels, all the way to billboards and social media ads, they’ve hit the bullseye, adapting to every medium and technology - talk about keeping up. Naturally, when AI entered the picture, they nailed that too. Until Christmas 2024.

Coca-Cola’s 2023 Ad, “Masterpiece” fused live action, VFX, and generative tools to bring famous artworks to life—and people loved it. The craft was tight, the tech invisible, the story human. Awards followed.

Fast forward to Christmas 2024 and Coke dropped its AI holiday ads. They went viral too—but mostly because people thought they were “soulless,” “creepy,” and a betrayal of Coke’s holiday equity. Same brand. Same AI. Wildly different reception.

Why “Masterpiece” Worked (and What to Steal)

• AI as seasoning, not the main course. Coke didn’t sell “look, we used AI.” They sold a Coke bottle as a hero, with AI tucked inside the transitions.

• Storyline > software. If you swapped out the AI for traditional VFX, the ad still works. That’s your litmus test.

• Craft layers hide the seams. Direction, edit, music, grading—every human touch smoothed out AI’s rough edges.

Why the Holiday Ads Backfired (and How to Avoid It)

• The tech was the headline. Instead of “holiday magic,” audiences saw “AI experiment.” People don’t forgive experiments in sacred brand spaces.

• Sacred codes matter. Coke is Santa, red trucks, warmth. Mess with that canon, you break trust.

• AI’s flaws are unforgiving at scale. Hands, logos, physics—audiences spot the uncanny valley faster than you think.

Figment’s Extra Hacks (you won’t find these in case studies)

1. Box AI into a job, not a vision.
   Treat AI like a junior intern with one task: background textures, style transfer, dynamic resizes. Don’t let it pitch storyboards. Or to push boundaries that would normally cost a lot(both time and money).

2. Protect your “holy cows.”
   Every brand has codes it must not fumble (Coke = Santa, Nike = Swoosh, Apple = product shots). Experiment around them, not through them.

3. Run the Grandma Test.
   If your least tech-savvy audience member can spot “this looks weird,” kill it. Virality doesn’t save you when ridicule outweighs awe.

4. Don’t use AI to cut costs. Use it to expand possibility.
   “Masterpiece” felt like art direction on steroids. The holiday work felt like cutting corners. Audiences smell the difference instantly.

5. Treat AI as invisible infrastructure.
   If people are talking about the tech, not the story, you failed. Think of AI like electricity: essential, but no one buys your ad because the lights are on.

Real-World Receipts

• Wall Street Journal: called the holiday ads “weird,” flagging distorted logos and warped physics.

• Times of India: fans said the spot was “soulless” and “kills Santa.”

• Forbes: dubbed it “a poor copy of a successful, human-crafted ad.”

• Fast Company: Coke defended it as experimentation—audiences didn’t buy it.

• These are the top comments on the video at the time of writing:

  

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The Takeaway

AI is a multiplier, not a savior. When it amplifies a strong human idea (“Masterpiece”), you get love. When it replaces taste with speed (holiday ads), you get backlash.

Your rule of thumb:
If your campaign works without AI, it’s safe to add it. If it only exists because of AI, you’re already in trouble.

Figment is written by Abbhinav Kastura, a writer/producer who has spent a decade making impactful internet videos and Guru Nicketan, an advertising nerd, B2B Marketer, stand-up comedian, and a film buff.