AI is a force multiplier, says Coca-Cola’s Pratik Thakar amid holiday-ad backlash

New Delhi: Coca-Cola has doubled down on generative AI for its 2025 holiday campaign, reimagining the iconic “Holidays Are Coming” films for a second year and reigniting debate over whether the technology blunts the brand’s seasonal magic.

Pratik Thakar, Global VP and head of generative AI, called AI “a powerful force multiplier for creativity” that helps storytellers push boundaries. 

He said craftsmanship this year is “ten times better,” with deeper human-AI collaboration to control camera moves, physics-driven realism, continuity and character consistency.

A behind-the-scenes account said five AI specialists refined more than 70,000 video clips in 30 days, using OpenAI’s Sora, Google’s Veo 3 and Luma AI, followed by post-production finishing. 

Secret Level, the Los Angeles studio specialising in gen-AI, created the spot with Silverside AI as innovation partner.

The new film leans into a stylised, animal-led world. Glowing red trucks traverse snowy landscapes as seals, pandas and other creatures look on. The finale reveals Santa, generated exclusively from Haddon Sundblom’s archival paintings that shaped the modern Coke Santa.

Reaction is split. Viewers have praised the scale and spectacle but flagged tell-tale AI quirks, such as subtle shape shifts in truck shots. 

Thakar acknowledged critics, saying you cannot please “100 per cent”, but if most consumers respond positively, the brand will keep going.

This is Coca-Cola’s third straight year of AI-driven creativity. The company released its first gen-AI work in 2023, followed by a fully AI-produced Christmas ad in 2024. 

Last year drew mixed reviews, with some praising visuals and others missing “human warmth”. 

In 2025, the team says technology has advanced enough to animate expressive animals, something they struggled with last year when human faces were used instead.

The campaign lands as marketers test AI to compress timelines and costs. Some tech leaders argue that most viewers do not care how an ad is made, so long as it works. Coca-Cola frames its approach as human creativity augmented by AI, fusing heritage icons—Sundblom’s Santa, the red trucks and winter menagerie—with new tools. 

Fans have even begun sharing their own AI-made Coke holiday riffs online, turning the tradition into a participatory, digital moment.