Coca-Cola Stages Its First Generative AI Summit
The Coca-Cola Company expanded its generative AI ambitions via an event at its headquarters in Atlanta last week.
The company’s inaugural “Real Magic Creative Academy” spanned three days and included over 30 digital artists, creative technologists, and entrepreneurs. Designed to explore the intersection of creativity and generative AI through learning sessions, co-creation workshops, and networking, some of the guests at the symposium were winners from Coca-Cola’s "Create Real Magic" campaign, in which consumers could marry Coke branded images with the capabilities of AI tool DALL-E as part of a contest.
Attendees at the Atlanta event were again provided access to Coca‑Cola brand assets and artificial intelligence tools, as well as a preview of upcoming AI-powered Coca‑Cola campaigns.They were also privy to perspectives on the future of generative AI from Nvidia and Bain & Company, the latter of which the CPG company has partnered with for its AI initiatives.
The Real Magic Creative Academy was modeled after tech company-organized developer conferences, according to Pratik Thakar, senior director, generative AI, The Coca‑Cola Company.
“By opening our doors and providing access to tools, assets, mentorship opportunities and insights from cultural storytelling, product development and AI experts, we created a space where participants could deliver some truly powerful outputs and create a benchmark for future generations of AI creators,” he noted in a statement. “We intentionally created a community of like-minded artists who we hope will stay connected and collaborate in the near future.”
Thakar also touted Coca‑Cola’s role as a pop culture icon as making it uniquely positioned to seize on the potential of generative AI quickly and with agility, and the event marks Coca-Cola’s continuation into the use of the technology in marketing and elsewhere.
The company’s Create Real Magic campaign invited AI creators, tech enthusiasts, artists and consumers to use Coca‑Cola creative assets to create their own artworks with GPT-4 and DALL-E.
