Coca-Cola has redefined its holiday legacy for a new generation, unveiling a breathtaking new campaign produced by Los Angeles–based studio Secret Level. Under the direction of Jason Zada and creative leadership of Tony Stern, the spot fuses cinematic artistry with generative AI to reimagine the brand’s iconic “Holidays Are Coming” universe.
Serving as Lead Artist, William Sikora III helped shape the emotional and visual core of the project, crafting the look and design of the world’s animal characters — from their fur texture and facial structure to the tiniest details down to the whisker. Each creature was carefully developed to feel alive, expressive, and cinematic, carrying the warmth and wonder that define Coca-Cola’s holiday storytelling.
This year’s Coca-Cola holiday campaign marks one of the brand’s most ambitious creative undertakings yet. Working closely with Coca-Cola’s global marketing team, Secret Level developed a production pipeline that merges human creativity with AI-assisted design, accelerating the process without sacrificing the artistry that defines the brand’s legacy.
“Last year people criticized the craftsmanship. But this year the craftsmanship is ten times better,” Pratik Thakar, global vp and head of generative AI at Coca-Cola, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “There will be people who criticize — we cannot keep everyone 100 percent happy,” he adds. “But if the majority of consumers see it in a positive way it’s worth going forward.”
In a culture where Hollywood creators worry about an AI takeover while a video-watching citizenry braces itself for a wave of synthetic media from Sora 2 and others, an AI commercial at this level is no small thing. Coca-Cola is one of the world’s most dominant brands and the holidays one of Madison Avenue’s sacred human spaces. The unleashing of a spot by the former into the space of the latter could prove a litmus test for consumers’ appetite for AI video — while also, perhaps, further normalizing its consumption. – Hollywood Reporter
“This was my first project with Secret Level and I wanted to put everything into it. Coca-Cola itself, is such a global brand that is loved by millions and I really wanted my characters to bring that sense of joy that Coke brings. I was extremely involved in making sure every artist on the team kept that vision intact, our core team put in a ton of work and I am really proud how it came out. I love that Coca-Cola is not afraid to use new technology to tell a story, that’s something that I have always embraced as an artist. I like to call myself ‘classically trained’ because I have done all this before AI, it’s just now with a new tool that empowers my imagination even further. Tony trusted my skillset and gave me the freedom to explore and push ideas further than most studios would. That kind of trust brings out your best work. We weren’t just typing sentences, this was a huge effort in my mind, figuring out workarounds for road bumps, drawing characters, figuring out moods and matching styles. We utilized a bunch of different programs and AI models to make this possible, then when we finished that, the VFX team went in and did color grading, clean up and more! It was a full production.” Sikora said.
