Coca-Cola’s latest product innovation is AI-powered.
The beverage maker’s new LTO flavour – Coca-Cola Y3000 Zero – is the latest from Coca-Cola Creations, a platform dedicated to the CPG’s limited edition products (and which are meant to appeal to a younger audience) that is also responsible for the brand’s League of Legends collab and its drink that tasted like space.
“Our ambition for Coca-Cola Creations is to create unexpected and magical moments for our fans,” says Oana Vlad, senior director, global strategy at The Coca-Cola Company.
Coca-Cola Y3000 Zero is dubbed the “first futuristic flavor co-created with human and artificial intelligence from Coca-Cola, celebrating an optimistic future through the connections we make.” The CPG giant created the beverage by getting fan input from around the world, and combining that consumer feedback with AI insights that helped inform its colouring and flavour.
The Coca-Cola Y3000 Zero drop also includes an AI experience: by scanning the can, fans are taken to the Coca-Cola Creations hub where they can use the customized Y3000 AI lens. To further bring the Y3000 experience to life, Coca-Cola will also launch a capsule collection in collaboration with Ambush, a Tokyo pop art-inspired fashion brand founded by designer Yoon Ahn.
“There are small nuances from a packaging standpoint to meet Canadian retail standards,” says Solange Grimard, integrated marketing manager, The Coca-Cola Company. “We are also working with Canadian based influencers for the campaign so content will resonate closer to home, however the taste and the experience, is meant for everyone.”
Grimard tells strategy the launch is also supported through digital media buys targeting refreshment seekers, fashion lovers and tech enthusiasts, Gen-Z and older, as well as retail, end of the month. “We will also tap into the TikTok Creators Platform to help amplify and create Canadian exclusive content heroing the bright and fruity taste of a flavour co-created with AI.”
Coca-Cola Y3000 Zero Sugar is available in select markets around the world, including the United States and Canada. The global campaign was developed by Forpeople, Virtue, WPP Open X/Ogilvy and EssenceMediacom. Weber Shandwick is providing PR support.
This spring, the company invited digital creatives around the world to use its AI platform to generate original artwork with creative assets from the Coca‑Cola archives. “Create Real Magic,” built exclusively for Coca‑Cola by OpenAI and Bain & Company, used GPT-4, which produces human-like text from search engine queries, and DALL-E, which produces images based on text.
