Dive Brief: 

• Coca-Cola is expanding its global music platform Coke Studio with a generative artificial intelligence (AI) offering, per details shared with Marketing Dive. The immersive effort will give music festival-goers in the U.S. the chance to craft original music experiences. 
• The AI studio, which will be available on-site at a variety of festivals, allows consumers to create a song, album cover and music video by answering a series of questions. The studio utilizes generative AI, AI video generation and ChatGPT. 
• Billed as the first-of-its-kind, the effort was created with experience agency Momentum Worldwide. The move sees Coca-Cola continuing to explore generative AI within marketing while also upping its bets on shared music experiences.

Dive Insight: 

Coca-Cola is using generative AI to grow its Coke Studio platform, a sign that marketers are more seriously exploring consumer-facing applications of the buzzy technology. The move could boost the marketer’s global music platform, which first launched in Pakistan in 2008 and expanded in May 2022 to become a digital-first way for Coke to link with emerging talent. The brand most recently partnered with 18 artists, including Sam Smith and Jon Batiste, to offer consumers exclusive music experiences.

The new Coke AI studio will be available to festival attendees at big-name events like Lollapalooza in Chicago and the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Texas. To participate, consumers can sign up at a festival as a group or individual and answer questions that shape their “Real Stars” identity. Those include a name, song and album art, in addition to music and video elements. After, participants can occupy a green room environment before being notified via phone to move into a booth to finish creating their music video. Once the content is created, consumers will be able to visit a personalized web page to download and share their music creations. 

The first time Coke's AI studio appeared was at this year's Hangout music festival, which took place from May 19-21. The studio will be at a handful of upcoming festivals through the remainder of the year, the next being the Global Dance Festival on July 21-22.

“This immersive experience is a great example of connecting Gen Z’s passion for music, creativity and technology to propel brand growth among the next generation of consumers,” said James Robinson, chief creative officer, North America, at Momentum Worldwide, in a statement.

Musically driven marketing has become a go-to tactic for Coke. Last year, the company promoted its Coke Summer Music events with an augmented reality experience on Snapchat in partnership with Australian rapper The Kid Laroi. Coke also teamed with artist Marshmello last year to introduce a limited-edition flavor as part of its Creations innovation platform.

Coke has also begun exploring opportunities with generative AI, becoming the first marketer to take advantage of a partnership between management consultancy Bain & Company and OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, earlier this year. In March, the soft-drink marketer launched its “Create Real Magic” platform that encouraged consumers to generate AI art for the chance to be featured on digital billboards in New York and London, an effort that Marketing Dive recently recognized as one of this year’s top campaigns.

Coke Studio has been a point of success, with the company in its first quarter earnings noting that its latest season saw over 1 billion streams. Coke had a strong start to 2023, with organic revenue up 12% year-over-year. In discussing the results, executives also attributed early bets on generative AI to success in connecting with Gen Z. The company is expected to report its second-quarter earnings on July 26.