Coke Taps Conversational AI to Pop with Fast-Food Fans

AI Meets Appetite

Coca-Cola is pioneering the use of generative AI in advertising by deploying a conversational agent to promote Coca-Cola Spiced across fast-food-centric settings. As part of a partnership with Google and Sightly, Coke’s AI-driven activation focused on engaging 18-to-24-year-olds—a core demographic for QSR (quick service restaurants). The campaign used behavioral data to identify relevant audiences, then leveraged outputs from Google’s PaLM 2 language model to craft context-sensitive messages like “It just hits different,” tailored to users’ current digital environments. The innovative chatbot-like agent didn’t just serve static ads—instead, it simulated conversations to draw users into Coke’s brand story, increasing relevance and impact.

Serving Metrics and Moments

The campaign reached over 828,000 users and generated more than 3.5 million impressions, with interaction rates nearly doubling standard benchmarks. Backed by strategic placement during moments when users were already seeking food-related content—such as YouTube recipe videos and fast-food app usage—the model created hyper-targeted ad experiences. Beyond impressions, Coca-Cola and partners tracked qualitative engagement via natural language responses and audience sentiment, allowing for real-time optimization. According to Sightly, this marks a shift from “interruptive advertising” to “contextual engagement,” suggesting a potential new playbook for consumer brands eager to stand out in a cluttered digital landscape.