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Coca-Cola See How Christmas Came Alive Across 75 Markets in 2024
Coca-Cola's 2024 global Christmas campaign combined an AI-reimagined revival of its iconic 'Holidays Are Coming' film with the returning 'The World Needs More Santas' platform, running across more than 75 markets to reframe the holiday season as a moment of everyday human kindness rather than festive spectacle.
The campaign, archived on Clapboard.com and published on December 27, 2024, operates across the Drinks (Non Alcoholic) category and represents one of the most technically ambitious holiday advertising efforts the brand has undertaken. At its core, 'The World Needs More Santas' repositions Santa Claus not as a singular mythical figure but as a symbol embodied by ordinary people performing acts of generosity — a strategic pivot that grounds the brand's long-standing Christmas equity in contemporary cultural values. Alongside this narrative platform, Coca-Cola deployed an AI-assisted reconstruction of its 1995 'Holidays Are Coming' television commercial, producing more than 100 versions of the creative across 24 key global markets, according to VML.
The campaign was developed through WPP Open X, led by VML, with support from Ogilvy PR and EssenceMediacom, according to VML. Additional production partners included Accenture, JKR, Silverside AI, The Wildcard, and Secret Level Entertainment Studio, also per VML. The scale of localisation and the application of generative AI to a beloved heritage asset made 'See how Coca-Cola turned on Christmas across the world' one of the defining Food and Drink advertising stories of 2024. The Clapboard Score for this campaign is 64 out of 100, reflecting both the ambition of its reach and the complexity of the reception it generated among audiences and advertising professionals alike.
Coca-Cola enters the 2024 Christmas season with a dual strategic mandate: defend its cultural ownership of the holiday while demonstrating that AI can serve creative ambition rather than replace it. The 'The World Needs More Santas' platform addresses a well-documented shift in consumer sentiment, where audiences increasingly respond to brand communications that celebrate real human behaviour over aspirational fantasy. By distributing the identity of Santa across ordinary people, Coca-Cola makes participation in the brand's Christmas narrative universally accessible — a strategic move with clear relevance across diverse global markets.
The global soft-drinks market was estimated at approximately US$373.4 billion in 2024 with a projected compound annual growth rate of around 4.2 percent through 2034, according to Credence Research. Within this landscape, Coca-Cola competes directly with PepsiCo, whose own seasonal advertising has historically leaned on celebrity-driven spectacle, and with Fever-Tree and other premium non-alcoholic alternatives gaining shelf presence in experiential advertising contexts. Coca-Cola's decision to invest in narrative depth and geographic breadth rather than a single high-production hero film reflects an awareness that differentiation in the Drinks (Non Alcoholic) category now requires cultural resonance across markets, not just media weight in a single territory.
Islam ElDessouky, Global Creative Director at Coca-Cola, articulated the strategic rationale in Wonderland Magazine in November 2024, stating: 'We wanted to tap into this, as AI is such an incredible technology for enabling creativity.' His framing positions AI not as a cost mechanism but as a creative enabler — a distinction the brand needed to establish clearly given the scrutiny any AI-generated work in holiday advertising was certain to attract in the United States and across international markets in 2024.
Coca-Cola's 2024 Christmas creative execution rests on two distinct but complementary pillars: the emotionally grounded 'The World Needs More Santas' narrative films and the technically contentious AI-assisted remake of the 1995 'Holidays Are Coming' commercial. The former invites audiences to recognise acts of everyday kindness as expressions of the Santa spirit, using warm, observational filmmaking to anchor the brand's holiday identity in human behaviour rather than brand mythology. The latter takes a heritage asset — one of the most recognisable pieces of Christmas advertising in the world — and reconstructs it using generative AI, producing more than 100 localised versions for 24 key global markets, according to VML.
Islam ElDessouky, Global Creative Director at Coca-Cola, described the creative philosophy to Wonderland Magazine in November 2024, stating: 'It's beautiful because creativity has been democratised.' That democratisation was structural as well as philosophical: according to VML, production was designed to operate at approximately 20 percent of a typical campaign budget, representing an 80 percent reduction in production costs, while delivery time was reduced by 90 percent compared to standard production timelines. These figures represent a significant operational claim about what AI-assisted production can achieve at global scale within the Food and Drink advertising sector.
The AI remake of 'Holidays Are Coming' was released in November 2024 and drew immediate and polarised critical attention. Campaign Asia, reporting on November 17, 2024, documented audience descriptions including 'ugly,' 'creepy,' 'soulless,' and 'lazy.' Muse by Clio, writing on November 18, 2024, described the remake as 'dystopian' and 'hollow,' criticising the removal of 'real people and the cheer' from the original. Ad Age found feedback 'decidedly mixed' among advertising professionals and audiences. Production credits beyond ElDessouky's creative direction are not fully publicly documented, though VML led the campaign development under the WPP Open X structure.
Coca-Cola's 2024 Christmas campaign generated more than 7 billion media impressions in its first week of release, according to VML. That figure establishes the campaign as one of the highest-reach holiday advertising efforts in the brand's recent history and reflects the combined weight of a 75-market rollout, substantial media investment managed through EssenceMediacom, and the earned media amplified by public debate around the AI-assisted 'Holidays Are Coming' remake.
Ipsos reported a Creative Effect Index score of 131 for the campaign, a result that indicates above-average creative effectiveness relative to Ipsos benchmarks. This score is notable given the volume of negative sentiment the AI film attracted across social platforms and trade press. It suggests that the 'The World Needs More Santas' narrative platform carried sufficient emotional weight to sustain overall campaign effectiveness even as the AI component drew sustained criticism. According to reporting in USA Today and Marketing Interactive, the YouTube-hosted advertisement attracted significant viewer commentary, with audience responses ranging from nostalgic appreciation for the original 1995 film to direct criticism of the AI aesthetic choices.
No additional verified performance data — including sales lift, brand equity movement, or paid media return metrics — is publicly available for this campaign beyond the figures attributed to VML and Ipsos. The Clapboard Score of 64 out of 100 reflects a campaign that achieves exceptional distribution scale and above-benchmark creative effectiveness scores while absorbing reputational friction generated by the AI execution. For the Drinks (Non Alcoholic) category, the campaign demonstrates that AI-assisted production can deliver global holiday advertising at compressed cost and speed, but that heritage assets carry audience expectations that technology alone cannot yet fully honour.
Coca-Cola's 2024 Christmas campaign is titled 'The World Needs More Santas.' It reframes Santa Claus as a symbol of everyday kindness performed by ordinary people. Running across more than 75 markets, the campaign also included an AI-assisted remake of the brand's 1995 'Holidays Are Coming' film, both elements appearing in the Ads of The World Coca-Cola Collection.
Coca-Cola's 2024 holiday campaign was developed through WPP Open X, led by VML. Supporting partners included Ogilvy PR and EssenceMediacom for media, alongside Accenture, JKR, Silverside AI, The Wildcard, and Secret Level Entertainment Studio, according to VML. The agency of record is not separately disclosed in the Clapboard archive entry.
Coca-Cola used generative AI to reconstruct its 1995 'Holidays Are Coming' commercial. According to VML, this approach reduced production costs by approximately 80 percent and cut delivery time by 90 percent, producing more than 100 versions across 24 global markets. Global Creative Director Islam ElDessouky described AI as 'a massive unlock' in Wonderland Magazine.
Coca-Cola's 2024 Christmas campaign generated more than 7 billion media impressions in its first week, according to VML. Ipsos separately reported a Creative Effect Index score of 131, indicating above-average creative effectiveness. The campaign ran across more than 75 markets, supported by EssenceMediacom's global media operation.
The AI remake of 'Holidays Are Coming' drew criticism from trade and consumer press. Campaign Asia documented audience descriptions including 'creepy' and 'soulless.' Muse by Clio called it 'dystopian' and 'hollow,' noting it removed real people from the original. Ad Age found professional and public feedback 'decidedly mixed' across the United States and international markets.
Coca-Cola's 2024 Christmas campaign received a Clapboard Score of 64 out of 100. The score reflects the campaign's exceptional global reach across 75 markets and an above-benchmark Ipsos Creative Effect Index of 131, balanced against the polarised audience reception generated by the AI-assisted 'Holidays Are Coming' remake within the Drinks (Non Alcoholic) category.
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