What we can all learn from Coca-Cola’s tiny AI team
While most of us aren't working for global beverage giants with endless content budgets (*sad face*), it’s always useful to look to these behemoths as canaries down the marketing mineshaft - and Coca-Cola's approach to AI so far is a valuable lesson for us to take a quick squiz at. Their two-person global AI team (yes, just two people!) is showing us how to blend AI innovation with human expertise - without getting lost in the hype or the slop.
Quicklesson: Success with AI isn't about replacing all the humans with robots or creating a massive AI department. It's about smart integration into existing processes and clear governance. Coca-Cola is using AI as a tool only - one that enhances human creativity and efficiency, rather than trying to replace it. They say their goal is to eventually not need AI specialists, just like we don't need "internet specialists" anymore.
Quickquote: "It's not like you input one prompt saying 'create an ad' and it pops out an ad. A lot of creative decisions are all made by humans." - Pratik Thakar, Global VP and Head of Generative AI, Coca-Cola
Quickaction:
1. Set up a simple AI approval process - create a basic form for team members to propose AI use cases, helping you track and guide appropriate tool selection while preventing duplication of effort.
2. Start small by identifying one routine task (like listing content ideas or generating image variations) where AI could support (not replace) your team's work. Test it thoroughly before scaling up.
3. Create clear AI guidelines for your team - document which tools are approved, what they should be used for, and most importantly, what human oversight is required at each step.
Extra quicktip: Focus on using AI to enhance existing processes rather than trying to completely reinvent them. We see massive fails in that space every week! And trying to undo them takes wayyyyy longer than just coming up with great writing in the first place. As Coca-Cola shows, successful AI integration is about evolution, not revolution.
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