Last holiday season, Coca-Cola found itself in the crosshairs.
Their annual Christmas campaign — produced by Silverside and created entirely with AI — was dragged across social media. Commenters called it soulless, lazy, and “proof that brands were finally replacing human creativity.”
The subtext was clear: real brands shouldn’t use fake creativity.
Fast forward 11 months to this week’s Wired story: “Amazon’s House of David Used Over 350 AI Shots in Season 2. Its Creator Isn’t Sorry.”
We’ve all grown used to the velocity of AI change, but even by those standards, the shift from AI-generated creative being shamed to being celebrated is whiplash-inducing.
And it’s not happening quietly. It’s happening everywhere.
The numbers were staggering:
These aren’t novelty metrics. They’re “any CMO in the world would kill for this” metrics.
And here’s what most observers missed: Coke didn’t get dragged because the work was bad — it wasn’t. They got dragged because culture wasn’t ready yet.
Now it is.
Their 2022 “A.I. Ketchup” campaign was one of the first big-brand examples of leaning into AI not as a behind-the-scenes production assist, but as the actual creative idea.
The reception? Curiosity. Delight. Zero backlash.
In hindsight, Heinz was the preview. Coke was the proof. And the cultural shift was already underway.
These weren’t sanitized, agency-safe concepts. They were bold, weird, culturally sharp — the kind of work you’d normally expect from a large production crew with weeks of runway.
Instead, they were built with AI tools and the taste level of one talented creative. And the NBA ad cost only $2,000 to produce.
The audience didn’t question how the ads were produced.
They just reacted: "This is incredible."
JT proved something fundamental: AI doesn't replace great creatives — it amplifies them
The show used 350+ AI-enhanced VFX shots, and the creator didn’t hedge, downplay, or apologize for it. He defended it – proudly.
When a tech giant uses AI at this scale…
When the final product looks like traditional VFX…
And when nobody revolts…
You’re no longer witnessing a trend.
You’re witnessing a new production model.
Three things shifted — rapidly and simultaneously:
AI creative stopped looking like AI creative. It just looked like creative.
When production becomes:
…it stops being a novelty and becomes infrastructure.
2023 fear: “AI might replace us.”
2024 fear: “Competitors using AI might outpace us.”
That’s the shift.
AI isn’t replacing creativity.
AI is replacing the constraints that limited it.
Heinz showed the early signals.
Coke proved it can scale.
JT Ace demonstrated its cultural power.
Amazon validated it at enterprise production levels.
The shift from pariah to pride took 11 months.
The shift from pride to expectation? That’s happening right now.