Inside a marketer's mind

  This year's Coca-Cola Christmas campaign combines continuity with its classic imagery (Santa, red trucks, polar bears) and a strong commitment to artificial intelligence and interactive digital experiences. This makes it a very interesting case study to analyze from the perspective of emotional branding, nostalgia management, and technological innovation applied to Christmas marketing. Campaign context and objectives For nearly a century, Coca-Cola has been associating its brand with Christmas, from Haddon Sundblom's illustrations in the 1930s to the "Holidays Are Coming" ad and the iconic red trucks of 1995, which have become a true ritual marking the start of the holiday season for many consumers. Recent studies show that a significant percentage of the public perceives that "Christmas is beginning" when they see the Coca-Cola ad or truck, demonstrating the extent to which the campaign is integrated into the contemporary festive imagination. In this cont...