Abstract
Generative AI (GenAI) has moved from a novelty demo to a working part of marketing teams it now drafts ad copy, designs images, writes product descriptions, and holds one-to-one conversations with customers. This report studies how GenAI is changing branding and marketing: what makes it different from older, prediction-based AI, where it is used across the funnel, and what strategic value it creates. It examines Coca-Cola's Create Real Magic platform as the major case study a genuine, well-documented example that shows both the creative upside of GenAI and the reputational risk of leaning on it too heavily, as seen in the backlash to Coca-Cola's 2024 AI Christmas ad. It also looks at Indian examples, including Cadbury's AI-personalised Diwali campaign with Shah Rukh Khan, to show GenAI adoption in Indian marketing is not just a trend borrowed from the West. The present research proposes a simple governance framework and sets out what marketing managers should do differently in a GenAI-enabled workplace. The central argument: GenAI is very good at multiplying marketing output, but it is human judgement not the model that turns that output into brand value.
