Image generation (Non-Product Images)

The Coca-Cola Co. is a prime example of a major brand using AI image-generation tools in marketing campaigns. In 2023, it used OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4 and its DALL-E image creator in its “Create Real Magic” campaign that enabled digital artists to create and submit work to be featured on Coca-Cola’s digital billboards. Coke also used image-generation when introducing its limited-edition Y3000 flavor that encouraged consumers to image what the world would be like in the year 3000. Besides using image-generation to create the futuristic can design, it also put a QR code on the can that links people to the Coca-Cola Creations Hub, allowing them to scan photos of their surroundings to see how they might look in the future.

Newell Brands has used Adobe’s Firefly image-creation tool for several of its brands, including Elmer’s glue. For a back-to-school marketing campaign, Elmer’s needed images for social media, ecommerce product detail pages and retailer media campaigns, an effort that in the past would have taken months of planning, shooting, editing, and producing. Now Elmer’s can product digital assets five times faster. For another Newell brand, the European team at Yankee Candle generated dozens of variations of a bow wrapped around a candle in seconds, making it possible to test how the various performed with and without a bow.

The global AI image generator market size was valued is projected to grow from USD $299.3 million in 2023 to $917.4 million by 2030, a CAGR of 17.4%, according to Fortune Business Insights. According to statistics compiled by Mconverter, an online document-management company, 46% of online retailers use AI tools for image generation and AI-generated images are expected to account for 15% of all digital content online in 2025, up from less than 2% in 2022.