The last 2 years+ have been a watershed moment for the tech world as some major innovation such as Meta, Facebook’s parent company was launched, with every brand from Apple, Microsoft and Google jumping on the Metaverse bandwagon for a slice of the potentially lucrative pie that an immersive, 3D internet will bring.

Thereafter Open-AI broke the generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) mould with the launch of ChatGPT, a new breed of chatbot with an uncanny ability to generate near-perfect human-like text.

The fundamental questions and widespread debate within the business and marketing circles are: “what do all these mean for the future of business and marketing? More importantly, where should marketers and businesses be hedging their bets? What are the potentials of Metaverse and AI on brands?

When Metaverse appeared on the scene, every brand and business wanted in. With its None Fungible Token (NFTs) and wearables and avatars, it had brands clamoring to offer their audiences an absolutely out-of-this-world experience. It promised immersive experience where there are avatars, games, wearables and digital tokens, especially to Gen Z and the millennials who grew up playing online games – games with rich imagery and fantasy – which makes them the perfect passengers to take on a trip to the metaverse.

However, AI is a different ball game altogether – it has been said that AI will completely transform and drive marketing. Where there is a lot of data and a great need for personalization, AI can help shape better customer experiences, and enable better predictability of outcomes.

What’s more, AI can do wonders with segmentation by splitting customers into various groups based on specific characteristics – gender, age, income level, interests and a zillion other criteria. It can power the mapping of what will work with whom. In fact, AI can enable brands to connect with millions of prospects with a hundred different variations of marketing messages and help them track and measure their effectiveness almost instantly. AI powers creativity – with regard to design and content.

In a recent interview with Ad Age, James Quincey, Coca-Cola Co. CEO, revealed that Coca-Cola has gone the AI route, partnering with Bain and Company OpenAI to enhance the creativity of its marketing department.

He mentioned that Coca-Cola believes that after the initial outpouring of enthusiasm and excitement from brands about Web 3, NFTs and the metaverse, it will just fizzle out and AI will / has already taken its place as the latest marketing trend.

Also, Pratik Thakar, the Global Head of Creative Strategy and Integrated Content, Coca-Cola, talked about how Coca-Cola has already started to leverage AI in its marketing and why the company prioritizes AI tools over Web 3, at Ad Age’s Web3 Marketing Summit. According to him, unlike the swift hype cycle that surrounded virtual worlds and digital collectibles, AI is positioned to have an enduring impact on the marketing landscape.

Right after entering into a partnership with Bain and Company, Coca-Cola announced a new AI-centric campaign using the latest versions of  ChatGPT called “Create Real Magic”. The cola giant gave customers access to their library of hundreds of the company’s visual assets, including the Coca-Cola logo and various bottle and can designs, and asked them to use these to create AI-generated artwork.

According to Coca-Cola, in less than two weeks, they received 120,000 different images through the campaign website! And a significant percentage of that group skewed to a younger demographic, which spent an average of seven minutes on the campaign website. Coca-Cola displayed the top entries on billboards in Piccadilly Circus in London and Time Square in New York.

While some experts in the marketing communications space are emphasizing the need for brands to connect the new innovative technologies to existing marketing strategies such as out-of-home displays or influencer partnerships, others are saying that it is not a good idea to just use the new tech in order to appear innovative. Many, however, suggest that if brands are to consider incorporating any emerging tech into their marketing strategies, they must pick AI over Metaverse. Some others concede that metaverse is good for brands seeking to create an immersive experience or an online community for their customers.

Suffice it to say that mega brands like Coca-Cola among others are more optimistic about the potential impacts of AI on brands than they are about the metaverse. However, the two groundbreaking tech innovations are two different things with powerful attributes that they bring to the table to completely change every marketing effort in the industry.