Food tech: The future of the food industry is already here

While PepsiCo’s Doritos chips are popular with gamers, the loud crunch they make has long been a source of frustration.  

The beverage and snacking giant estimated that 85% percent of U.S. gamers have consumed Doritos in the past three months. But at the same time, nearly a third of individuals reported that other people’s crunching distracts them from playing well and impacts their performance.

To “help gamers keep the crunch to themselves,” Doritos is debuting what it calls “Doritos Silent.” Gamers download Doritos Crunch Cancellation software and when the technology is turned on, the software detects the crunching sounds and silences it while keeping the gamer's voice intact.

"The connection between Doritos fans and the gaming community is undeniable," Fernando Kahane, global marketing head at PepsiCo, said in a statement. "Both boldly and unapologetically embrace their individual flavors. 'Doritos Silent' recognizes this bond and demonstrates the brand's continued commitment to innovation and elevating the experience for gamers who choose Doritos."

The software, which took six months to develop, used artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze more than 5,000 different crunch sounds.

While much of PepsiCo’s focus is on creating snacks or beverages that resonate with fickle consumers, Doritos Silent serves to make consuming the chip and gaming more enjoyable. The hope for Doritos and PepsiCo, of course, is to remove a major source of frustration, making the chip a more attractive snacking option.

At the same time, it keeps the crunch for the person eating Doritos, which according to PepsiCo, is a major reason people enjoy it in the first place.

Gaming remains an incredibly popular activity. Roughly 213 million Americans, or 65% of the population, play at least one hour of video games each week, according to the Entertainment Software Association. DataProt estimates the $197 billion video game market has 3.25 million gamers worldwide.

Once known for its tagline “the ice cream of the future,” Dippin′ Dots-owner J&J Snack Foods is predicting a bright outlook for the popular beaded frozen product.

While the 35-year-old brand has since abandoned its familiar tagline in favor of “Taste the fun,” a top J&J executive said despite its age, there remains plenty of room to grow Dippin’ Dots sales by expanding its presence in existing retail channels and accelerating its pace of innovation.

“We have a lot of opportunity in front of us,” Lynwood Mallard, J&J’s chief marketing officer, said in an interview. “We’ve only just begun.”

Sales for Dippin’ Dots are “a little under” $30 million a quarter, according to J&J. The brand is posting double-digit growth behind the strength in popular flavors such as Cookies ‘n Cream, Rainbow Ice and Icee Cherry ‘n Blue Razz. During the past year, more than 70 million servings of Dippin' Dots have been sold.

Founder Curt Jones initially started using liquid nitrogen in the late 1980s to flash-freeze animal feed. He later brought the technology to his favorite treat, ice cream, and Dippin’ Dots was born. 

J&J, the owner of Icee and Slush Puppies, purchased Dippin’ Dots for $222 million last year, adding a strong consumer brand with a profitable, growing business that it could scale. At the time, J&J didn’t have an extensive ice cream offering so Dippin’ Dots helped build out the frozen novelty category for the company.

In acquiring Dippin’ Dots, J&J also added to its mix a brand that was an undisputable household name.

Dippin’ Dots has brand recognition of 97%, one of the largest in J&J’s portfolio and “significantly higher than its competition,” according to Mallard. Other key metrics, including consumers who intend to purchase Dippin’ Dots in the coming months or recommend it to others, are equally strong at 91% and 95%, respectively.

The brand’s primary competitor in the U.S. is Mini Melts, which focuses its presence at entertainment establishments like Dave and Busters, zoos and aquariums as well as convenience and drug stores. Sales, which are above $50 million, are growing 35% annually, according to Mini Melts’ CEO.

Dippin’ Dots is popular at sporting events and amusement parks. And while it has exposure in movie theaters — the brand is currently in about 25% of these locations — as well as family entertainment centers, these channels have significant room for further expansion, Mallard said. J&J is trying to collaborate with establishments that carry one of its other brands, such as Icee, Superpretzel and ¡Hola! Churros, to carry Dippin’ Dots, too.

“It’s an easy conversation to have,” Mallard said. “As we evolve and kind of mature and get better at cross-selling, Dippin’ Dots is a key component of that portfolio story.”

Convenience and grocery stores are areas where J&J sees more upside for the Dippin’ Dots brand. Currently, 13% of c-stores carry the brand, according to the company.

Not only could J&J explore getting its Dippin’ Dots single-serve cups and pouches into more locations, but the New Jersey company could consider new packaging formats, such as multipacks that consumers can take with them.

Mallard said the snacks maker is working on a new experience for consumers to enjoy Dippin’ Dots at home that would require a different temperature. He declined to provide details, but said “it’s a fascinating opportunity if we can get it right.” Any launch is more than a year away.

J&J’s optimistic outlook for the brand also hinges on a slew of other opportunities. It continues to see white spaces in seasonal offerings and new flavors. It recently launched Frozeti Dough flavor — a combination of sugar cookie flavored Dippin' Dots ice cream and pieces of both chocolate chip cookie dough and chocolate sandwich cookie dough — that was inspired by Frozeti the Yeti mascot.

At the same time, J&J is looking for ways to bring Dippin’ Dots together with other brands in its portfolio.

Just a few months after the Dippin’ Dots purchase closed, J&J partnered with its Icee brand to debut a Cherry ‘n Blue Razz flavor of the beaded ice cream, which has been one of its best-selling flavors to date. Mallard said “there is a lot of opportunity” for Dippin’ Dots to work with other brands in its portfolio, such as ¡Hola! Churros or Superpretzel.

In its annual ingredient trend forecasting report, ingredients giant ADM projected bold colors and flavors — along with a desire for affordability and wellness — will drive new products in the food and beverage space in 2024.

As technology evolves, ADM said AI-shaped aesthetics and viral food trends will continue to have a greater impact on flavors. This includes hedonistic tastes and products that reflect consumers’ values, such as sustainability.

The report said a desire for foods that are functional but don’t compromise on taste is so widespread that “health without stealth” is a baseline expectation for new products with consumers.

ADM’s projection of what flavors and ingredients consumers will gravitate toward next year is reflective of how wellness trends and economic hurdles are upending the traditional food and beverage space.

Higher prices on grocery shelves has put a greater focus on affordability for consumers. While inflation cooled somewhat in 2023, food at home prices increased 2.4% year-over-year in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent Consumer Price Index.

The report said the rise of premium private label products gives consumers the opportunity to indulge in foods that otherwise would have been too expensive. Moving from synthetic to natural colors can help foods mimic “authentic” flavors and tastes in new formats, ADM said.

Formulators can signal wellness properties in their products by using colors like pistachio green and floral pink, along with implementing better-for-you ingredients, according to the report. This includes fermented foods as consumers continue to prioritize gut health.

ADM said an interest in nutrition, as well as economic factors, are creating a greater interest in “authentic” and natural flavors — such as Asian and Mediterranean tastes like yuzu and blood orange. Bold colors, it said, also give formulators an opportunity to signal health and functionality in products.

Unconventional colors and tastes give those working on food and beverage products the opportunity to shock and surprise consumers looking for more unique sensations, according to the report. These include bold red, earthy green, rich purple and vibrant pink color palettes.

Rising interest in flavors from other cultures, along with evolving technology, is driving innovation at the biggest CPG ingredient companies. Ofi announced last month it developed a selection of cocoa pairings with Asian-inspired flavors using AI, including yuzu and lychee, to boost the citrus flavor profile in chocolate treats.

Israel’s latest war with Hamas is threatening to disrupt the country’s thriving startup culture in food technology. 

The country is home to an innovative and vast tech sector, including a fair share of food tech startups — Aleph Farms, Imagindairy and Future Meat Technologies to name a few. And while Israel has seen crises, each time the tech industry has shown resilience.

But the current situation is testing the “startup nation.” 

An alternative protein epicenter

Israel has become a leader in alternative protein production. The region has made more than $1 billion in venture capital investments in the space in the last two years, according to the Israeli Good Food Institute State of Alternative Protein report. In 2022 alone, Israeli alternative protein companies raised $454 million in funding. 

Tech is the biggest sector of the Israeli economy. But with schools closed and businesses shuttered, Tel Aviv — the center of the country’s tech business — looks a lot different from a few months ago. 

Between an increasingly difficult funding environment and key industry executives taken away from their everyday duties to join the IDF and support military personnel, it’s unclear if, and when, the category will recover from such upheaval. 

Palestine’s tech sector, which has been growing rapidly as well, is facing destruction as workers in the Gaza strip and West Bank are struggling to operate. For years, international companies have sought after tech workers in the region, leading to the birth of many startups as well. Nvidia, for example, has been an integral part of the AI boom and relied on the brainpower of engineers native to the Gaza strip, TechCrunch reported. 

“This has had a major impact on food tech companies. The country is at war, it’s as scary and I guess basic as that,” said Jonathan Morris, partner and co-leader of the Israel Practice and the Food and Agribusiness Practice at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner in an interview with Food Dive.“The companies themselves have employees who have been offered reserve duty, and some who are suffering bereavements, even some who will be in a hospital.”

Some food tech startups have delayed media announcements and launch dates, and FoodTech IL, an international conference held in Tel Aviv each fall to showcase Israeli food innovation, was postponed indefinitely. The conference was originally slated to start on Nov. 7th. 

Imagindairy — an Israeli food tech startup focusing on producing dairy products without the cow — recently had to delay a major announcement due to the situation unfolding at home. 

“The food industry, like many other industries, is going through a very challenging time here in Israel,”  Eyal Afergan, CEO and co-founder of Imagindairy, said in a statement to Food Dive.

“This is a devastating moment in our history.” 

The food tech space is not only an integral part of Israel’s economy, but is growing globally too. In 2022, the market size was $260 billion, according to research from Statistica. Advancing technologies as well as demand for healthier and safer food products is expected to grow the market to $360 billion by 2028.

Israel is second in alternative protein investments, with the U.S. ranking number one, according to the GFI report.

Though 2022 brought challenges to the space in the form of failures in global food supply, macroeconomic declines and geopolitical tensions, according to Nir Goldstein, CEO of GFI Israel, the tragic events that have unfolded in recent weeks may pose an even greater threat. 

Two degrees of separation

The Israeli region cultivates an environment suitable for funding as many executives in the space are familiar with each other, but this small population of executives means that an entire industry is affected when conflict erupts.

“That six degrees of separation that exists elsewhere is much smaller in Israel, probably one or two degrees,” said Morris. 

Where these two degrees of separation may be advantageous in the investing arena, it has put a burden on the industry in recent weeks. 

The Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner firm has an Israeli base, and 15 minutes prior to Food Dive’s interview with Morris, he received a call from one of his colleagues there. He was calling from a bomb shelter. 

Relying on resilience, companies are determined to keep business running smoothly, he said. 

It may be these two degrees of separation that can keep businesses, such as Future Meat Technologies and Aleph Farms, afloat over the course of the conflicts as there have been glimmers of hope from those in the sector. 

Staying afloat

In the wake of the devastating attacks, a restaurant kitchen in Tel Aviv was one of many that turned into a command center for churning out meals to more than 400,000 reservists, soldiers, and support personnel. Many of those within these groups are either the founders or employees of the Israel startup community. 

Omer Tal, for example, who is the head chef and culinary consultant for Redefine Meat — an Israeli food tech company making plant-based meat — served the vegan or “flexitarian” soldiers by bringing together a cohort of Israeli food tech startups, vegan food producers, and 100 volunteers and private chefs.

The initiative was able to produce 6,000 meals in just a week, according to a Redefine Meat spokesperson.

Additionally, a group of venture capital investors launched the Frontline Initiative — an effort to connect early-stage startups in Israel with investors who can provide emergency capital and other resources. Early stage companies must have one founder actively serving in the Israeli Defense Force, previously raised at least $100,000 in funding and have one or more customers based in the U.S. to qualify for funding.

The Israel Innovation Authority, the support arm of the Israeli government, recently established a fund of $25 million to help 100 tech startups, including food companies. Relief will be given to businesses dealing with cash flow difficulties, as well as media announcement delays and cancelations. 

“Israel will continue to be a hub for food tech, and will maintain that strong interest and focus in the sector,” said Morris on how lasting an impact the conflicts will have. “The truth is, we really don’t know.”

Whole Foods Market forecasted a trend of more companies putting the “plant” back in plant-based products, the grocer announced earlier this month in their 2024 predictions report. 

With a focus on protein content, more plant-based products are using ingredients like mushrooms, walnuts, tempeh and legumes in place of complex meat alternatives. Plant-based milks are following suit as well as some brands pump out products with just two ingredients, the report said.

The plant-based category has faced criticism in recent years, with many consumers growing confused about what classifies a product to be “plant-based,” and whether or not it is healthy.

Leaders in the plant-based category like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods have run with the strategy of creating a product that mimics the real thing. 

However their recent sales have shown that this strategy may be losing steam with consumers. Beyond Meat, for example, saw its revenue plummet by almost a third last quarter and the company said there was a “considerable gap between the strong health credentials of our products and a broader color narrative that is now a foot, and this gap appears to have widened.” 

The second ingredient listed in the El Segundo, California-based company’s popular Beyond Beef patty is expeller-pressed canola oil — which contains trans fats that have been linked to health problems. The product also contains pea protein, rice protein, natural flavors, potato starch and sunflower lecithin. The Impossible burger starts with soy protein concentrate, and has other ingredients like inflammatory sunflower oil and modified food starch. 

According to the Whole Foods report, an increasing amount of shoppers are looking for recognizable ingredients in the items they buy.

Brands like Actual Veggies and Meati sell products that align with this trend, according to the report. 

Actual Veggie’s Green Burger features ingredients like broccoli, kale, yellow onion and white bean and oats, while having a relatively high protein content. And Meati’s Carne Asada Steaks uses ingredients like mushroom root, salt and fruit juice for color. 

Even some plant-based milk brands are moving away from trying to emulate the same creamy texture of dairy milk and focusing on clean ingredients. The Whole Foods report pointed to Three Seeds almond milk, which only contains two ingredients, almonds and water. Bigger companies selling plant-based milk alternatives like Oatly have an “oat base” of oats and water with added ingredients like rapeseed oil.

Like Beyond and Impossible, Oatly is facing headwinds as they reported net losses of $75.6 million last quarter, citing supply chain issues.

An increasing amount of smaller brands in the plant-based space have popped up in recent years, many of which tout themselves as only using healthy, clean ingredients. The report listed Abbot, Atlantic Sea Farm, Smallhold, among others in offering items that fit this emerging consumer interest.

Thanks to Mother Nature, fruits and vegetables have a “peel” which protects the delicate insides from drying out and rotting. 

Boston startup Foodberry is mimicking the work of Mother Nature by creating barriers for foods like hummus, coffee, ice cream, yogurt and peanut butter and jelly via coatings of fibers, phytonutrients, and minerals made through design principles and natural chemistries found in fruit skins and peels, the company said. 

The food tech company began when CEO Marty Kolewe was taking courses at Harvard University. His professor, David Edwards, presented the idea of reverse engineering fruit skin to create edible packaging. Together, the pair co-founded Incredible Foods, which is now known as Foodberry.

The company has a portfolio of 20-plus patents around these membranes, and Kolewe recently told Axios that they plan to close a Series A funding round of $15 million by the end of 2023. 

Already working with companies like NadaMoo! And Keji for their ice cream and yogurt products, the company is looking to partner with more brands to develop new food forms. The company showcased items at the New York Summer Fancy Food Show that included peanut butter wrapped in a raspberry coating and yogurt in a blueberry shell.

How it works: 

The peels of many fruits and vegetables are rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. But besides the health benefits, they are also protective — preventing browning and making the food within last longer. 

Today, many consumers are frequently on-the-go, creating a higher demand for convenient foods that are easy, portable and highly craveable, the company said. 

However, many of these snacks that do have long shelf life are made with preservatives, as manufacturers often add excess amounts of salt and fat to keep food fresh for a longer period of time. 

The berry “skins” are the key part of Foodberry’s technology. This technology applies two concepts — microencapsulation, which is when active substances are coated by small capsules; and controlled release, which is when substances are released at a programmed rate — and uses them with food materials. 

As a result, Foodberry creates edible, non-permeable, plant-based coatings from fruit and vegetable fibers that are meant to replace wasteful packaging such as plastic. 

The hummus product is covered in a skin made from the fibers of roasted red peppers and the ice cream product has a range of coatings — including mango, orange creme, peanut butter, mint, and salted caramel.

The median VC deal size in the food tech category declined for the first time in seven years to $3 million in the second quarter of 2023, a 12.4% decline from 2022, according to a PitchBook report.

The decline in the average deal size contrasted with an increase in the number of investments. There were 268 deals in the second quarter, up 13.1% quarter over quarter, the report said. 

The increase in deal count for the quarter may indicate a return of investment activity after a pause due to the Silicon Valley Bank closure in March, the report said. However, the increase may “reflect a new, more careful paradigm at play,” particularly within the emerging fermented protein category.

An increasing number of startups gained attention from early-stage investors in recent months, the report said, mostly in the fermented protein space.

The discovery and review segment logged the largest quarterly increase in deal count, climbing 40%, the report said.

Early-stage startups in the fermented protein space saw the largest increase in value, climbing 65.5% quarter over quarter from the second quarter of 2022. The category is quickly coming up with innovative methods to scale, making the space desirable for venture capitalists, accordingt to Pitchbook.

In August, Scotland-based mycoprotein maker Enough raised $43.6 million in order to double the production of Abunda, a replacement for meat made from fungi. 

The company has also seen the benefits of collaboration. Unilever, for example, is one of its customers and plans to test Enough’s Abunda product in its European Vegetarian Butcher products. 

The cultivated meat category, on the other hand, is in need of further VC funding and collaboration if it wants to become profitable, the report said. 

Among the biggest developments in the food tech space recently occurred in June when the USDA issued grants of inspection to Eat Just and Upside Foods. This allowed these companies to commercialize cultivated meat in the U.S. market.

Despite this advancement, the industry must overcome the challenges of its early stages — mostly scalability, consumer acceptance and cost — if it wants to thrive, according to the report. The development of larger production vessels and lowering the cost of cell-growing feed also needs to happen for the space to become profitable, but these processes have a hefty price tag.

These challenges could potentially make businesses in this sector more dependent on raising cash to fund their operations.

Collaboration with traditional meat companies, such as JBS, Tyson Foods and Cargill “could hold the key to a profitable and sustainable future for cultivated meat,” the report said, but consumer acceptance must be addressed in order for more of these deals to happen.

The environment is hardly favorable for companies looking to raise cash.

With interest rates at their highest level in years, it’s more costly than ever to borrow money. Some banks are being more cautious to whom they lend money. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank earlier this year removed a player that was known to work with young companies.At the same time, venture capitalists are being more selective in what they invest in.

Over the last 90 years, global population and food production have grown exponentially, however total agricultural land has remained static, putting pressure on the food system to produce more food with fewer resources. The demand for food is expected to further increase by 60% by 2050, thus exacerbating the pressure on food production.

But there are five emerging food technologies that could help the world get to where it needs to be to transform the system. 

1. Cellular agriculture

New research from think-tank Planet Tracker has shown that the global food system accounts for a third of greenhouse gas emissions and endangers 86% of species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The animal protein sector is a major contributor to this impact. However, emerging food technologies make it possible to cultivate meat without the need for traditional livestock farming.

Cellular agriculture is one such technology, which involves using cell cultures to produce animal products such as meat, milk, and eggs without the need for animals. This process involves taking a small sample of animal cells and using them to grow muscle tissue, which can then be used to produce meat, or milk and egg proteins for dairy and egg products. 

The benefits of cellular agriculture are numerous. For one, it can be much more sustainable than traditional agriculture practices. It uses less land, water, and energy, and produces less greenhouse gas emissions, which can help combat climate change. Additionally, it eliminates the need for animal husbandry, making the process far more efficient, and reduces the risks of foodborne illness. 

Early adopters of the technology include Perfect Day and their animal-free dairy products, and UPSIDE Foods and Eat Just (GOOD Meat). The latter companies were just fully authorized to sell their chicken products to consumers in the US. Widespread adoption, however, is still some way off. Lab-grown meat is currently more expensive to produce than traditional meat and it will likely take time for costs to fall. Additionally, there are regulatory and social barriers, including concerns about safety and ethical implications of so-called “lab-grown meat.” 

Regulators in the US and Singapore are already supporting the production of cultivated meat, with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) giving a ‘no questions’ verdict as to its safety for humans. Governments in the Netherlands, Japan and Norway have also committed significant investment into its research. With continued research and endorsement from regulators it is expected that the technology will become more socially acceptable.

2. Plant-based meat alternatives

Plant-based meat products are becoming increasingly popular as more consumers seek out meat alternatives. These products are made by using a variety of plant-based ingredients, such as proteins from peas, soy, or wheat, combined with other ingredients to create a meat-like texture and flavor. 

Companies such as Redefine Meat and Juicy Marbles are using 3D printing techniques and assembly technology to create plant-based products that mimic the texture and fat marbling that characterise animal meats. 

3. Transforming food waste

An estimated 40% of worldwide food produced goes to waste. This is not only an ethical issue, but also causes negative environmental impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions.

Anaerobic digestion technology can transform food waste into valuable resources. This process involves placing organic waste in an oxygen-free environment, where it breaks down and produces biogas that can be used for energy. The remaining material can be used as a nutrient-rich fertilizer.

Another emerging technology is upcycling, which uses food waste to create new food products. This can involve turning fruit and vegetable scraps into nutritious powders, or creating new food products from imperfect or used produce that would otherwise go to waste. 

EverGrain, an AB InBev company, is upcycling spent barley grain, a byproduct from the beer brewing process, to extract the protein, fiber and other nutrients and turn them into a range of food products.

Another innovator, Reencle, manufactures household composters that combine heat, humidity and ventilation to break down food waste into nutrient-rich compost – used to fertilize plants and gardens. The composting process is fully contained within the unit and can be completed within 2 hours. 

4. Smart packaging

Smart packaging technology has the power to monitor, record and communicate information about the contents of the package. Technologies include: time-temperature indicators, providing information on the temperature history of a product; freshness sensors which monitor factors impacting the quality of food such as oxygen and carbon dioxide levels; and lastly, active packaging, containing active substances such as antimicrobial agents to help preserve it. 

These technologies can help extend the shelf life of food products and reduce waste, whilst improving food safety and consumer experience. One such smart packaging technology which is on the market already is edible straws by a Spanish company, Sorbos.

5. Precision agriculture

Precision agriculture, also known as smart farming, involves the use of sensors, drones, and other technologies to collect data on soil conditions, crop growth, and other factors that impact agriculture. This data can be used to optimize crop production, reduce waste, and increase efficiency.

There are a range of technologies to support precision agriculture such as self-driving tractors and machines being developed by John Deere, and software platforms allowing farmers to make more informed decisions about their crop management. 

Promising solutions

These emerging technologies offer promising solutions to some of the most pressing challenges facing the food industry today. 

As the technologies become better researched and developed, they will become more accessible and affordable through scale efficiencies – transforming the way we produce, distribute, and consume food. This will reduce waste from the food system and help meet growing demand in a way that is ethical and environmentally friendly.

 

In the year since OpenAI debuted ChatGPT, generative artificial intelligence (AI) has captivated trend watchers across advertising, technology and culture at large. Among consumer brands, the generative AI charge has been led by one of the industry’s most storied names, Coca-Cola. In just nine months, the beverage giant has applied the technology in a variety of ways, creating one of the year’s best campaigns and showing a way forward for other brands in 2024 and beyond.

While many brands were on the sidelines watching the AI arms race at the start of 2023, Coke was quick to take advantage of a partnership between management consultancy Bain & Company and OpenAI to launch its “Create Real Magic” platform. Since then, the marketer has used the technology for a number of digital and experiential channels, with a recent campaign that took advantage of the buzz around the Las Vegas Sphere.

Marketing Dive spoke with Selman Careaga, president of the global Coca‑Cola category, about the soft drink giant’s partnership ecosystem, the launch of the AI-assisted Y3000 flavor as part of Coke’s ongoing Creations platform dedicated to limited-run products and how the company uses generative AI for both consumer-facing and internal tasks.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

MARKETING DIVE: Coca-Cola was the first company to sign up for the Bain-OpenAI offering. What role has it played in your efforts this year and how does it relate to your other agencies?

SELMAN CAREAGA: First of all, it’s a partnership. For us, it’s not partnering with one or the other: We have a team of agencies and partners that we tap into. It’s a blurred world now. Bain is a consulting firm, OpenAI is a leader in the technology space. Then you have the WPP agencies, who are also in a fast-forward world trying to create digital experiences.

It’s an ecosystem of people that we partner with and that is the way to move forward, creating things that are a platform versus in the past where you would just get one agency, develop the platform, it would take months and then you learn from that and pitch some other ideas. Today, the world is more flexible in that regard.

We started with “Create Real Magic” using Bain and OpenAI, and we learned from that. We were very excited with our results. More than 120,000 pieces of content were posted and people were interacting with the platform for more than seven minutes. We took those learnings and we selected the 20 top creators out of that platform and in the summer we met with them [at the Real Magic Academy] to discuss how we could improve that as we move forward.

How did Coke’s AI experiments culminate with the Christmas campaign?

CAREAGA:  What you are seeing now for Christmas is a result of what we learned on the platform, mostly around how people can interact in an easier way that’s more exciting. We believe we’ve made a platform now that is much more people-friendly to create a Christmas card that they can share with loved ones using Bain and OpenAI. 

When we think of our ecosystem of agencies that we work with, of course, we partner with WPP mostly. The gist of that Christmas idea — the world needs more Santas — came from partnering with WPP, especially VMLY&R, as part of their agency network. Within that, we had a piece of video content and we are coming up with two short films that will be streamed. We’re tapping into the streaming world now as well; we learned from last year that it’s a way for us to connect in a different way with people. 

You mentioned the Real Magic Academy. How is generative AI affecting how Coke looks at the role of creators?

CAREAGA: You start with the experts first. You learn how they use that technology, how they interact with the assets that Coca-Cola has and then how to take it to a more mainstream, scalable experience, which is now what we’ve done with Christmas. I don’t think it's just about using AI and AI replacing everything that we do, because we feel that AI is a tool to get faster, better insights. The [human intelligence] component is critical. For us, HI is as important as AI. 

How is generative AI helping Coke meet its needs around personalization at scale?

CAREAGA: In the past, you would create some piece of content or a quiz or a great Christmas ad and hope people like it. Today, with the Christmas card as an example, it’s a two-way street in terms of how we engage with people and allow people to play with such an iconic brand as Coca-Cola. That’s a big shift from how we would do things, especially the Christmas season, in the past. Now we have a platform that allows people to interact with the brand in different, highly scalable ways. 

Everything that we do, we always respect the values that Coca-Cola has stood by for the 137 years of its existence, whether it’s authenticity, optimism, uplifting and inviting people to have small moments of happiness. We always start with that angle and whether it’s a tool, a technology or an experience, it has to live up to those brand values that we’ve always had. As we move forward, we’ll continue to respect the values but try to experiment and learn from these technologies as well.

Can you tell me about how AI was used throughout the launch of Y3000?

CAREAGA: Y3000 is our eighth iteration of Coca-Cola Creations. With Creations, it’s not about a new product or a limited-time offer on the shelf, it’s really about creating experiences that tap into the digital world and the live world. 

For us to come up with a new formula takes quite a bit of time. I can guarantee that we were discussing how to work with AI even before it became such a hot topic. The intent was to use AI and HI to understand how people think of the future: the emotions, the color, the flavors, the taste. We used those insights and then we worked with our R&D team and they came up with a formula for Y3000. 

Once the product was launched, the Sphere represented a very unique opportunity to use probably the most innovative out-of-home space that you have today in the world and use it in a way that could not only create amazing visuals, but let people interact with our Y3000 platform via a QR code that’s creating a lot of engagement.

How is Coca-Cola balancing using AI for internal and external marketing applications moving forward?

CAREAGA: We see it from both angles, including people-facing experiences or content that we can create — Y3000 and Create Real Magic are just a couple of examples, and hopefully next year, you’ll see some other exciting stuff coming up that we’re working on. But in the background, in our internal world of design and our processes, we’re tapping into it, whether it’s research or analytics that can create better insights in a faster, more relevant way. We can use AI as a tool together with our human insights team to come up with more relevant ideas we can work with. 

With everybody starting to do an AI project, we now have a team that understands the partners we’re working with and how we can filter everything AI-related. That’s something that we did not have in the past. It allows us to create more synergies. 

As long as we feel that we can create something that people can engage with and create a good experience for our brands, we will definitely continue to use the tool. If we can make something faster and use better insights as well, I think we’ll continue to use that tool.

By the end of the decade, many food companies will face deadlines for their emissions reductions goals. The race to invest in sustainable technology in the next few years could significantly decrease emissions, experts at sustainability nonprofit Ceres said.

In its latest report, the organization detailed how producers can use strategic investments to drive down their carbon footprints, and pointed to industry players already doing so.

Manufacturers are making their supply chains more sustainable, but they aren't investing enough in the growth of these efforts, said Meryl Richards, Ceres’ acting program director.

“We wanted to look at how they are planning for the next phase of emissions reductions, beyond available practices, because there are some sources like enteric methane, like nitrous oxide from fertilizer, that are a little bit more difficult to address and will require technological innovation,” Richards said.

Ceres highlighted The 100+ Accelerator — an accelerator program launched by big names like AB InBev, Coca-Cola and Unilever — to test agricultural solutions that could help the industry meet its climate targets. According to the program’s website, it gives up to $100,000 to startups to implement tech equipment in the food industry.

Technology that lowers methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is a key part of the equation. This could include feed additives that naturally reduce methane, the report said. The Ceres report called attention to Ben & Jerry’s use of additives made with red seaweed, which the company claimed could cut emissions from cows by 82%.

For food producers who work with livestock, Ceres pointed to methane-capturing wearable devices for cattle which convert cows’ gas into water and carbon dioxide. Zelp, a startup that is piloting the tech, has received funding from dairy giant Danone and has a partnership with agriculture giant Cargill. Vaccines for cattle, which could help the animals produce antibodies that target methane-producing microbes, is another solution companies should explore, Ceres said.

Putting their money where their mouth is 

Venture capital investments in food tech, which have stalled in the food space in recent years amid an uncertain economy,can provide manufacturers with new ways to drive down their emissions, according to the report.

Ceres highlighted CPG venture capital arms — such as Tyson Ventures, ADM Ventures and General Mills’ 301 Inc. — as investing in startups that can help provide solutions for the farmers in their supply chain.

The report’s focus on methane emanating from livestock draws attention to the meat sector, but Richards said investing in new efforts in the agricultural space can help producers across the industry lower their emissions.

“There are innovations going on to address emissions from fertilizer, with new green ammonia fertilizer, and then there's quite a bit of research going on around perennial grains, which would require less fertilizer and also have deeper root systems to potentially sequester more carbon,” Richards said.

These nanofertilizers could reduce the application of fertilizers, and the associated lost nutrients on farms, by 20%, Ceres said in the report.

Another effort Ceres detailed in its report is an experimental way of producing renewable energy on farms known as agrivoltaics. It involves planting crops beneath solar panels and incorporating the panels into livestock pastures. The nonprofit said this practice could nearly eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from a farm’s energy use when paired with electric tractors and other equipment.

The potential for greater tech investments should be part of a multi-pronged strategy as food producers tackle their emissions, according to Ceres.

“There’s a number of companies that are connecting in-house R&D, doing pilot tests, or otherwise supporting market development,” Richards said. “There’s also advocacy that they can do, assuring that their lobbying is aligned with research that needs to be happening.”