The Year AI Stopped Being Optional: 9 Brands That Turned Hype Into Hard Results

9 Global Brands That Doubled Down on AI in 2025: Results and Strategies

Unilever Cuts Production Costs by 87%, Klarna Boosts Content Output by 600%…Disney Bets $1 Billion on OpenAI

In 2025, generative AI became more than just an option for global enterprises—it transformed into a core tool for business and marketing infrastructure. Some companies integrated AI into their AdTech and media stacks, while others leveraged it as a creative engine to breathe new life into legacy campaigns. One company rode its AI marketing momentum to a successful IPO, and several forged strategic partnerships with major AI players including OpenAI.

The most symbolic shift occurred in Hollywood. In December, Disney announced a $1 billion investment in OpenAI and agreed to license more than 200 characters—a historic turning point marking major studios' transition from blocking AI startups to embracing full-scale collaboration.

Of course, uncomfortable questions about the "human cost" of going all-in on automation followed. From Coca-Cola to Klarna, Unilever, Duolingo, and Intuit, here's an in-depth analysis of nine companies that transformed AI innovation into tangible results in 2025, based on Adweek's reporting.

1. Unilever: Digital Twins Cut Content Production Costs by 87%

Unilever continued to make generative AI a core infrastructure for marketing and content operations in 2025, expanding its "Digital Twin" strategy to an enterprise-wide level. Chief Growth and Marketing Officer Esi Eggleston Bracey explained that the company has adopted NVIDIA Omniverse-based workflows to build digital replicas of product images for major brands including Dove, Vaseline, and TRESemmé.

A digital twin is a single 3D/digital object file containing all product variants, labels, packaging, and language versions. This enables Unilever to instantly generate and combine product images via AI for TV, digital, and e-commerce channels.

Key Results:

• TRESemmé Thailand campaign: Content production costs down 87%, production speed 2x faster, purchase intent up 5%
• Beauty & Wellbeing division: Up to 55% cost reduction, 65% faster production time, 2x click-through rate, 3x attention time

"We've transformed what used to be a slow, complex shooting and production process into a single marketing system," Bracey emphasized. "Now teams can focus their energy on bigger ideas and creativity instead of repetitive tasks."

Unilever currently operates more than 500 AI applications across marketing, R&D, and supply chain, serving as a pillar of its "Growth Action Plan 2030" for core brands including Dove, Vaseline, Axe, and Hellmann's.

2. Mattel: Partnering with OpenAI to Prepare for the Toy Industry's AI Future

Global toy company Mattel, known for Hot Wheels and Barbie, officially signed a strategic partnership with OpenAI in June 2025, accelerating the AI transformation of the toy industry. The two sides had been in discussions since 2024, and this agreement gives Mattel priority and expanded access to OpenAI's latest generative AI models and tools, including ChatGPT Enterprise.

OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap noted, "Mattel gains cutting-edge AI capabilities through its collaboration with OpenAI that will boost both productivity and creativity while driving enterprise-wide transformation."

Key Point: Mattel designed the collaboration to maintain full creative and usage control over its IP like Barbie and Hot Wheels, while applying AI internally. OpenAI does not have rights to use Mattel's existing stories, characters, or content as training data, nor to independently create or distribute content based on Mattel IP. This has been recognized as a compromise model that "protects IP ownership while actively leveraging AI."

At the November 2025 MIPCOM keynote, Mattel Chief Franchise Officer Josh Silverman declared, "Mattel is no longer staying as a company that sells toys, but is evolving into an IP powerhouse that provides continuous 'play experiences' to children and families."

📎 Related Link: Mattel-OpenAI Partnership Announcement

3. Duolingo: The Results and Debate Around 'AI-First' Strategy

Language learning app Duolingo declared in an April internal memo that it would transform into an 'AI-first' organization. Co-founder and CEO Luis von Ahn emphasized, "AI is already changing how we work. This is not a question of 'if' or 'when'—it's a change happening right now."

Von Ahn stated firmly, "AI is not just a productivity tool." Providing good educational services requires vast amounts of learning content, but economies of scale are impossible with the traditional approach of editors and content creators building everything manually.

Key Results:

• Same team producing 4-5x more content
• AI-generated content: 425 pieces in 2021 → approximately 7,500 pieces in 2024
• Q2 revenue of $252.3 million (exceeding market expectations)
• Annual revenue guidance raised to $1.01-1.02 billion
• Zero full-time employee layoffs (5 months after AI-first announcement)

At the Fast Company Innovation Festival, von Ahn repeatedly stated, "The goal is not simply cost reduction. The goal is not to replace human employees, but to do much more work with slightly more people."

Key AI-first projects include Lily, an AI conversation agent that lets users practice speaking through video calls, chess lesson content, and in-app AI-generated stories and practice problems.

4. Klarna: The Fintech Success Story That Achieved IPO Through AI

Founded in Stockholm, Sweden in 2005, Klarna is a global fintech platform that integrates payments, lending, and shopping experiences centered on "Buy Now Pay Later" (BNPL).

On September 11, 2025, Klarna listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), becoming a representative case that reignited the sluggish global fintech IPO market. On its first day of trading, the stock price rose approximately 15%, and the market assigned a valuation of approximately $15-20 billion.

CMO David Sandstrom said, "When we first adopted AI, honestly it was closer to a 'party trick.' By 2025, AI is at the center of Klarna's daily operations—the core engine driving virtually every process from customer review analysis to ad campaign design and creative production."

Key Results:

• Productivity foundation enabling approximately $1 million revenue per employee
• Marketing spending down approximately 11-12% year-over-year
• Marketing asset output up to 600% increase after adopting AI-based content production
• Gross merchandise value (GMV) of approximately $25.3 billion, leading the global BNPL market

Klarna signed a strategic alliance with Google to strengthen AI capabilities and actively adopted generative and multimodal AI tools including Nano Banana, Gemini, and Veo3.

5. Cali BBQ: Creative AI Application by a Small Restaurant Brand

When you call California barbecue chain CaliBBQ to order ribs, it's no longer restaurant owner Shawn Walchef who takes your order—it's AI agent "Shawn," trained on his voice and speech patterns.

Ahead of Father's Day 2025, CaliBBQ conducted an experiment deploying Shawn AI, built with AI startup Palona's "Restaurant AI" technology.

Father's Day Results:

• Revenue up 18% year-over-year ($26,000, 268 orders)
• Walk-in takeout orders up 92% year-over-year (all processed through AI agent)
• Table turnover time reduced by nearly 50%
• Support inquiries down approximately 25% year-over-year
• "Apology discounts" down 10%

Walchef emphasizes, "There's a lot of talk about AI agents and robots replacing humans, but for us, this is about extending hospitality."

The experiment continued through Thanksgiving season. During this period, net sales increased approximately 7%, order cancellations decreased 45%, and the share of phone orders processed by AI increased 17%.

6. General Motors: AI Marketing Transformation for a 115-Year-Old Company

When General Motors (GM) launched its marketing overhaul in early 2024, the team's first agreed principle was clear: AI must be at the center of the transformation that will redefine the next decade.

Molly Peck, then CMO of Buick and GMC, was appointed Chief Transformation Officer, tasked with redesigning GM's content strategy, agency relationships, and entire marketing operating model.

In June 2024, GM brought in Monks as its "orchestration partner" to begin building a new creative supply chain with AI at its core. GM's solution to this challenge is the custom AI platform "Metropolis."

Key Results:

• Average double-digit percentage production cost reduction depending on campaign and format
• AI-generated creative "performing equal to or better than human-made creative in many cases"

Peck explains, "Previously, we couldn't have afforded to shoot simultaneously in Monaco and Denver. Now we can achieve hyper-relevance tailored to specific audiences and local contexts."

Currently, GM and Monks are producing a Chevrolet AI-generated ad with the entire process—from insights to scriptwriting, casting (including synthetic personas), directing, and post-production—implemented as an agentic workflow.

7. Intuit: Going AI-First from the Inside

Thomas Ranese, who joined Intuit in December 2024 after stints at Google, Chobani, and Uber, stated, "We are at our core an AI company."

Over the past two years, AI has reshaped products across Intuit's flagship brands: TurboTax, QuickBooks, Credit Karma, and Mailchimp.

In September, Intuit launched "Marketing Studio," an in-house generative AI tool. It can generate entire campaigns—from brief to creative to CRM strategy—in under an hour. Previously, this required up to three weeks of manual work.

Key Results:

• 83% of all 18,200 employees using AI in their work (adoption rate up 60% over 9 months)
• Campaign conversion rates up approximately 10% with Marketing Studio
• Social performance team click-through rate up 38%
• Search team content planning time reduced by 90%
• Sales team productivity up 25%

Ranese added, "We're now at a cultural inflection point with technology. Now we're moving fast on how to internalize it."

8. Coca-Cola: AI Advertising That Proved Results Beyond Controversy

On November 3, Coca-Cola unveiled its AI-powered holiday campaign "Refresh Your Holidays," reinterpreting its Christmas campaign tradition of over 30 years in a new way.

WPP Open X led production with VML as lead agency, and AI specialist studios including Silverside AI and Secret Level participated.

Coca-Cola's AI holiday ad drew criticism when first revealed in 2024—"soulless," "creepy." Yet Coca-Cola doubled down on AI again in 2025.

Key Result: Research firm Kantar ranked Coca-Cola's 2024 AI Christmas ad as #1 globally among Christmas campaigns across all categories (based on brand-building effectiveness).

Pratik Thakar, Global VP and Head of Generative AI, stated, "It's true there was criticism from the industry about visual quality, but consumer data showed this campaign was one of the most effective holiday ads. Because it worked from a business perspective, we gained motivation to keep moving forward."

• A Holiday Memory

9. Disney: $1 Billion Investment in OpenAI, Hollywood's First Major AI Deal

Disney is taking storytelling into uncharted territory. On December 11, the media giant announced a historic partnership investing $1 billion in OpenAI and licensing its characters to Sora, OpenAI's short-form video platform launched in September.

As part of the three-year agreement, starting early 2026, Sora and ChatGPT Images will support "fan-inspired" video creation using more than 200 Disney characters including Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, Lilo & Stitch, and Moana. Some videos created with Sora will be featured as officially curated content on Disney+.

This deal represents the first large-scale IP licensing agreement between a Hollywood major studio and a generative AI company—a symbolic moment marking the transition from "blocking" to "partnership" in studio-AI startup relations.

Disney CEO Bob Iger stated, "The rapid advancement of AI is a significant moment for our industry. Through collaboration with OpenAI, we will thoughtfully and responsibly expand the scope of storytelling."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman emphasized, "This agreement demonstrates how AI companies and creative leaders can work together responsibly to foster innovation that benefits society, respect the importance of creativity, and help work reach vast new audiences."

Conclusion: Lessons from 2025 and Outlook for 2026

The AI moves by entertainment and tech companies in 2025 left behind a clear proposition: "AI is no longer an add-on feature, but the operating system itself for content and platform businesses."

First, ROI has been proven in numbers. Unilever's 87% cost reduction, Klarna's 600% content output increase, CaliBBQ's 18% revenue increase, and GM's double-digit production cost savings show that AI must now speak the language of the P&L, not experimentation.

Second, the winning strategy is "AI + Human." GM's model of "agencies create big ideas, AI handles production" and Duolingo's "4-5x productivity increase with zero layoffs" demonstrate that organizational acceptance increases when AI is designed as an augmentation layer rather than a workforce reduction tool.

Third, what changes the game is major IP and platform partnerships. The Mattel-OpenAI and Disney-OpenAI deals are evolving beyond simple SaaS contracts into strategic alliances interweaving content IP, user data, and new product roadmaps.

Fourth, the agency and production ecosystem has entered structural reorganization. With S4 Capital estimating that "65% of the work agencies get paid for today could be automated," both traditional agency pyramid structures and tech company sales/service organizations face unavoidable fundamental redesign.

Fifth, controversy doesn't mean failure. Despite harsh criticism of being "creepy," Coca-Cola ranked #1 globally in the Kantar survey, and Disney pivoted from aggressive opposition to a $1 billion partnership. Ultimately, what drives strategy is quantitative performance metrics.

[Outlook] CES 2026 Launches 'CES Foundry,' a Dedicated Space for AI and Quantum Computing

The Era of "Made with AI" Headlines Is Over…Now It's Time to Prove Real Results

The real-world experience and results that global companies accumulated by going all-in on AI in 2025 now carry forward to a new stage in 2026. The most notable change at CES 2026 is the launch of CES Foundry.

Located at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas hotel, this space is designed as a dedicated community for next-generation technology innovation including AI, quantum computing, and blockchain. Unlike the gadget exhibitions at the main convention center, Foundry focuses on enterprise-level technology application and practical business transformation.

The Dawn of the 'Agentic AI' Era

The core keyword of this year's Foundry is Agentic AI—spotlighting an era where AI agents that autonomously judge and execute are integrated across enterprise operations, going beyond simple AI tools.

Wesley ter Haar of Monks emphasized, "2026 marks the transition away from the era when 'made with AI' was the headline, to an era of discerning whether AI actually creates margin and momentum." Referencing the McDonald's Netherlands AI Christmas ad controversy, he analyzed, "Curiosity about AI's novelty is now being replaced by discernment."

Key Program Highlights

Wednesday, January 7 - Key Sessions

Thursday, January 8 - Key Sessions

Key Speakers and Companies

Michael Kratsios - Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), discussing U.S. AI policy direction and global leadership strategy.

Daniel Danker - Walmart executive, sharing AI use cases from the world's largest retailer.

Wesley ter Haar - Monks representative, demonstrating agentic AI workflows and marketing automation solutions.

Participating Companies

NVIDIA, AWS, Microsoft, Meta, AMD, PwC, Deloitte, EY, McKinsey, Quantinuum, Hitachi, Bosch, IBM, and more

Quantum Computing Enters Commercialization Phase

Foundry also focuses on the commercialization of quantum computing. Quantinuum will showcase quantum-AI convergence technology through sessions on "AI + Quantum: Unlocking the Next Era of Scientific and Industrial Breakthroughs" and "Building the Full-Stack Quantum Future." D-Wave will demonstrate live business applications of quantum computing.

Implications for Korean Companies

CES Foundry presents a significant opportunity for Korean companies. In particular, it can serve as a space where Korean startups in Physical AI and robotics can validate their technology on the global stage. The "Big Bang of General Robotics" session co-presented by NVIDIA and Accenture is a key program that Korean Physical AI startups should watch.

Additionally, agentic AI-based marketing automation and content localization technologies are emerging as core infrastructure that can accelerate the global spread of Hallyu (Korean Wave) content.

2026: AI Strategy Moves from 'Pilot' to 'Operating System'

At CES 2026 and major tech conference agendas, agentic platforms—where multiple agents interact and automatically execute processes—are being introduced as a core trend, going beyond simple chatbots and copilots.

The full agentic workflows that leading AI companies are already implementing—systems spanning from "insights → brief → creative production → media execution/targeting → reporting/relearning"—are likely to become the default operating model for marketing, commerce, and content organizations from 2026 onward.

As the Disney-OpenAI deal foreshadows, once the structure where fans worldwide create AI videos using Disney characters—with some being incorporated as official content on streaming platforms—becomes reality starting early 2026, the democratization of content creation and UGC-IP convergence will enter an entirely new dimension.

The remaining question is no longer whether to adopt the technology.

Which AI, cloud, chip, and model partners will you join hands with?What KPIs will you use to define success?And how quickly will you redesign execution, organization, and compensation structures?

The success or failure of entertainment and tech companies' 2026 AI strategies will be determined not by the technology itself, but by the speed and depth of this redesign.

CES Foundry Overview

• Dates: January 7-8, 2026 (Wed-Thu)
• Venue: Fontainebleau Las Vegas, Level 4, Azure Ballroom
• Main Stages: Breakthrough Stage, Discovery Stage
• Sponsors: IBM, JobsOhio, Vector
• More Information: CES Official Website

Sources

• ADWEEK, December 22, 2025: "9 Brands That Doubled Down On AI in 2025"
• ADWEEK, March 18, 2025: "Unilever's CMO Says AI is Cutting Product Shoot Costs by 50%"
• ADWEEK, June 12, 2025: "Mattel Brings AI Into the Toy Room With OpenAI Deal"
• ADWEEK, September 11, 2025: "Klarna CMO Says AI Is Driving Marketing Strategy as It Makes Trading Debut"
• ADWEEK, October 8, 2025: "GM Pops the Hood On Its AI Marketing Transformation"
• ADWEEK, December 11, 2025: "Disney Invests $1B in OpenAI, Will Bring Its Characters to Sora"
• CES Official Website (https://www.ces.tech)