Jon Halvorson, Mondelez’s global senior vice president of consumer experience, revealed that the Mondelez AI Marketing platform delivers significant cost savings compared to traditional video production. While conventional animation can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, AI-generated content costs are “orders of magnitude smaller,” reshaping the economics of advertising campaigns.
The Mondelez AI Marketing strategy tackles rising financial pressures on consumer goods companies, including tariffs and tightening shopper budgets. By cutting fees to advertising agencies and speeding up product development timelines, Mondelez seeks to maintain marketing effectiveness while controlling costs in a challenging economic environment.
Currently, the platform produces social media content for Chips Ahoy cookies in the U.S. and Milka chocolate in Germany. An eight-second Milka video showcases waves of chocolate rippling over a wafer, with customizable backgrounds for different consumer segments, enabling large-scale personalized marketing.
In November 2025, Mondelez AI Marketing applications will expand to product pages for Oreo cookies on Amazon and Walmart. Future rollouts will cover Lacta chocolate and Oreo in Brazil and Cadbury in the U.K., demonstrating the platform’s global scalability.
The initiative carries risks given backlash some AI-generated ads have provoked. Coca-Cola faced criticism in 2024 when its AI holiday commercials were deemed “soulless,” highlighting the delicate balance between efficiency and authentic brand connection.
To mitigate missteps, the platform includes strict human oversight and content guidelines. Tina Vaswani, VP of digital enablement and data, emphasized that humans will always review AI content before publication. Strict rules prohibit content showing unhealthy eating habits, over-consumption, emotionally manipulative messaging, or offensive stereotypes.
Notably, human likenesses are not yet used in AI-generated content, avoiding one of the most controversial aspects of synthetic media. This approach allows Mondelez to achieve cost savings while minimizing potential consumer backlash over artificial depictions of people.
The platform also accelerates product development, analyzing recipes, costs, nutritional profiles, and other factors simultaneously. This speeds innovation from concept to market while optimizing multiple business objectives.
Industry observers see Mondelez AI Marketing as a bellwether for AI adoption across consumer goods. While competitors like Kraft Heinz and Coca-Cola have experimented with AI advertising, Mondelez’s $40 million investment represents the largest known commitment by a major consumer brand to automated video generation.
The ambitious timeline for AI-generated television ads reflects confidence in technological advancement. The 2027 Super Bowl is a key target, as surveys show over half of viewers enjoy the commercials more than the game itself, with 40% watching specifically for the ads.
As Mondelez AI marketing capabilities mature, potential savings could increase substantially if the technology successfully generates more elaborate video content. Halvorson indicated current projections for cost reduction would grow as the platform advances, potentially transforming the entire advertising production industry.
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