How Diageo use AI to Create Content for Every Occasion

One of the biggest advantages of AI in creative work is the ability to produce more specific, tailored content for different moments throughout the year. For a company like Diageo, with a portfolio of globally recognised drinks brands, this means being able to create campaigns that resonate with consumers during key seasonal and cultural moments, from Christmas and Lunar New Year to Day of the Dead and Oktoberfest. By using Pencil, Diageo explored how AI could help them create assets that not only fit these moments but also capture the emotions, traditions, and social occasions that go along with them.

The Challenge

Diageo’s challenge was to develop creative that felt truly relevant to different celebrations while maintaining the identity and premium feel of each brand. This meant adapting global assets in a way that reflected specific cultural cues—whether through colour, symbolism, or storytelling—without having to go through a lengthy manual process each time. They also wanted to explore how AI could support them across different creative needs, from image generation to animation to copywriting, allowing them to produce high-quality, localised content at scale.

The Creative

December Festivities:

For Johnnie Walker, the team used Pencil to create festive PR visuals while maintaining the brand’s premium feel. Rather than defaulting to traditional red and green seasonal palettes, the creative featured a deep blue background with gold ribbon details, keeping the brand’s identity at the forefront, while bringing in a celebratory element. We used AI-generated surfaces and backgrounds, allowing for quick adaptation across formats.

Captain Morgan’s December content played on the theme of a “busy month, busy crew,” generating festive assets that embraced seasonal storytelling. The team created imagery of the bottle placed inside a wintery snow globe surrounded by pines and miniature gingerbread houses, as well as visuals of festive wrapping paper peeling away to reveal the bottle. Additional assets explored different holiday props, from wreaths to candy canes and twinkling Christmas trees, reinforcing Captain Morgan as a fun, seasonal drink choice.

Pimm’s, traditionally associated with summer, needed a creative hook to engage consumers in winter. The solution was a social post featuring a Christmas jumper, positioned within a festive living room scene. The post performed exceptionally well, proving that Pimm’s could resonate beyond the warmer months. Meanwhile, The Bar’s seasonal imagery featured beautifully styled Christmas and New Year’s Eve cocktails, using AI-generated garnishes and table settings to create premium visuals at a fraction of the usual production cost.

For Tanqueray, Pencil-generated social assets blended festive aesthetics with the signature colours of its serves. The Royale bottle was placed in a cosy, fairy-lit setting where the rich purple of the drink stood out, while the Sevilla variant was captured in a warm, inviting scene with oranges, nuts, and gold ribbon details - evoking the feeling of a holiday gathering without losing the brand’s distinctive look.

Autumn and Thanksgiving:

For Thanksgiving, we explored using Pencil for CRM messaging, generating headlines and body copy that captured the warmth of the season. George Dickel whiskey was positioned as the perfect drink for holiday gatherings, with evocative copy highlighting its rich flavour: “With notes of baked apple, clove, and a lingering finish of oak and spice, this bourbon delivers an unforgettable taste that’s as bold as it is smooth.” Similarly, Baileys’ messaging played into nostalgic, family-oriented moments, with seasonal serving suggestions such as a cinnamon-forward cocktail designed for autumnal celebrations.

Oktoberfest:

For Captain Morgan’s German social content, the team worked with Pencil to create visuals tailored to Oktoberfest, tapping into regional nuances that resonated far better than standard UK and US adaptations. A key example was the Spiced Rum Brezeln (pretzel) imagery, which helped generate a second peak of engagement on Instagram. Alongside this, autumnal-themed visuals featuring warm colours, conkers, and spiced rum hot chocolate gave Captain Morgan a seasonal relevance that was reflected in improved engagement and reach.

Lunar New Year:

Johnnie Walker Blue Label’s Lunar New Year campaign needed assets that blended cultural relevance with the brand’s signature premium feel. The team first created a striking static image of a black snake elegantly wrapped around the bottle, set against a moody, stylish bar backdrop. They then enhanced this by introducing subtle motion for social executions, adding an extra layer of engagement.

Beyond animation, the global key visual for Johnnie Walker was adapted to feel more in line with Lunar New Year celebrations. Using Pencil, the creative was reworked with deeper red tones, gold accents, and traditional Chinese elements such as knots and reflective details, resulting in a suite of assets that felt distinctly festive while staying true to the brand’s identity.

Day of the Dead:

For Day of the Dead, the team turned to AI-generated imagery to bring the celebration to life for Don Julio. The creative placed the tequila bottle at the centre of vibrant visuals, surrounded by traditional Day of the Dead elements such as bright marigold flowers and ornately decorated skulls. The result was a visually rich, culturally relevant campaign that reinforced Don Julio’s connection to the occasion.

The Results

Pencil has enabled Diageo’s brands to create marketing that feels more relevant, timely, and culturally connected. By using Pencil, they’ve been able to scale up creative production whilst saving time and money, all while ensuring their campaigns truly resonate with audiences, whatever the occasion.

• 60% time savings and a total cost reduction of £1260 for The Bar’s seasonal content creation.
• 43% time savings on Captain Morgan’s December organic content, allowing the team to produce more high-quality assets at scale.
• 40% time savings on Johnnie Walker Blue Label Lunar New Year imagery and animations, compared to the traditional asset creation process.
• 19% time savings for Johnnie Walker’s festive gifting assets, streamlining the adaptation process for PR and paid media.
• Best-performing social post for Pimm’s festive campaign, with engagement rates significantly above benchmarks, while reducing costs from £2000 to £300.
• 186K impressions in two weeks for Tanqueray Royale’s festive paid social asset, achieving a 91% clarity rating from Dragonfly.
• Stronger engagement for Captain Morgan’s German Oktoberfest content, demonstrating the impact of localized, culturally relevant creative assets.