Mondelez Taps Into GenAI to Cut Marketing Costs by 50%

Oreo maker and snack giant Mondelez is turning to generative AI to dramatically reduce the cost of creating marketing content. The company said its new tool, developed last year with ad agency Publicis Groupe and IT firm Accenture, could lower production expenses by 30% to 50%.

The AI system is expected to produce short TV ads ready for next year’s holiday season—and potentially the 2027 Super Bowl, according to Jon Halvorson, Mondelez’s global senior vice president of consumer experience.

The Cadbury chocolate maker has invested more than $40 million in the platform. Halvorson added that savings could increase if the tool can generate more complex video content. Faced with tariffs and tighter consumer spending, Mondelez—like other consumer goods companies—is using AI to reduce fees paid to agencies and accelerate product marketing timelines.

Competitors, including Kraft Heinz and Coca-Cola, have also experimented with AI-generated advertising. Coke’s 2024 AI-created holiday ads were criticized for computer-generated people lacking real emotion. Mondelez, by contrast, is not incorporating human likenesses in its AI output.

The company is already deploying AI-generated content on social media for Chips Ahoy in the U.S. and Milka chocolate in Germany. One eight-second Milka video shows chocolate waves rippling over a wafer, with different backgrounds tailored to target audiences.

“The cost to do animations is in the hundreds of thousands,” Halvorson said. “This type of setup is orders of magnitude smaller.”

In the U.S., Oreo will use the tool for product pages on Amazon and Walmart starting in November. Mondelez also plans to roll it out for Lacta chocolate and Oreo in Brazil, and Cadbury in the U.K., in the coming months.

Tina Vaswani, vice president of digital enablement and data, stressed that human oversight remains essential. The company enforces strict rules prohibiting content that promotes unhealthy eating habits, vaping, overconsumption, manipulative language, or offensive stereotypes, according to internal guidelines.

Mondelez’s move highlights a broader trend among consumer goods companies: harnessing AI not only to save costs, but also to accelerate content creation and adapt to increasingly digital-first marketing channels.