On April 22, 2026, Professor Burmann served as the keynote speaker at the Dairy Congress in Munich. There, he spoke to approximately 300 attendees on the topic “Brand versus AI: Relevance for the Dairy Industry.” He analyzed the impacts of AI usage, distinguishing between efficiency and effectiveness effects. The efficiency of many internal work processes in the dairy industry can be increased through the use of AI, thereby offering the opportunity to reduce costs and remain price-competitive.
Far more exciting, however, are the internal and external effectiveness impacts of AI implementation. Here, Professor Burmann first demonstrated the extent of the current deficits in internal brand management in Germany. Citing recent studies by Gallup, he showed that, on average, only 10% of employees in Germany still feel connected to their employer brand. There are thus very significant shortcomings in employee management—particularly in the development of visions for the future and in motivating the workforce—which have grown even larger in Germany over the past 25 years. These massive leadership problems cannot be solved through the use of AI. Instead, brands should be managed more consistently based on identity in order to fully leverage the potential of the workforce behind a brand and inspire them to embrace their own brand.
There are also significant challenges when it comes to external effectiveness—that is, in consumer-oriented brand communication. Although the use of AI, for example in the creation of advertising materials, promises major cost reductions, research shows that people react very negatively to AI-generated content in brand communication. This is particularly acute when brands are positioned in the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR or ESG). This insight is relevant for brands because, according to current studies, over 75% of global web content is already created with the help of AI, and brands in the EU are required to disclose this AI usage. Young consumers, in particular, are therefore increasingly complaining about “AI slop”—that is, the flooding of the internet and, above all, social media with interchangeable and meaningless AI content.
Against this backdrop, Professor Burmann recommended that brand managers—not only in the dairy industry—refrain from using AI content in demand-driven brand communication.
