A seismic shift is anticipated within Germany’s advertising sector as the rise of Artificial Intelligence fundamentally alters consumer search behavior and the established power dynamics of online marketing. Leaders within the Association of German Brand Advertisers (OWM), a prominent industry body representing 110 major companies, are grappling with the implications of emerging AI platforms like Perplexity and Pilot that bypass traditional search engines like Google.
Maike Abel, OWM’s Chair and Digital & Corporate Marketing Director at Nestlé Germany, highlighted the urgency of adaptation. “We absolutely must now begin to explore new avenues to ensure discoverability within these AI systems, given consumers are increasingly relying on them rather than conventional search” she stated. Abel predicts that OpenAI, the AI powerhouse behind ChatGPT, is poised to introduce a version explicitly tailored for advertising, a development she believes is imminent. “They will undoubtedly be reaching out to companies like our OWM members shortly.
Kristina Bulle, OWM Vice Chair and Procter & Gamble DACH’s Brand Building Vice President, underscored the uncertainty surrounding the long-term impact of AI on brand building. “The full extent of AI’s influence on both short-term and long-term brand equity remains largely unquantifiable at this stage” she conceded.
While AI is currently being deployed within German ad agencies, particularly by creative teams, its applications are reportedly still limited. Abel explained that current uses primarily involve generating digital assets – creating variations of products against different backgrounds, for example. Critically, however, companies are deliberately avoiding the creation of AI-generated human faces, voices, or animal representations due to concerns regarding potential legal and ethical repercussions, specifically the risk of inadvertently replicating existing individuals.
The OWM, representing approximately €10 billion in annual advertising investment, frames its work as advocating for “responsible marketing”. However, the impending disruption from AI raises deeper questions about the future of online advertising, the control of information flow and the potential for significant power concentration within a handful of AI technology providers. The organization’s role in navigating these complexities and ensuring equitable access for its members remains to be seen, particularly as the established rules of discoverability are rewritten by these emerging AI ecosystems. The situation demands careful observation and proactive policy consideration to prevent a landscape dominated by a few powerful AI gatekeepers.