Kai Bösterling

Latest

• Brand Choice in the Age of AI – Between Simple Data Logic and Emotional Connection.

  AI systems like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity are fundamentally changing how we discover and perceive brand messages. In addition to issues of machine readability, content formats that list and evaluate product features and functions are becoming increasingly relevant. For this reason, some are now arguing that the brand no longer matters. They claim that the new currency is the product’s hard facts—that is, its functions and features. The article examines GEO and the rational decisions made by AI in relation to brand perception. It answers the question of why emotional brand management is more important than ever.

  Marketing•Kai Bösterling•1 Jun 2026•8 minutes

  

• Change Management: How successful is the constant transformation of organisations?

  Companies are having to adapt ever more quickly to the increasing pace of change in the markets. At the end of a change process, there is never a ‘status quo’, because things are always moving forward. This means that structures and processes are constantly in flux. What has been learnt must constantly be unlearned. How is that even possible? This article explores the absurdity of constant change – and how change can succeed in dynamic times.

  Culture•Kai Bösterling•15 Apr 2026•8 minutes

  

• AI in marketing requires new evaluation standards

  This article argues for a paradigm shift in the use of AI in marketing: Efficiency should not be the primary goal of AI deployment. Instead, it should be quality. The quality of the customer journey. The quality of the customer experience. The quality of the product. The quality of the service. When it comes to brand experiences, the starting point should always be “strategy first” or “brand strategy first,” not “AI first.”

  Marketing•Kai Bösterling•30 Jul 2025•16 minutes

  

• Transparency is the new currency for brand trust

  David Ogilvy coined the following statement: “Great marketing only makes a bad product fail faster.” Meaning: Overpromising cannot make up for underdelivering. Savvy! Smart man. But today, this beautiful statement no longer seems to apply. We are realizing that brands want to improve their products with all their might through automation and AI, even with deep fakes and so-called greenwashing and bluewashing. Today, we can learn more about products and companies than ever before. We can research online. We can read other people's product experiences in communities or on review platforms. But at the same time, there has never been so much misinformation. This unsettles consumers. We are losing trust. We have obviously already lost trust in politics. Trust in brands is also suffering greatly at the moment. This article describes the new currency in marketing: transparency. And how brands can successfully regain the trust and loyalty of their customers.

  Marketing•Kai Bösterling•30 Apr 2025•12 minutes

  

• B2B sales are changing – how sales and marketing are winning

  Marketing is taking on more and more former sales tasks in B2B. This is mainly because sales in the B2B sector is becoming more digital. Personal sales calls are on the decline. B2B commerce is growing. For a consistent customer approach, effective collaboration between sales and marketing is essential. This applies even more to B2B than to B2C.

  Marketing•Kai Bösterling•27 Jan 2025•9 minutes

  

• Brand collaborations and why collaborations between brands are a win-win

  This article shows how brands can gain new target groups, generate attention and optimize costs and pricing through cooperation.

  Marketing•Kai Bösterling•15 Jan 2024•17 minutes

  

• Branding a Company – Definition and Elements of Brand Building

  What makes brands (whether products or companies) transparent, clear, valid and, above all, valuable? Here is a complete guide to brand development.

  Marketing•Kai Bösterling•10 Nov 2023•16 minutes

  

• How new office structures minimize costs

  The flexible office with the right mix of digital and analog infrastructure will make office work better, more effective and ... reduce costs in the future. So it's the right mix of virtual, digital work and analog, real encounters with each other that makes work successful.

  Business Modell•Kai Bösterling•5 Jul 2022•10 minutes

  

• The Purpose in the Company - From Vision to Strategy

  Companies need a vision, a mission and the corresponding strategy to make society and the environment better. This should always have been the case. But now it is assumed by customers. That's why it makes sense in marketing to use the terms "vision", "mission", "strategy" or even ... "purpose" as a clear semantic convention. It is important what comes out at the end - namely the irrefutable positioning of a brand - but to clarify an optimal process within a collaboration in the brand team, it is important to have a clear understanding of the terms.

  Strategy•Kai Bösterling•3 Jan 2022•11 minutes

  

• Service Design - How customer experience creates added value

  Tldr: Improving brands means improving service systems. Products are becoming more and more similar. The competition is getting bigger and bigger. The demand is finite. Most markets today are predatory markets. Even in new markets, consolidation through displacement takes place quite quickly, as currently shown by the fierce competition in the e-scooter segment, for example. Service is the real differentiation factor, which is why we choose products and repeat purchases. Service shows the company's attitude, how it really promises to meet customer needs. We should understand marketing as a moment of truth in every customer contact, as an attitude that the brand has a decisive influence on the feelings, thoughts and actions of our customers, users, referrers, fans and consumers. A product without service design is not a product. Service is what makes a product come alive. Service makes the attitude in a product tangible. Service makes a brand successful.

  Strategy / Vision•Kai Bösterling•14 Oct 2020•15 minutes