For the full call for papers click below

Strand One: The first strand explores the evolving interaction between human intelligence and artificial intelligence (Huang & Rust, 2022; Einola & Khoreva, 2023; Liu-Thompkins et al., 2022). In their literature review of creativity in marketing and the impact of integrating AI, Ameen et al. (2022) recommend a balanced augmentation approach (combining human and artificial intelligence) rather than an automative approach. This is echoed by Wharton’s Ethan Mollick (2024) who calls for co-intelligence, using AI as a co-worker. Kirby et al. (2025) recently explored the creative collaboration between humans and AI to co-create brand voice, identifying effective human-AI co-creation as happening at three levels: the individual brand professional, the organisational level of brand management, and the societal level, the external environment in which the brand operates. Likewise, Huang and Trust (2022) developed a framework for human marketers and consumers collaborating with AI within the retail sector.

Strand Two: A second popular strand of literature focuses purely on AI in marketing and brand development (Deryl et al., 2023; De Mauro et al., 2022). One cluster of papers concerns specific technologies such as chatbots (Cheng & Jiang, 2022), other AI-empowered voice assistants (McLean et al., 2021) and AI influencers (Thomas & Fowler, 2021). Another argues for an enhanced customer experience due to AI through increased efficiency and customer insight (Nguyen et al., 2022). Key issues are identified including Kirkby et al. (2023) discussing whether customers want or need to know the level of AI used within the brand, and Liu-Thompkins et al. (2022) identifying the need to bridge the AI-human gap by developing stronger artificial empathy to strengthen the affective and social customer experience. This rapidly evolving focus purely on AI, one end of the spectrum, pushes us to consider the implications for the marketing profession but also the relationship between brands and consumers. Note this focus is not only on generative AI but also causal and predictive AI and other forms of AI including synthetic data, AI agents, and agentic AI.

Strand Three: The third strand of literature places the emphasis on the new roles for humans in developing brands, including contributions from Kotler et al. (2021) calling for a new human to human (H2H) mindset as a way of rebuilding brand trust. Anchored in service dominant logic, the H2H literature argues for iterative and agile design thinking to co-create brand value with customers, particularly to have a positive impact on quality of life and the common good. Employee empathy, verbal communication, emotional intelligence and the ability to handle new and complex situations are identified as core roles of brand managers in an AI world. Populist authors such as Mark Shaefer (2025) call for marketing professionals to apply humanity to disrupt AI dominance, to be ‘audacious’ in disrupting brand narratives. Others focus on ‘humanistic marketing’ which proposes that the human individual is the start point for strategies that move beyond wealth creation to enable human ‘flourishing’ where well-being is derived from satisfying human needs and interests (Rivera-Baiocchi, 2023; Varey & Pirson, 2013). The scholar Bruno Cucinelli argues that humanist capitalism is needed for global sustainability and draws on Immanuel Kant’s famous plea to ‘treat humanity as never merely a means to an end but always at the same time as an end’. This resonates with the body of literature on the need for purposeful and conscientious branding (e.g., Fernandes et al., 2024; Walter et al., 2024; Ind & Iglesias, 2022). Other scholars identify the importance of human insight and creativity for brand purpose, authentic brand expression and creating emotional connections with customers. With luxury brands for example, customers have traditionally placed greater value on emotionally resonant, socially meaningful experiences (Shahid et al., 2022) that meet their needs for symbolic consumption rather than rational and efficient processes. This strand of literature also discusses the implications of AI capacity and capability within brand management (Wei & Pardo, 2022). For example, for smaller organisations such as nonprofits there is a risk they will be left behind in efforts to harness AI for more effective customer-brand relationship building (Stanley, 2024).

Additional topics for consideration within this theme include:

• How is the role and skill set of brand managers changing in the AI age?
• What humanistic values should brands embrace in order to build a profitable but also responsible business capable of addressing some of the pressing problems that humanity is facing, such as climate change or social inequalities?
• What is the role of human emotions in the development of consumer-brand relationships?
• What is the role of human creativity in brand innovation, especially in those innovations aimed at positively impacting society and planet?
• What are the potential ethical dilemmas that the use of AI in branding might raise and how managers should address them?
• What is the role of AI and humans in consumer-brand interactions?
• How can augmented brand intelligence be effectively implemented in strategic and operational brand management and brand control?
• Does augmented brand intelligence lead to an increase or decrease in brand purpose, brand consistency, and creativity?
• What are the possibilities and limitations of augmented brand intelligence in brand science?
• What are the best practice examples of AI currently being used by marketers to drive brands and customer relationships?

We invite original research and in-depth conceptual papers on this conference theme, as well as research in the areas of brand, identity and reputation, including but not limited to:

• B2B Brands
• Big Data Analytics and Brands
• Brand Activism
• Brand Co-Creation
• Brand Equity
• Brand Experience
• Brand Image and Identity
• Brand Love, Hate, and Brand Polarization
• Brand Orientation
• Corporate and Umbrella Brands
• Ethical, Charity, and Green Brands
• Heritage Brands
• Internal Branding
• Multisensory Branding
• Online/Digital Brands
• Place and Event Branding
• Product Branding
• Service Brands
• Corporate Reputation and Identity Issues