Spotlight

Speakers

• Annabella Dr. Bassler, CFO of Ringier AG & Initiator of EqualVoice
• Sarah Toms, CIO at IMD Business School
• Coreen Krosch, Managing Director EMEA at MCM WORLDWIDE
• Marco Andrea Buchmann, Head of Applied Sciences & Board Member at Zalando
• Hugo Schildknecht, Head of Campus at SAWI

How Brands Shape Culture in the Age of AI

At the MCM WORLDWIDE Flagship Store in Zurich, WeBloom and EqualVoice, in partnership with IMD, hosted their latest Leader’s Circle convening under the title How Brands Shape Culture in the Age of AI. The evening brought together senior leaders to explore one of the most pressing questions facing companies today: how can brands remain authentic, trusted and culturally relevant in an increasingly automated world?

The event created a high-trust space for honest exchange on the opportunities and limits of artificial intelligence in brand building, storytelling and leadership. While AI is transforming how organisations create, communicate and connect, the central message of the evening was clear: culture cannot be automated. It must still be shaped by people.

When Trust Becomes Fragile

One of the strongest themes of the evening was the growing tension between technological efficiency and consumer trust. As several speakers noted, the market has reached a critical point. Audiences are becoming increasingly sensitive to content that feels artificial, generic or detached from real human experience.

The discussion made clear that brands which rely too heavily on fully AI-generated communication risk losing exactly what makes them meaningful: credibility, emotional resonance and a sense of authenticity. If a brand automates its voice entirely, it no longer shapes culture – it merely mirrors patterns already present in the machine.

This emerging trust deficit is not only a communication challenge, but a leadership one. In a time when AI is scaling faster than trust, executives must make deliberate choices about how technology is used and where human judgment remains irreplaceable.

The Human Editorial Layer

Another key insight focused on what participants described as the new frontier of leadership in the AI age: the human editorial layer. AI may optimise, accelerate and amplify – but it does not create taste, intuition or cultural relevance on its own.

The evening repeatedly returned to the idea that human discernment is what keeps culture alive. Serendipity, provocation, creativity and judgment are not side notes in the age of AI; they are the decisive layer that separates meaningful contribution from automated noise.

For brands, this means that the real competitive edge lies not in producing more content faster, but in deciding what is worth saying in the first place. Leaders must therefore invest not only in technology, but in the people, perspectives and editorial courage that give communication depth and originality.

Leadership as a Cultural Responsibility

Annabella Bassler, CFO of Ringier and Co-Initiator of EqualVoice, framed the challenge in broader societal terms. As she emphasised during the discussion, the key question is no longer whether organisations can use AI, but how they use growing technological power without losing their humanity.

This perspective resonated strongly throughout the evening. In a landscape increasingly shaped by automation, leadership must act as the safeguard for ethics, creativity and connection. Responsible leadership means ensuring that AI remains an amplifier of human ingenuity – not a replacement for it.

The conversation also highlighted that brands do more than sell products. They influence language, norms, aspirations and belonging. In that sense, brand leadership today carries cultural responsibility. Those who lead organisations must ask not only what technology enables, but what kind of cultural reality they want to help create.

A Space for Courageous Conversation

Beyond the formal insights, the event was marked by an atmosphere of openness and intellectual curiosity. Coreen Krosch, Managing Director EMEA at MCM, captured this spirit when she described the most valuable conversations as the ones that challenge existing ways of thinking.

That is precisely what the Leader’s Circle seeks to create: a setting in which executives can move beyond predictable talking points and instead pressure-test ideas that matter. Hosted in the inspiring setting of the MCM flagship store, the convening offered exactly that kind of exchange – honest, challenging and forward-looking.

The evening in Zurich demonstrated that the future of culture will not be dictated by algorithms alone. It will be shaped by leaders who are willing to combine innovation with responsibility, technology with judgment, and efficiency with humanity.

In other words: the brands that will remain relevant in the age of AI are those that continue to put human ingenuity at the centre of culture.