Electrifying the Shopping Experience: Media Markt Saturn’s AI-Driven Evolution

Ms. Fonfe, what have you personally used AI for recently?

For a first draft of a social media plan for our new AI Award. It served as the basis for a detailed briefing to my team. No matter whether ChatGPT, Canva or Gemini – AI has long since become an integral part of my professional and private everyday life.

How does your company use AI in marketing?

We use AI specifically in projects, such as for quick voiceovers and subtitles or to create SEO-optimized content. Graphics tools are also used. We test a lot because the number of useful applications increases every day and we are constantly finding out what complements our work best. First and foremost is the basic understanding that each person will find the optimal use of AI for themselves. Here we want to act as a guidance provider for our customers. In the team we rely on sharing, so for example we have our own chat channel to exchange the results that everyone has achieved with AI.

Can you explain how AI makes the work of your marketing team easier with a specific example?

An example of this is the automatic generation of SEO-optimized content. These can be created quickly and efficiently and adjusted in terms of tonality and emotional appeal. This saves us both time and money. We are also breaking new ground in our creative work: AI supports us in creating initial graphics and improving briefings. Working with AI brings a lot of fun and additional new ideas to the team.

What legal or ethical questions about AI do you think still need to be clarified?

The interaction between humans and AI holds enormous potential, which is why we have to make the introduction particularly inclusive in order to benefit from it in the long term as a company and society. AI should complement human intelligence, not replace it. We can only achieve this level of trust through a high degree of transparency. A central point is that we always ensure the highest level of data protection security – for individuals and companies alike. Especially in marketing, we have to make sure that humanity is not lost: Do we really only want to follow AI-generated accounts? What does beauty mean when models come from AI? AI still reproduces based on our knowledge and creativity. The exciting question is how new and surprising things can emerge despite this basis.

What marketing tasks could AI take on in the future and what are the limits, i.e. what will the human brain always be needed for?

I believe that every company has to find the solutions that best suit their own processes. I see the greatest benefit in the fact that AI takes over standard tasks, speeds up communication and thereby creates more time for creative content. No matter how AI and marketing develop, this is a combination from which much will emerge and which has already shown a lot of potential in the short term.

The interview was conducted in writing.

All previously published episodes of the interview series with brand decision-makers on AIread here.

Laura Schenk

Laura Schenk (ls, born in 2002) has been a working student at sales management since August 2023 and is always keen to dedicate herself to new subject areas. She has a particular preference for cubist painting and writing in all its forms. She even dedicated a volume of short stories to her hometown of Leipzig in 2023. There she studies communication and media studies and is involved in cross-media work with local newspapers and radio.