Branding in the age of AI: do it like Lindt

However much AI content floods the market, there will always be a place for human writing. 𝗪𝗵𝘆? 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲.

Let me explain.

Back in 1998, Swiss confectioner Lindt had a problem. As it expanded globally, it was, of necessity, leaning more on automation. But as it did, its premium chocolates started to get lumped in with all the mass-produced candy bars on the shelf.

Then Lindt had an idea. It launched the “Maître Chocolatier” campaign, showing chefs in toques making chocolate like Lindt does: by hand. These weren’t models, they were actual chocolatiers—and they were a hit. (Thomas Schnetzler, the hunk in the photo, even went viral as “the ideal man.”)

What Lindt did was leverage the “handmade effect,” so named by three Vienna University economists in their 2015 paper “What’s Love Got to Do with It?”, in which they proved that “consumers have a special appreciation for the human factor in production” and always will.

𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲, 𝘀𝗼 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁. At a time when LLMs are extruding corn-syrup copy at industrial scale, there is still a place for writing made by humans, because people know it when they see it and they like it.

Now, the boosters regularly tell us that the sheer volume of AI content will soon drown out the human voice. They say we’ll be so deep in machine-made writing that we’ll come to see it as the norm.

This is called “algorithmic acculturation” and to an extent it’s true—but not 100%. Just as there is demand for Lindt in a world of waxy, partially hydrogenated supermarket chocolate, there will always be a place for content with a human soul.

That’s why we founded Fluent Partners. We know brands are going to use AI for its efficiency, same as Lindt uses machines to do its “first draft” before the 𝘮𝘢î𝘵𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘳 steps in to hand-finish the batch and add the Lindt signature that transforms it into a premium product.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗶𝗳𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, in which writing will be split into two tiers.

*Content made entirely by AI: abundant, generic, cheap.
*Content crafted with a human hand: organic, trusted, authentic.

Which tier do you want to be in? If you don’t want your brand to be waxy, partially hydrogenated and bland, put a human in the loop.

Keep in mind the words of those three Vienna economists, who concluded their paper with the motto of Alfa Romeo: “𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘻𝘢 𝘤𝘶𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘮𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦. 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁, 𝘄𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀.”