ShanghaiMay 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On May 24, 2026, the “7th China Innovation Marketing Forum: ‘Reconstruction • Rebirth’ of Marketing in the AI Era” was grandly held at the Shanghai campus of CEIBS. The forum was jointly organized by the CEIBS Executive Education Department and the CEIBS Alumni CMO Club. It brought together leaders and core executives from global and Chinese leading enterprises such as Shangri-La, L’Oréal, Joyoung Soymilk, Unitree Robotics, Kling AI, and Nutrend, as well as diverse forces like top commercial IP creator Cheng Qian. Together with over 500 CEIBS CMO alumni, marketing elites, and senior managers from the business world, they explored new thoughts, perspectives, and insights in the AI era.
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Wang Hong, Dean of CEIBS, Professor of Management, and Hengdian Group Chair Professor of Management
At the start of the forum, Wang Hong, Dean of CEIBS, Professor of Management, and Hengdian Group Chair Professor of Management, delivered the opening address. She first extended a warm welcome to all guests on behalf of the school and noted that the China Innovation Marketing Forum has been held for seven consecutive years. This year’s focus on “Reconstruction • Rebirth of Marketing in the AI Era” is precisely to address the core proposition of the times—how marketing can break boundaries and achieve value leaps as technological revolution reshapes business logic. She emphasized that since its establishment in 1994, CEIBS has always upheld the motto “Seriousness, Innovation, and Excellence,” committed to cultivating leaders with “China depth, global breadth, and a strong sense of social responsibility.” The school operates campuses in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Zurich (Switzerland), and Accra (Ghana), with over 35,000 alumni from 92 countries and regions.
Wang Hong further pointed out that in the face of profound changes brought by AI technology, CEIBS is accelerating the transformation and iteration of its curriculum, embedding AI series courses into mainstream business education. She specifically mentioned that this year’s forum features a lineup of both emerging and established talents, including long-term practitioners from leading companies like Shangri-La, L’Oréal, and Joyoung Soymilk, as well as innovation pioneers in cutting-edge fields such as Unitree Robotics, Kling AI, Cheng Qian’s Circle, and Nutrend. She stated that in the great wave of intelligent transformation, only by identifying the direction of marketing reconstruction and seizing industrial opportunities can marketing strategies continuously radiate unique charm and advantages. Finally, she wished the forum great success and hoped that all alumni and guests would ride the waves and move steadily forward on the marketing track of the AI era.
Wang Gao, Professor of Marketing at CEIBS, Baosteel Chair Professor of Marketing, Associate Dean, and Director of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Program
Wang Gao, Professor of Marketing at CEIBS, Baosteel Chair Professor of Marketing, Associate Dean, and Director of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Program, delivered a speech. He reviewed the development history of the CMO program since 2010 and explained the deep significance of selecting “AI” as this year’s theme. He noted that AI technology is still rapidly evolving, and enterprises should embrace AI rationally, avoiding blind adherence to trends.
Liang Jinhui (CEIBS CMO 2010), President of the CEIBS Alumni CMO Club and Chairman of Gujing Group, stated in his speech that AI is rapidly integrating into various industries, profoundly changing marketing models, generation methods, and competitive landscapes. He called for “technology for good to go far,” urging everyone to actively embrace AI while steadfastly adhering to the essence and original intent of marketing, deeply integrating technological rationality with humanistic sensibility, using technological intelligence to solve development challenges, and warming the world with the power of intelligence.
Li Wen (CEIBS EMBA 2010), Executive President of the CEIBS Alumni Association, congratulated the forum on behalf of the alumni association and highly praised the outstanding performance of the CEIBS Alumni CMO Club in empowering both commercial value and social responsibility. He pointed out that AI is not the end of marketing but the starting point for reconstructing growth logic and opening a new development paradigm. True marketing is always rooted in deep insights into users.
Reconstruction of Marketing in the AI Era
Tommy Dong, Chief Marketing Officer of Shangri-La Group and CEO of Shangri-La China, delivered a keynote speech titled “Embracing the AI Era Redefining Marketing.” He analyzed the comprehensive reconstruction of enterprises by AI from three dimensions: strategy, organization, and management. He emphasized that marketing is shifting from an “attention economy” to a “trust economy,” and enterprises must face the “dual-TA era”—reaching users while making AI Agents understand the brand. Finally, he stated that AI will likely reshape our organizations, but the brand remains a beacon of human trust.
Lan Zhenzhen, President of Public Affairs for L’Oréal North Asia and China, shared L’Oréal’s long-termism practices from a public relations perspective in her speech titled “Brand Long-termism in the AI Era from a PR Perspective.” She proposed a “Five-Co Methodology”: Resonance, Empathy, Co-creation, Co-action, and Win-win. She stated that values should not just remain on a company’s mission statement but be transformed into concrete practices that the public can know and feel. Beauty is our way, and co-creation is our method. PR is about deepening values, making them tangible, and embedding them in people’s hearts.
Cai Mo (CEIBS CMO 2010), Chairman of Joyoung Soymilk, delivered a speech titled “Craftsmanship Entrepreneurship • Smart Drinking Future.” He shared his second internal entrepreneurship journey from “Joyoung Appliances” to “Joyoung Soymilk” and used the example of “Hajimi North-South Mung Bean Milk” to demonstrate AI’s accelerating role in insight, reach, and efficiency. He emphasized: “The reconstruction of marketing in the AI era still requires slowness in fundamentals and speed in amplification. Slowness means doing product strength well, and speed means using AI to amplify influence.”
Rebirth of Marketing in the AI Era
Li Binjie, Senior Vice President of Unitree Robotics Co., Ltd., delivered a keynote speech titled “Product Layout and Industry Implementation of Embodied Robots.” Before the speech, human dancers joined Unitree robots to present an AI technology and humanities show: “Human-Robot Dance • Wisdom Ignites Rebirth.” He then introduced Unitree’s technological evolution in quadruped and humanoid robots and showcased their applications in scenarios such as inspection, firefighting, and cultural tourism.
Wu Jing, Head of China Sales for Kling AI, shared Kling’s rapid iteration and application in video generation in his speech titled “AI Empowering Content Productivity.” He emphasized: “AI is making it possible for ‘everyone to be a director,’ but what is truly irreplaceable are people who understand brands, users, emotions, and business. AI is responsible for empowering us to achieve more extreme self-expression with faster speed and higher efficiency.”
Cheng Qian, host of the commercial IP account @Cheng Qian’s Circle, delivered a speech titled “Thoughts on Marketing Transformation in the AI Era.” From a content creator’s perspective, he argued that traditional marketing theories face challenges in the AI era, and non-fiction content is becoming a core carrier for building brand trust. He proposed that the future CMO is essentially a brand documentarian, the chief director of a brand documentary.
Ai Xu, Vice President of the Nutrend Group, delivered a speech titled “Using the 101st Digital Employee as a Growth Engine: Nutrend’s Practice of ‘Content as a Channel.'” Drawing on Nutrend’s experience in the health brand sector, the company relies on content produced by over 500,000 influencers, treating content as a core channel for reaching users, building trust, and facilitating transactions, using an interest-driven shelf model to tap into consumer markets. He stated that the true value of AI is not to do new things but to do the right things ten thousand times.
AI Reconstructing Marketing: Amid Change, How Brands Break Through and Rebirth
In a roundtable discussion themed “AI Reconstructing Marketing: Amid Change, How Brands Break Through and Rebirth,” Wang Gao engaged in deep dialogue with guests including Cheng Qian, Jiang Xianghui (CEIBS CMO 2024), co-founder of Wuziti Technology, Chen Hao (CEIBS CMO 2010), Vice President of Fotile Group, and Ai Xu. The roundtable sparked intense debate on topics such as whether AI changes the underlying logic of marketing, how enterprises implement AI, and the relationship between technology and humanity. Wang Gao pointed out that the essence of marketing remains unchanged, with products and customers still at the core, but AI forces enterprises to make better products. He emphasized that the biggest challenge for AI in the future is trust; without trust, AI has no future. Jiang Xianghui argued that positioning theory becomes even more important in the AI era, with marketing becoming “more agile and more quantitative.” He noted that work for science-oriented professionals will largely be handed over to AI, while the judgment of humanities-oriented professionals will become more valuable. Chen Hao stressed that a company’s culture, mission, and conscience are sources of differentiation that AI cannot replace. He pointed out that in a landscape where AI tools make brands look alike, what truly needs to be held onto is human conscience. Ai Xu optimistically stated that AI allows him to “get work done just by talking,” but emphasized that specialized vertical models will be the future direction. He urged enterprises to treat advanced tools with the right values and promote healthy industry development.
At the conclusion of the forum, Wang Gao provided a profound and comprehensive summary of the day’s events. He noted that AI technology has become an unavoidable trend for enterprises, and the question is no longer “whether to embrace it,” but that it truly exists. Wang Gao further emphasized that while embracing AI, enterprises must not blindly follow trends. He cautioned that the world has experienced wave after wave of trends with life cycles of less than a year, but AI’s profound impact far exceeds previous trends. However, the prerequisite is that the industry must jointly safeguard “trust” to go further.
This forum not only provided marketing professionals with cutting-edge intellectual insights but also pointed the way for Chinese enterprises to reconstruct growth logic and achieve brand rebirth in the AI era.