CENTOURIS honoured with Best Paper Award for research on AI in digital marketing
The 6th International Conference on Marketing and Technologies (ICMarkTech) brought together marketing and technology experts from all over the world from 5 to 7 December 2024 to discuss the latest developments and trends in digital marketing. The focus was on the transformative role of artificial intelligence (AI). A study by the CENTOURIS market research institute at the University of Passau received the Best Paper Award at the conference.

(From left) Jury member Prof. Enrique Bigne, Ph.D., presents the award to Dr Stefan Mang and Josef Harasser. Image source: ICMarkTech24
At the 6th International Conference on Marketing and Technologies (ICMarkTech), which took place in the Azores at the beginning of December, inspiring keynotes such as ‘AI as a Catalyst for Next-Gen Marketing’ by Luis Paulo Reis and ‘From SEO to AIO: Managing AI Applications as Audiences’ by Ulrike Gretzel provided exciting insights into the future of marketing strategies.
A particular highlight of the conference for the Passau delegation was the honouring of the CENTOURIS team: Josef Harasser, Verena Wecklein, Franziska Kellerer and Stefan Mang were honoured with the Best Paper Award for their paper ‘Hey Robot, Here's My Data: The Impact of AI on Joining Digital B2B Platforms’, which was selected from over 200 submissions.
The award-winning study examines how AI-supported data entry influences users' perception and willingness to disclose data on digital B2B platforms. In a large-scale experiment with over 400 marketing experts, four scenarios were compared that highlighted the use of AI-supported versus human data entry and the difference between start-ups and established companies. The results show that AI-assisted input increases perceived usefulness, which in turn increases willingness to disclose data.
These findings not only provide new scientific insights, but also have practical implications: companies can use targeted measures to promote the acceptance of AI and thus optimise its integration into business processes.
The CENTOURIS team is proud of the international recognition: ‘The Best Paper Award is a great appreciation of our work and motivates us to continue to pursue innovative research on AI in marketing. AI is undoubtedly a key technology for shaping future marketing and will play a crucial role in designing personalised customer experiences and more efficient processes,’ says Dr. Stefan Mang, Managing Director of CENTOURIS.
With this award, the Institute of the University of Passau is emphasising its contribution to the further development of digital marketing and the importance of practical research in a rapidly changing field of technology.
This text was machine-translated from German.