Patrick Kiss, head of investor and public relations, on his creative use of AI for IR
What did it take to turn Patrick Kiss, IR Impact Award-winning investor relations lead at Deutsche EuroShop, into a fully boxed action figure? Well, it needs a spark of creativity, a ChatGPT Pro account plus a lot of patience. ‘To give you an idea of the work involved, the final optimized prompt for my own action figure had 304 words in 66 lines with more than 2,200 characters,’ says Kiss.
This is something of a side step from the usual conversations around AI for IR, where the focus is on saving time for IROs paddling against the current of increasing workloads and growing responsibility. Instead, Kiss prioritized creativity with a task that added to his workload rather than streamlined it. He says the results offered a memorable addition to what has become a ‘cult’ section in the firm’s annual report, however.
The action figures Kiss created – in bespoke packaging with personalized accessories – have sparked conversation among the firm’s analysts and investors, who look to the management page in the annual report for yearly insights into the people behind the shopping center management company. And since the entire group comprises just eight people – yes, you read that right – Kiss says many on the investment side have a sense of pride in personally knowing everyone at Deutsche EuroShop. In fact, he explains that this ‘cult page’ is as popular a read as the CEO’s remuneration report.
Usually, personal insights are the go-to here, from each employee’s ‘purchase of the year’ to a favorite recipe from the CEO or a restaurant recommendation from the head of finance. This year however, the team did not get new headshots. It was at the last moment that the ever-creative Kiss came up with the idea of AI-generated action figures, working on them in the days before the annual report was published.
And they’ve been a real hit. Each ‘box’ comes not just with an action figure but accessories that reveal something of their personalities as well. ‘You get more than just a recognizable face,’ says Kiss. ‘Each person’s two unique accessories are typical of that colleague, alongside the ‘purchase of the year’ that we do every year. These details really brought them to life.’
Kiss says it is this recognizability that made the figures such a talking point. ’It added that extra layer of humor and personal touch – Gwendolin Tommalla, director asset and portfolio management, and her water for example. That is something no one sees her without. People who know her recognize her here.’
So what does the Patrick Kiss action figure come with? There’s his new sofa, his IR essential (his smartphone) and a Bembel, which he explains is ‘a traditional apple wine jug from my home town of Frankfurt in Hesse’.
Kiss is also adamant this needed to be an in-house effort. Not just for the time involved – some action figures were easier to produce, while others (such as Kiss himself) took hours to get right – but also the depth of personal connection needed to make these work.
And he says it’s been an interesting exercise for himself as well – one that has highlighted the effort that’s still sometimes needed in AI as well as the vast potential.
‘It’s fascinating to see how a creative idea can generate such positive buzz, even in a corporate context,’ says Kiss. ‘It is a testament to how these new AI tools can really increase creativity, even for something as unique as an annual report feature.’
