Oguz A. Acar — Professor, Author, Speaker

Speaking Topics

Keynotes & executive sessions

Examples of keynote and executive session topics for leadership, strategy, marketing, and innovation audiences.

When AI Becomes Your Partner, Rival, and Customer

AI is no longer just a tool. It is increasingly shaping decisions, influencing competition, and acting with greater autonomy across work and commerce. This keynote explores how strategy changes when AI starts to behave not only as a partner, but also as a rival and even a customer.

Audience takeaway How to rethink strategy when AI is reshaping the competitive environment, not just supporting the business.

Leading Through AI Uncertainty

Most organisations know they need to engage with AI, but far fewer are clear on where to focus, how fast to move, or how to separate real opportunity from hype. This talk helps leaders approach AI with a more disciplined strategic lens, combining opportunity assessment, risk management, and practical experimentation.

Audience takeaway A clearer framework for deciding where AI can create value, where caution is needed, and how to move forward intelligently.

Preparing Your Brand for AI Agents

As AI agents become more involved in search, recommendation, and purchasing, brands will increasingly need to win not only with people, but through machines. This keynote examines how AI is changing visibility, customer journeys, and brand strategy when algorithms start acting as gatekeepers.

Audience takeaway How brand strategy needs to evolve for a world of AI-mediated discovery, recommendation, and purchase.

Creativity and Innovation in the Age of AI

AI can make people more creative individually, while making organisations less original collectively. As more teams rely on the same tools, prompts, and patterns, creative output can become faster but also more homogeneous. This talk explores how leaders can use AI to expand innovation without sacrificing diversity of thought.

Audience takeaway How to capture AI's creative upside without falling into sameness.

Talks can also be tailored for specific sectors and audiences, including financial services, marketing, higher education, and executive leadership teams.

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Trusted by organisations including

Mastercard NATO Dyson State Farm Ambrosetti Kantar DBS Bank frog (Capgemini)

About

Bridging research and practice

I'm a Professor of Marketing & Innovation and Chair in Marketing at King's Business School, King's College London, where I pioneered the school's generative AI integration as its founding Head of Generative AI. I serve on the steering board of the King's Institute for AI.

My work explores how AI is reshaping competition, branding, creativity, and decision-making – and what that means for leaders and organisations.

My research is published in leading journals, including Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Management, Psychological Science, and Research Policy. I have also written 16 articles for Harvard Business Review and publish regularly in executive-oriented management outlets.

King's College London World Economic Forum Fellow, RSA Fellow, HEA

When AI becomes your partner, rival, and customer, strategy has to change.

When AI Becomes Your Partner, Rival, and Customer

Leading Through AI Uncertainty

Preparing Your Brand for AI Agents

Creativity and Innovation in the Age of AI

Preparing Your Brand for Agentic AI

Reimagining Marketing Strategy for the AI Era

Research: The Hidden Penalty of Using AI at Work

Research: Consumers Don't Want AI to Seem Human

A Toolkit to Help You Manage Uncertainty Around AI

How GenAI Changes Creative Work

Is Your AI-First Strategy Causing More Problems Than It's Solving?

AI Prompt Engineering Isn't the Future