Marketing Must Transform Now
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By
A few highlights from Andy’s keynote to close this years B2B Marketing Forum in Sydney.
The AI wave is here. Marketing teams can ride it or get swept away.
We're living through an "AI super acceleration". While 80% of people have no clue what's happening, the other 20% are terrified about what comes next. Both groups are missing the point.
This isn't just another tech trend. We've passed the Turing test and barely noticed. AI has already reached the 90th percentile of human intelligence. The question isn't whether AI will change marketing - it's whether your team will adapt fast enough.
The VUCA Storm
Marketing operates in a VUCA world: volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Multiple forces hit us simultaneously - supply chain chaos, climate pressures, talent shortages, war, and consumer confidence swings. Add AI acceleration to this mix, and you get a "Cambrian explosion" of change.
Traditional wisdom breaks down here. The greatest danger isn't turbulence itself - it's acting with yesterday's logic. Most marketing playbooks assume a stable world that no longer exists.
Consider the contradiction: 63% of marketers already use AI, yet 50% see no ROI. Companies plan to reduce headcount by 39% while increasing AI spend by 42%. These aren't mixed signals - they're signs of a profession in transition.
The New Marketing Reality
AI will handle 30-50% of marketing workloads by 2027. That's not speculation - it's already happening. L'Oreal cut concept creation from weeks to days using AI image models. Coca-Cola produced their Christmas ad with AI this year. Microsoft eliminated 6,000 roles as AI reshaped software engineering.
The math is simple: AI can create content faster, test variations instantly, and personalise at scale. One billion AI agents will be in service globally by 2026. Marketing bots, prompt engineers, and campaign execution agents aren't coming - they're here.
But here's what most miss: AI isn't replacing marketers wholesale. It's creating a new type of marketer - the "agentic marketer" who orchestrates AI systems to make real-time decisions, adapt to customer behaviour, and learn from outcomes.
Five Critical Transformations
1. Talent and Capability Reboot
Your team needs new skills now. AI literacy isn't optional - it's fundamental. Companies must build AI-first capabilities today. This starts with:
Comprehensive AI training for all team members (ask us about running an AI Bootcamp for your team - we will accelerate AI adoption and outcomes).
Shared prompt libraries and best practices
Deep workflow mapping to identify automation opportunities
Driving voice-first and AI ready interactions
The most successful teams aren’t those lining up for Cannes Lions, they are those that are compounding their learning - driving new skills adoption at an accelerating rate.
2. Martech Stack Overhaul
We're entering an era of "DeSaaSification." Instead of managing dozens of point solutions, AI platforms offer exponential productivity through a single pane of glass. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) will standardise how AI assistants connect to external systems.
Smart marketers are consolidating tools, not adding them. AI-first platforms will replace traditional SaaS solutions that can't adapt fast enough.
3. Human-AI Strategy
The future belongs to teams that blend human creativity with AI efficiency. AI excels at pattern recognition, content generation, and optimisation. Humans excel at strategy, creativity, and relationship building.
Your AI teammate has an IQ in the 90th percentile but comes with flaws - it hallucinates, shows overconfidence, and has biases. Managing these limitations while maximising AI strengths becomes a core marketing skill.
4. Digital Infrastructure Rebuild
Search is evolving. Some say dying, but not yet - Google processes 373 times more searches than ChatGPT today, but that gap is closing fast. The shift from binary search to intelligent prompts changes everything.
Consider this evolution:
Web 2.0: "What are the five best fiction books about LA?"
AI Era: "Find five LA fiction books under 3 hours, buy for my Kindle, confirm downloaded"
Marketing must prepare for a world where AI agents handle customer research, comparison shopping, and purchase decisions.
5. Engagement Pool Strategy
Forget funnels. Modern B2B buying involves complex webs of decision-makers across functions and hierarchies. Six average touches per contact. Five to 12 contacts per account. Multiple decision cycles spanning months.
AI-fueled engagement pools manage these complex relationships automatically. Digital twins using 86,000+ variables can predict market responses and test scenarios before real-world execution.
What Actually Works
Despite all these changes, fundamentals matter more than ever:
Regional events still capture 58% of B2B budgets.
Brand-led companies spend 3-5% more but grow faster.
Influencer marketing delivers higher ROI than sales enablement.
Only 7% optimise for thought leadership, missing huge opportunities.
The companies winning today combine AI efficiency with human insight. They use technology to scale what works, not replace strategy with algorithms.
The Choice Ahead
Marketing stands at a crossroads. Teams can become exponentially more productive by embracing AI, or they can cling to old methods and become irrelevant.
Early movers eat the late. The gap between AI-enabled and traditional marketing teams will widen rapidly. By 2027, the difference won't be marginal - it will be existential.
The Internet changed access to content and products. AI changes access to intelligence itself. Marketing teams that understand this will shape the future. Those that don't will become footnotes.
Your next hire might be an AI agent. Your next campaign might be designed by artificial intelligence. Your next customer conversation might happen with a digital human.
The question isn't whether this future will arrive. It's whether you'll be ready when it does.
Chat to The Accelerants about an AI Bootcamp for your team - in one day, we will dramatically accelerate your AI know-how and capabilities. Or, book us for a keynote to open your next marketing offsite.
