HotTopics Studio: Abbey Road Studios

AI is no longer a tool — it’s a contributor embedded into almost every function. As it creates, optimises and decides at scale, are CMOs actively defining where human judgement leads and machines support, or allowing that balance to emerge by default?

In partnership with Supermetrics

Marketing leaders have always had to earn their seat at the table. Today, that challenge has sharpened. As AI accelerates execution and lowers the cost of output, noise is abundant—unlike clarity, credibility, and commercial impact.

In this environment, influence is no longer won through volume or activity metrics. It is earned by owning the revenue story: aligning marketing, sales, and finance around a single view of performance, making disciplined investment decisions, and proving how demand translates into pipeline, efficiency, and growth.

So, what does it actually take to be heard now? This panel examines how CMOs are reframing demand generation as a system for efficient growth and how they build the data, narratives, and organisational alignment required to stand up to board-level scrutiny.

In partnership with Ziggy Agency

In partnership with Okta

It’s the question sitting behind many of the challenges marketing leaders face today. Confidence in attribution is wavering. Platform engagement is becoming unpredictable and the promise of purely data-driven strategies has often constrained creativity without delivering commensurate returns. And all of this is unfolding alongside AI disruption, persistent budget pressure, and the rise of the CRO.

It feels like the end of an era. But that may not be a bad thing. Organisations are now fully committed to technology as a competitive differentiator. AI is already augmenting the marketing function, and brand strategy is once again reaching board-level and CEO attention. In this environment, B2B marketers have a critical role to play.
So, is the B2B marketing playbook truly broken—or is it time for leaders to write a new rulebook for a fundamentally different industry?