Salesforce’s newest Dreamforce ambition, to sell agentic AI to the enterprise, is a purely psychological exercise.

That is to say that, just like every Dreamforce that came before it, this year’s event is a brand play.

But perhaps with a higher degree of difficulty.

This time, Salesforce isn’t introducing a new feature, it’s asking risk-averse organizations to trust autonomy itself, in what ostensibly amounts to a new product category to rival and replace CRM. The “agentic enterprise” is a difficult mindset shift: a call for companies to let AI handle decisions that once required human oversight.

Convincing compliance-driven buyers of that idea will take evidence, not enthusiasm, proof that autonomy can operate inside the same guardrails that built the enterprise in the first place.

At the end of the day, it comes down to what brand always comes down to: trust.

The harder technology is to explain, the more decisive that trust becomes. In an AI market crowded with claims, credibility is the only durable moat left. Hopefully, there aren’t any high profile incidents affecting that credibility.

AI search is now the front door to the entire B2B funnel.

Forrester’s latest data shows that 94% of buyers now use tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity at every stage of the purchase process. That means visibility largely depends how well your brand is indexed in an LLM's logic.

Clean structure, consistent language, and most importantly, authoritative content. What used to be SEO has become AI optimization or GEO, a new discipline where clarity and coherence outrank cleverness.

Buyers still look to people they trust to confirm what the model suggests. According to Forrester, influencers now rank second only to AI search as the most impactful source shaping B2B purchase decisions. Which means once you’ve optimized for the machine, you’ll need to earn validation from the humans who influence it.

Discovery has shifted from Google to generative.

To grow, B2B brands now have to win twice: first with the algorithm that decides what buyers see, and then with the humans they trust to believe it.

We help B2B teams stand out where decisions are actually made: inside the algorithms, inboxes, and conversations that shape perception. Through sharper narrative, positioning, and content systems, we turn brand clarity into competitive edge.

B2B marketers love a clean divide: brand builds trust, demand drives leads. But that separation is what’s breaking growth.

VP of Strategy over at the MX Group, Kelly Olson, calls for experience thinking: the idea that every interaction with your company shapes the brand, not just the campaigns labeled as “brand.” From the first ad to the renewal call, each touchpoint either reinforces your promise or erodes it.

Leading with brand uses your brand promise as the operating system for every team. Sales, content, and CX all become extensions of one story. The goal isn’t so much alignment on messaging as it is alignment on experience.

In modern B2B, brand doesn’t sit above demand. It creates it.

By shaping how buyers interpret everything that follows, a strong brand dictates how pricing is perceived, how trust is earned, and how fast credibility compounds. Every lead that converts faster, every deal that closes at a premium, is brand doing its quiet work.

Half of B2B marketers say brand building isn’t a priority for their business.

Let’s process that for a second…

According to Marketing Week’s State of B2B Marketing survey, 50.7 percent of marketers deprioritize brand due to a “lack of ROI.” Others blame short-term pressure or limited budgets. The result? Entire categories built on price and parity.

That’s a gift to anyone who sees the game clearly.

In immature or commoditized markets, even modest brand investment can redraw the map. A clear story, consistent identity, and a few smart awareness plays can tilt perception and budgets overnight.

We’ve been hammering at this for a while: in many B2B categories, brand is the competitive advantage.

Not a luxury. Not a campaign. The difference between a name buyers default to and one they forget exists.

Sales teams are buried in admin. Funnels chase clicks instead of intent. Proof points get lost in channels where no one’s listening.

We help B2B teams realign the system, connecting brand and demand, tightening sales discipline, and building content that meets buyers in the paths they now take: AI search, social validation, and peer influence.

AI doesn’t discover you. It recognizes patterns. Influencers don’t sell you. They translate what your brand already signals. By the time sales enters the picture, the narrative’s been written by your content, your consistency, and your visibility in the systems buyers trust most.

—Jay