From Salesforce to Meta to OpenAI, AI is reshaping how companies grow.
M&A is accelerating. CMOs are slashing headcount and outsourcing execution. And LinkedIn? It’s less “thought leadership,” more dopamine theater.
In this issue:
AI startup M&A is exploding
72% of CMOs are betting on AI
Take our reader poll
LinkedIn isn’t a thought leadership platform. It’s a stage.
Commercetools’ CTR dropped 20% after Google Overview launch
—Jay & Adam
💼➡️💥
💥 MARKET MOVES:
AI startup M&A is exploding
According to Mergermarket, global M&A deals involving AI startups rose 288% in value and 53% in volume in 2024—and 2025 is already ahead:
$55.3B in AI M&A deals YTD (already 11% higher than all of 2024)
240 deals in just six months (on pace to beat last year’s record of 454)
Who’s buying? Big tech and B2B leaders:
Meta took a 49% stake in Scale AI for $14.8B
OpenAI bought Jony Ive’s AI device startup io for $6.4B
Salesforce acquired Informatica for $8B
Grammarly, Nvidia, ServiceNow, and others are rapidly stacking capabilities
👉 Takeaway:
The AI arms race has entered its consolidation phase.
Expect more strategic tuck-ins as companies look to own proprietary models, pipelines, and platforms.
🌋 DEMAND & GROWTH:
72% of CMOs are betting on AI, not more staff
According to a recent 2025 report by 2X & Avasant, budgets are up, teams are not.
72% of CMOs now lead with AI-enabled campaigns, and one in five marketing dollars is going to technology—double the investment from five years ago.
Demand Gen Report put it this way:
B2B leaders are:
Reallocating program budgets to fund AI, not headcount
Outsourcing execution of campaigns and channel ops to boost speed without bloating
Keeping core strategy in-house, while turning to specialized partners for scale
Ditching legacy funnel metrics in favor of revenue, CLV, and real ROI
What’s emerging is a new operating model—leaner, smarter, and built for agility.
Campaign channels now absorb 23% of total spend, but 56% of the work is outsourced. And with headcount staying flat, marketing leaders are getting clear: every resource must either accelerate outcomes or get out of the way.
👉 Takeaway:
In 2025, demand teams are scaling outcomes, not effort.
AI is the accelerator. Outsourcing is the muscle. And strategy is still very much in-house.
🤝 Next up: 1 rebrand slot left for August & September
We’re down to just 1 brand strategy slot for late summer.
If you’re prepping for a rebrand, relaunch, or GTM shift and your message still feels murky, now’s the time to lock it in.
We work with B2B teams ready to sound like leaders, not just vendors.
In a crowded market, clarity isn't optional. It’s your edge.
✍️ THE MESSAGING LAB:
LinkedIn isn’t a thought leadership platform. It’s a stage.
LinkedIn says it wants thought leadership, professionalism, and original insight.
But in 2025, what it actually rewards (unfortunately) looks more like this:
Obvious truths dressed up as revelations
Self-improvement arcs with happy endings
Polished templates of vulnerability (with headshots)
Mildly controversial takes that invite debate but stay safe
How close are we to LinkedIn becoming “Cringey Business Pinterest?”
(image via Ivona Hirschi at Medium)
The most viral content? It’s often cliché on purpose. Short, skimmable, emotionally obvious—and 100% optimized for the dopamine scroll.
That doesn’t mean your B2B brand has to play dumb. But it does mean understanding what the platform actually amplifies—and where your content fits.
👉 Takeaway:
If you’re leading with nuance, you’re losing the feed.
To stand out on LinkedIn in 2025, lead with one sharp idea, back it with insight, and skip the trauma-bait. Be bold, not loud—and remember: engagement is not the same as impact.
LinkedIn is a tool, not a temple. Use it wisely, and remember: performers get seen—strategists get remembered.
What kind of B2BOOM! content would be most helpful for you this quarter?
📊 DATA & INSIGHTS:
Commercetools’ click-through rate dropped 20% after Google’s AI Overviews rolled out in late 2024
Ouch. When Google launched its AI Overviews, Commercetools saw an immediate 20% decline in CTR. They’re not alone.
Zero-click search is already reshaping B2B:
Organic traffic is slipping across the board
Attribution is getting murky
Top-of-funnel visibility is vanishing (!)
I never liked TOFU anyway
Here’s what’s holding steady: conversions.
That tells us what’s being lost is intent-light, early-stage attention. Which means the marketing funnel, as we know it, is collapsing from the top down.
The new priority: earning presence inside the model.
That means more:
Owned authority (structured sites, clean markup, entity clarity)
Earned media (press mentions now outrank your own site)
Brand visibility (AI doesn’t just crawl content—it reflects reputation)
👉 Takeaway:
If you’re not being cited in the answer, you’re not in the conversation. As search shifts from keywords to context, AI fluency is the new SEO.
🤝 Your funnel didn’t break. The rules of visibility did.
If your brand, demand, and content play hasn’t evolved for this new era of AI discovery, no paid campaign is going to save you.
That’s where we come in.
We plug in as an extension of your team—bringing senior brand and growth talent that helps you adapt to the new digital landscape.
Let’s recalibrate.
🔥 FAMOUS TAKE:
We’re entering a new golden era of brand.
That might sound backwards.
Some say brand is losing ground to performance, to AI, to automation.
But the opposite is true.
In a noisy, zero-click, AI-summarized world, brand is your one unfair advantage.
It earns you the mention when there’s no click.
It travels where attribution can’t.
It builds trust before the pitch.
The tactics may change. But what they orbit—your brand—matters more than ever.
—Adam
Thanks for reading. You could be spending your time anywhere—we’re glad you’re here. 💥
—Jay & Adam
Heads Up: In each issue of B2BOOM!, we highlight services from our crew at FamousFolks or friends we trust. When you see the 🤝, it means we’re sharing something we genuinely back. We only shout out things we believe are truly valuable for your business—no shady promos, just stuff we stand behind.