The AI boom is moving faster than most marketing teams can adapt.
Budgets are rising, job titles are disappearing, and no one seems sure if the machines are making us better or just busier.
So this issue isn’t about tools. It’s about people.
Who’s staying relevant? What’s being automated away? And where do brands still need a human touch to grow, to persuade, and to be believed?
In this issue:
• Job security in the age of AI marketing: Who’s in, who’s out
• 33-to-1: Is the AI hype-to-spend ratio to blame?
• In the AI era, trust has a byline
• Is anyone in B2B actually growing with AI?
—Jay & Adam
💼➡️💥
💥 MARKET MOVES:
Job security in the age of AI marketing: Who’s in, who’s out
Bloomberry’s analysis of 180 million job postings shows a clear divide emerging in marketing and creative work.
The “hands-on” layer is shrinking. Writers, designers, and editors are being squeezed by automation. While creative leadership roles are holding their ground. This reflects much of the sentiment around the industry that AI is good (and getting better) at the execution work and less adept at the strategic work.
The reasons?
Hey, we built this great new thing that does all of our jobs…
Execution is being commoditized
AI is eating craft faster than concept. The ability to guide story, emotion, and strategy still belongs to humans.
Influence is becoming more humanized
As feeds fill with synthetic AI content, trust is declining and people are tuning back into other people. Creators, experts, and voices with personality are cutting through where polished campaigns no longer do.
Marketing leadership is becoming more technical
The next wave of marketing leaders are system thinkers who know how data, content, and AI connect. Knowing how to use the tools is as critical as deciding what tools to use.
Flatter organizations reward hybrids
Behold the jack-of-all-trades, and preferably master of some, or at least more than one. People who can move from idea to insight to implementation without waiting on approvals or ticket queues.
👉 Takeaway:
Human value now lives in the gray zones: critical thinking, taste, and emotional intelligence.
Job security belongs to those who can move between all three seamlessly and with intent.
📊 DATA & INSIGHTS:
33-to-1: Is the AI hype-to-spend ratio to blame?
In a recent article, Fast Company argues that companies aren’t actually firing people because AI is too powerful, they’re firing people because AI is too expensive.
Global AI spending could hit $1 trillion by 2025, while the industry’s total revenue won’t top $30 billion.
That’s a 33-to-1 gap between investment and return.
Real ones know a perfectly conjured Clone High reference when they see one.
Amazon, Meta, and Oracle have all poured billions into AI infrastructure without showing matching profit growth. To cover the shortfall they are all cutting costs with layoffs dressed up as “AI transformation.”
👉 Takeaway:
We keep blaming the algorithm when it could be the allocation.
Billions spent, but few can explain what’s actually other than lots of people are losing jobs. So far the ROI does not justify the outcome.
🤝 When everyone’s chasing AI promises and cutting what makes them different, clarity becomes a competitive edge.
We help B2B teams sharpen their story, so buyers know exactly why you still matter.
Let’s make sure your brand is the one they remember.
✍️ THE MESSAGING LAB:
In the AI era, trust has a byline
If you read McKinsey’s interview with Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales as a B2B marketer, it should hit a nerve. In an emerging digital world built on AI and anonymity, trust still belongs to names, not logos.
Wikipedia survives because people can trace every edit, every claim, back to a consistent identity (even if it’s a pseudonym). You earn credibility not by being perfect, but by being persistent and accountable.
Honestly, it’s hard not to trust a man who willingly goes by “Jimbo.”
A lesson B2B brands keep forgetting
Most corporate content is faceless. Reports drop without authors. Opinions appear without fingerprints. Thought leadership reads like it was written by consensus. And you know what? Buyers can feel it.
Trust needs attribution
When people know who’s speaking, they decide whether to believe them. When they don’t, they assume the message was manufactured.
The fix is more presence
Let your experts sign what they say. Keep those names consistent across formats: article, webinar, podcast, pitch. Build author equity the same way you build brand equity.
👉 Takeaway:
In B2B, anonymity is the enemy of trust.
Effective messaging belongs to names with receipts.
🌋 DEMAND & GROWTH:
Is anyone in B2B actually growing with AI?
The short answer: yeah, a few.
McKinsey’s latest data shows only 19% of B2B companies are deploying generative AI at scale in sales or marketing today, with another 23% still experimenting. The rest are stuck in pilot purgatory: talking transformation, but not shipping results.
Growing companies aren’t automating for efficiency
They’re using AI to sharpen judgment, to find the next best lead, personalize outreach, and free humans to do what only they can: sell, decide, and connect.
One global B2B platform saw a 12% lift in win rate and an 83% drop in operational overhead after embedding AI into their sales-engineering workflow.
👉 Takeaway:
AI isn’t the growth engine. Yet.
But it is a turbo charger.
🔥 FAMOUS TAKE:
We’re about to enter the Taste Economy
AI can now do almost everything except decide what deserves to exist.
Taste is the filter that keeps output from becoming noise. It’s how strategy becomes style, how judgment turns data into something you’d actually stop to look at.
As AI flattens the playing field for production, taste becomes the new moat.
—Jay
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.