AI in B2B marketing: insights from RevTalks Amsterdam

This week I joined a breakfast session in Amsterdam with around thirty marketing leaders, hosted by 6sense as part of their RevTalks series. It was one of those crisp September mornings where conversations flow easily, fuelled by coffee and curiosity. The intimate set-up gave us the chance to really listen and challenge each other on how sales and marketing are evolving, and more importantly, how artificial intelligence is reshaping B2B marketing in Europe. 

The speaker line-up was impressive. Latané Conant, CMO of 6sense and author of No Forms. No Spam. No Cold Calls, set the tone with her energetic perspective on AI and creativity. Marije Gould, now VP Demand Generation at Culture Amp and one of SPOTONVISION’s very first customers, shared her experience of transforming global demand generation. And my colleague and co-founder of SPOTONVISION, Shimon Ben Ayoun, brought things close to home with a case study showing how account-based marketing powered by 6sense can drive efficiency and pipeline generation. 

Listening to these three perspectives, and engaging in discussion with peers from across the Netherlands and beyond, I came away convinced that we are at a turning point. AI is not just an add-on to our marketing toolbox, it is fundamentally reshaping how European B2B companies think about engagement, pipeline and collaboration. 

AI in B2B marketing: from scarcity to creativity 

Latané’s talk carried the title “Scarcity is the mother of creativity” and it resonated strongly. In an era where 80% of search users already use AI, the traditional playbook of keywords and click-through rates is less effective. Instead of thinking about keywords, she challenged us to think in prompts, questions and answers. 

Consistency of brand and messaging has never been more important. If AI is scanning the web for answers, then the way we present our stories, tag our images and structure our content will determine whether we show up in front of potential buyers. 

I particularly liked her analogy of “crumbs making a cake”. Every small signal can be collected and combined, and with the right tools this can lead to a meeting in minutes. At 6sense, 20-25% of the pipeline is already created autonomously in this way. 

She also walked us through four proven plays that her team runs: 

• Awaken the dead: reopening opportunities that had gone cold 

• Job change: following up immediately when decision-makers move roles 

• Early funnel engagement: connecting peers to peers at the right time 

• Website visitors: using behaviour as a trigger for relevant engagement 

Underpinning these plays are AI-driven agents, trained on account behaviour, customer stories and personas. The speed of follow-up is crucial. As Latané reminded us, leads contacted within five minutes are 21 times more likely to convert, while after one hour conversion rates drop dramatically. 

The omnichannel reality is here too. 6sense has brought multiple channels together on one canvas, driven by AI-enabled workflows. This helps marketing generate pipeline more predictably, but it also raises a challenge. If marketing delivers pipeline so effectively, sales risks behaving like “zookeepers” rather than hunters. The call to action for sales is clear: prospecting still matters, but AI can make it easier and more effective. 

Why the funnel is dead: account-based marketing in Europe 

Marije Gould brought her own story from Culture Amp, a fast-growing global company. When she joined, she encountered silos in sales and marketing. Separate inbound and outbound teams, different tools, lots of spend on paid search and events, and an overreliance on form fills. 

As she put it, the funnel is not dead in the sense that we do not measure stages anymore, but it is certainly not linear. Buyers do not move neatly from awareness to decision. They might not even visit your website. 

Her team started shifting towards segment-based plays, looking at buying centres rather than just individual leads. By implementing signal-to-intent, experimenting with AI agents, and collaborating more closely with SDRs, they achieved two things: improved conversion and reduced reliance on large SDR teams. 

Marije admitted the journey was not easy. Convincing people to trust AI required showing clear results, and cleaning up the tech stack was a challenge. But the outcome speaks volumes: less noise, better conversations, and growth that is still continuing. 

Her advice to the group of European marketing leaders was simple: be open, keep learning, and focus on collaboration across sales, marketing and product. The world is moving fast, and AI is already embedded in almost everything we do. 

Account-based marketing case study from SPOTONVISION 

Finally, Shimon grounded the discussion with a case study from SPOTONVISION. He showed how even a simple nurture campaign can become highly efficient when powered by 6sense. One play targeted 43 accounts through a webinar, while another focused on the most active accounts with a breakfast session. 

The goal was clear: sell a scoping session as a foot-in-the-door proposition. Using 6sense signals such as job vacancies, behaviour and intent data, the team built targeted audiences and ran micro-campaigns. The beauty lies in the simplicity. Small, well-structured plays can fill the pipeline when executed with the right signals and tools. 

A live demo showed how easy it is to select accounts, set up multichannel flows, and drag and drop based on behaviour or changing insights. It is not about scaling everything at once, but about precision. 

Hard questions from the room 

The Q&A brought out some of the more uncomfortable truths. 

• Should we ungate content? It feels counterintuitive, but experiments show conversions go up when content is free. The challenge is not creating content, since everyone already has blogs, e-books and videos. The real question is: what is your high-value call to action? 

• How do you justify expensive content? As Latané quipped, “You don’t.” The point of content is not just to promote ourselves, but to build confidence in buyers. They believe the product might be good, but they are not sure if it will work for them. Research and thought leadership should help them gain confidence in their own choices. 

• What should we really report to the board? The consensus was clear: pipeline matters. MQL targets are outdated. Boards want to see growth, and marketing’s role is to deliver it. 

One other strong theme was the role of thought leaders. People follow individuals more than companies. Building trust, category design and brand presence through visible leaders is an investment that pays off in credibility and SEO impact. 

AI as a friend to European B2B marketers 

The underlying message across all contributions was clear: AI is not a threat, it is a friend. Yes, the pace is fast and it can feel daunting, but those who embrace it will drive efficiency, improve collaboration and build better customer journeys. 

For me, as co-founder of SPOTONVISION and partner of 6sense, it was inspiring to hear these stories come together. From Latané’s creative approach, to Marije’s global transformation, to our own practical case study, the message is consistent. The future of account-based marketing is here, and AI is right at the centre. 

As European B2B marketing leaders, we need to be curious, test and learn, and above all, work closely with sales and product. The crumbs really can become a cake, but only if we collect them with care.