In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Kate Mackie, Partner at EY and author of "B2B Marketing Fundamentals." Kate has over 20 years of experience leading global marketing initiatives across both agency and client-side roles. She's a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and was named one of the UK's 2023 most influential marketers. In this conversation, they explore a critical question: Is trust just a soft concept, or is it the strategic foundation that drives real B2B growth?

➡Kate makes a compelling case that the brand isn't fluffy—it's essential. She explains how trust connects brand, reputation, relationships, and revenue, and why consistency matters more than perfection. They discuss how reputation starts inside organizations with employee advocacy, how AI and data can either build or break customer confidence, and why leaders need to create psychological safety for teams to innovate. Kate also shares practical advice for early-career marketers, including why curiosity and reliable execution matter more than having a perfect career plan. Whether you're building brand credibility, navigating AI adoption, or trying to align internal culture with external promises, this conversation offers clear, actionable insights.

If you want to understand how to build lasting trust in B2B marketing, this episode is for you.

Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction to Kate Mackie and Trust in B2B

03:00 - The Daily Reality of Leading Global Marketing at EY

09:00 - Writing a Book: 511 Words a Day and the Four Pillars of B2B Marketing

13:00 - Why Brand Isn't Fluffy—It's Your Strategic Foundation

19:00 - Reputation Starts Inside: Employee Advocacy and Internal Culture

23:00 - AI, Data, and Transparency: Strengthening Trust in the Digital Age

28:00 - Creating Psychological Safety and Permission to Fail

32:00 - The Future of Trust in B2B Marketing

Follow Kate Mackie:

https://linkedin.com/in/mackiekate/?originalSubdomain=uk

https://www.ey.com/

If you care about making B2B marketing more meaningful, useful, and memorable, this conversation is for you. It's honest, reflective, and packed with takeaways that can help elevate your approach to trust-building—whether you're a content creator, strategist, or brand leader.

🌐Visit Joel Harrison's website to explore exclusive reports, upcoming events, and join the B2B marketing community ➡ https://www.joelharrisonb2b.com/

💬What role does trust play in your B2B marketing strategy? Let us know in the comments below.

🔔Subscribe to the channel for weekly insights, interviews, and on-the-ground perspectives from the world of B2B marketing. https://youtube.com/@JoelHarrison-B2B?sub_confirmation=1

📲Follow Joel Harrison and Trust & Influence in B2B across the web:

LinkedIn ▶ https://linkedin.com/in/joelharrison/

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#JoelHarrisonB2B, #B2BMarketing, #ThoughtLeadership, #ContentStrategy, #MarketingTrends, #B2BContent, #BrandVsDemand,...

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Clive Armitage, CEO of Pretzl, to discuss one of the most significant transformations in the B2B agency landscape. Clive shares the inside story of how five established Next 15-owned agencies—Agent3, Together, Velocity Partners, PAN Communications, and This is Distillery—came together to form Pretzl, a 300+ person global agency built from the ground up with AI at its core.

➡ Clive challenges the notion that this is simply a consolidation play, positioning Pretzl instead as a fundamental reimagining of how B2B marketing agencies can serve clients in an AI-driven era. He explains how the catalyst wasn't just market pressure, but a collective recognition among agency leaders that the traditional funnel-based approach to B2B marketing has stopped delivering results. The conversation explores how Pretzl's proprietary AI platform, Journey Lab, aims to industrialize buyer journey mapping at scale—something that was previously effective but too expensive and time-consuming to execute manually.

Beyond the technology, Clive offers candid insights into the human side of transformation: managing change across multiple agency cultures, communicating vision to nervous employees, maintaining client trust during upheaval, and learning hard lessons about over-communication. He discusses the delicate balance of honoring legacy brand equity while creating something entirely new, and why some talented people choosing to leave is an inevitable part of authentic transformation.

If you're navigating agency consolidation, implementing AI in professional services, or leading any significant organizational change in B2B, this conversation offers both strategic framework and tactical wisdom from someone in the thick of it.

Follow Clive Armitage

https://linkedin.com/in/clivearmitage/

https://www.pretzl.com

If you're interested in how B2B agencies are evolving to meet the dual challenges of market pressure and AI disruption—and what "technology and people as a service" (TAPAS) might mean for the future—this conversation is essential listening.

🌐 Visit Joel Harrison's website to explore exclusive reports, upcoming events, and join the B2B marketing community ➡ https://www.joelharrisonb2b.com/

💬 What do you think makes an agency merger successful in the AI era? Let us know in the comments below.

🔔 Subscribe to the channel for weekly insights, interviews, and on-the-ground perspectives from the world of B2B marketing.

https://youtube.com/@JoelHarrison-B2B?sub_confirmation=1

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Eddie O'Brien, Senior Director of Global Customer Insight at Sage. Together, they explore the transformative shift happening in market research and customer insight—moving beyond generative AI into the world of agentic intelligence, where AI doesn't just answer questions but actively collects data, analyzes it, and makes autonomous decisions in real time.

➡ Eddie challenges the narrative that AI will replace human insight professionals, arguing instead for a powerful partnership where AI handles the "explicit" data while humans focus on the "implicit"—the unsaid emotional needs and behavioral nuances that create true competitive advantage. He shares how Sage is already using AI to compress three-month research projects into hours, while maintaining quality through side-by-side testing of traditional methods against AI-powered approaches. The conversation covers practical use cases including how agentic AI is revolutionizing the briefing process, eliminating knowledge management gaps, and helping teams overcome inherent human biases. Eddie also addresses the critical trust question: how do you build stakeholder confidence when AI is informing major business decisions? His answer involves transparency, hybrid approaches, and demonstrating strong correlations between AI-generated and traditional research outputs.

If you're a B2B marketer, insight professional, or strategist wondering how AI will reshape your function—and what skills will remain uniquely human—this conversation offers both clarity and optimism about the future.

Follow Eddie O'Brien

https://linkedin.com/in/edwardaobrien/

https://www.sage.com

If you care about staying ahead in the AI-augmented future of B2B marketing and customer insight, this conversation is for you. It's practical, forward-thinking, and packed with real-world examples that can help you understand where to invest your energy as the industry transforms.

🌐Visit Joel Harrison's website to explore exclusive reports, upcoming events, and join the B2B marketing community ➡ https://www.joelharrisonb2b.com/

💬What aspects of your insight or research work do you think AI will augment first? Let us know in the comments below.

🔔Subscribe to the channel for weekly insights, interviews, and on-the-ground perspectives from the world of B2B marketing. https://youtube.com/@JoelHarrison-B2B?sub_confirmation=1

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction: Welcome to Trust and Influence in B2B

01:00 About Sage: 40 Years of Innovation in Business Software

02:30 The Three Eras of Customer Insight and Market Research

04:45 Understanding Agentic AI: Beyond Generative AI

07:15 Real-World Use Case: Compressing 3-Month Projects into Hours

10:30 The Quality Question: Testing AI Against Traditional Methods

13:00 AI vs Human in Thought Leadership: A Partnership, Not Replacement

16:00 Building Trust and Confidence with AI-Generated Insights

20:00 The Explicit vs Implicit: Where Human Insight Becomes Non-Negotiable

24:00 Transforming the Briefing Process with AI

28:30 Overcoming Human Bias and Knowledge Management Challenges

32:45 AI's Role in Different Marketing Activities and Thought Leadership

36:15 The Future of B2B Marketing: Where AI Excels and Where Experiential Wins

39:00 Looking Ahead: What Percentage of Insight Work Will Be AI-Augmented?

📲Follow Joel Harrison and Trust...