Written by Jonathan Turner, Managing Partner
AI has made it cheaper, faster, and easier than ever to create content. But although production may have become effortless, differentiation hasn’t. Indeed, findings from the latest B2B Superpowers Index, the largest ever global study of B2B buying behaviour, show that 69% of buyers agree that multiple brands are saying very similar things within their marketing and communications.
Standing out in a sea of content
AI has put an end to the issues of scale caused by teams that are strapped for time, limited budgets, and long production cycles.
But this technology’s widespread adoption gives rise to other questions: when everyone has access to the same tools and when speed becomes the industry standard, what happens to originality?
Today, the volume of content being produced is exploding. Conversely, attention is an increasingly precious commodity: buyers are overwhelmed, with saturated feeds featuring messaging that’s starting to blur together.
There’s no question as to AI’s role in content production. But to what extent can it deliver something truly unique, if brands are all surfing the same algorithm?
The risk of optimising for efficiency
It’s understandable that many B2B teams are racing to adopt AI across the board in a bid to automate workflows, accelerate production, and reduce costs. After all, AI delivers measurable gains in productivity. But an ever-present focus on efficiency puts memorability at risk.
In a world where execution is increasingly automated, the strategic and creative layer of any campaign inevitably becomes more exposed. Now that the mechanics behind these campaigns are accessible to all, the advantage may shift elsewhere – namely, to genuine meaning and authentic connection.
The difference between personalised and personal
In today’s AI-driven marketing, personalised and personal content are not the same and B2B brands confuse them at their peril.
Personalisation is what AI does best: analysing data, segmenting audiences, and tailoring messages so they feel relevant.
But relevance alone doesn’t build that all-important connection. Being personal – communicating in a relatable voice that’s authentic and empathetic, drawing on context, understanding and assimilating nuance, and conveying subtle emotions – is where humans excel.
Stand-out B2B marketing won’t just use AI to produce something personalised; instead, it will combine data-driven precision with genuine human creativity. And we’re already seeing proof of this: according to findings from The Superpowers Index, 72% of B2B buyers say that the marketing and communications they’re receiving from brands have become much more creative.
What role for influencers, be they real or virtual?
B2B marketing has long operated on a simple truth: humans buy from humans. Trust is built through credibility, familiarity, and shared perspectives; that’s why founders, subject-matter experts, and industry voices have become powerful growth engines for brands. Our Superpowers Index confirms this, with 65% of our buying audience agreeing that experts and influencers have a growing impact on the brands that they want to engage with.
But what happens when influence itself becomes scalable, thought leadership can be generated at volume, personas can be constructed, and authority can be simulated?
In a landscape where even expertise can be convincingly replicated, the ability to trade on real reputation, lived experience, and a consistent human presence may become increasingly rare.
An emerging creative divide
We’re starting to see a real divide between two types of organisations: those who use AI to simply produce more and those who use AI to enhance their production. But isn’t there room for AI to be used both for scale and for creative effectiveness?
If you’re grappling with AI adoption, rethinking your content strategy, or simply wondering how to stay distinctive in a sea of generated (and increasingly generic) messaging, our conversation as part of our Beyond The Index vodcast episode on the role of creativity in the era of the AI-powered buyer is for you.
Drawing on the insights from more than 16,000 buyers and 35,000 brand experiences that form the backbone of our Superpowers Index, we explore what’s changing, what’s not, and what this shift means for B2B marketers who want to bold in building their brands. For all Beyond The Index vodcasts, click here.
