Award-winning Archives

The AI Confidence Gap

A B2B marketing AI paradox: Confidence is dropping as skills rise

Marketers are learning the tools. But they’re still unsure of their place.

Between January and mid-April 2025, Watchtower—Intercept’s proprietary AI-powered research platform—analyzed public digital conversations from over 328,000 B2B marketers worldwide to uncover signals shaping how teams are thinking, talking, and feeling about AI.

Skill development is clearly on the rise: B2B marketers are actively exploring new tools, building AI into daily workflows, and refining prompting techniques. Content solutions are accelerating and gaining sophistication. Many teams are finding ways to integrate AI into campaigns and production.

However, momentum hasn’t translated to stability. In the study’s six adoption pillars, Job Confidence—how secure and supported marketers feel in their roles—ranked lowest.

Meanwhile, Individual AI Proficiency was among the highest ranked. These represent the widest gap across any category pairing in the index.

Without shared standards or clear direction from leadership, even experienced marketers are raising important questions:

• What does success with AI look like?
• Where should I take initiative, and where is guidance still needed?

Marketers are requesting specific AI guidelines, flagging friction in role designations, and hesitating to fully adopt tools without leadership endorsement. While AI use is spreading organically, many teams lack frameworks to assure long-term legitimacy.

Leaders can define purpose

Confidence doesn’t come from tools alone. It demands context—clear explanation about what AI is for, how it fits, where it’s going. It’s here that leadership can play a clarifying role.

Framing the “why” behind AI

While most teams are familiar with what AI can do, fewer have a sense of why they’re using it—beyond improving efficiency.

A shared narrative can help connect adoption efforts to broader goals. Whether AI is being introduced to scale content, free up creative time, or accelerate speed to market, purpose matters. When teams understand the bigger picture, adoption can feel more intentional.

Delineating roles and responsibilities

After getting access to tools, teams could benefit from explicit guidance about how responsibilities are divided between AI and human input.

This might include mapping tasks across the marketing function and considering:

• Where can AI help scale or simplify repeatable work?
• Where is human insight, judgment, or nuance required?
• Where might human-AI collaboration be most effective—with appropriate oversight?

Outlining these boundaries can support more consistent execution, and reduce ambiguity about how roles evolve.

Revisiting performance metrics

Traditional KPIs may not fully reflect the value of AI-supported work. For example, a marketer using AI to accelerate iteration or refine messaging might be creating more impact—without increasing output volume.

In these cases, updating metrics to reflect new workflows and outcomes could provide a more accurate view of contribution. Or support a culture where thoughtful use of AI is encouraged, not merely as a means to speed production.

Bringing teams into the conversation

Rather than introducing AI top-down, many organizations are creating space for teams to share input and shape adoption efforts. Examples include internal AI working groups, department-level leads, or regular forums to exchange use cases, challenges, and learnings.

When teams feel included in the process, they’re often more engaged by the results.

From experimentation to alignment

The Q2 Brief makes one point clear: AI in B2B marketing isn’t slowing down. But without organizational clarity, adoption can feel more like improvisation than strategy.

If marketers are gaining skills but losing confidence, it’s not a sign of resistance. It’s a signal that teams are moving faster than their frameworks—and that leadership needs to catch up.

That’s why the Q2 Trends Brief doesn’t stop at insight. It poses five strategic questions designed to help teams move from scattered tool usage to intentional, aligned adoption. These aren’t checklist items. They’re conversation starters meant to help leaders shape structure, provide direction, and guide meaningful change.

Conversation is what turns experimentation into strategy. Our brief is designed to help you get there, with suggestions for practical dialogue that can build confidence over time.

Want the full breakdown of how B2B marketers are navigating AI?

Download the Q2 AI Trends Brief

How to Turn a Hero Asset into a High-Performance Campaign in 9 Clicks

Every B2B marketing team knows what it takes to create “hero assets.” After pouring weeks into perfecting a white paper, it gets its moment in the spotlight on social, and then what? It’s filed away with other assets that never get the opportunity to perform.

It can feel like you’ve run a marathon only to head back to the starting line to do it again. This content creation cycle can seem relentless, especially given today’s fast-paced market and the growing content appetites of B2B buyers.

There’s got to be a better way

This is where Jasper steps in with its handy feature called Campaigns. Imagine being able to transform your hard-earned hero asset into a full-fledged campaign with just a few clicks. It’s possible today.

Here’s a quick look at how we use it. One of our research studies is called Nology, which surveys 500 technology buyers on their digital transformation maturity, buying needs, and B2B marketing preferences. After producing a hero white paper, we felt it had more potential and turned to Jasper for some extra content production support.

Creating a campaign in 9 clicks

We started by naming our campaign, selecting a voice, and uploading our hero asset.

We then chose the type of content we were looking to produce to support our digital campaign and hit “Generate Campaign.”

While it’s not magic, it does take the edge off starting from square one. One of our copywriters was able to take the initial outputs and refine them to ensure they were accurate, engaging, and on-brand.

The Impact: More Than Just Time Saved

Embracing Jasper has led to several impressive results:

Efficiency: Speedy draft generation means we can take on more without our teams feeling swamped.
Quality: Letting AI handle the heavy-lifting means our team can focus on finessing the content, adding that essential human touch.
Empowerment: With the bulk of content generation sorted, team members can expand their horizons and tackle new projects, leading to professional growth and job satisfaction.
Focus: Our team can zero in on their core roles, reducing time spent on repetitive tasks.
Streamlined Briefing: Jasper drastically cuts down the time spent wrangling multiple case studies and makes onboarding new team members a breeze.

AI as an Enabler of Human Creativity

Rather than replacing human jobs, AI tools like Jasper play a crucial role in the workplace by enabling professionals to focus on more creative and strategic tasks.

In the context of writing and producing content, this means less time spent on drafting and more on refining to ensure the final output is high quality and on-time.

The Future of AI-Driven Content Creation

As AI continues to evolve, businesses at the enterprise and mid-market levels will further realize its integral role in content creation and management and as a tool for innovation.

For companies looking to scale up their content production without compromising quality, feature-rich solutions like Jasper are a game-changer. They bring consistency, efficiency, and a certain level of creativity that, when combined with human oversight, can consistently produce exceptional results.

Looking to leverage Gen AI in your B2B marketing operations? Get in touch for more insights.

Drive Impact in 2024: 5 Award-Winning Tech Campaigns from Intercept

As you look ahead to the second half of the year, we want to share some award-winning campaigns from the past year to inspire your thinking. These notable campaigns drove results and raised the bar on innovative marketing strategies for this year and beyond. Here are five campaigns that show how to turn challenge into opportunity.

Winning Campaign #1

‘Dev Zone’

Microsoft wanted to keep the developer community engaged in a post-pandemic world where fewer in-person meetups are the norm. Busy developers often struggle to attend events due to packed schedules. We turned this pain-point into an engaging experience with an innovative approach that met the demands of developers’ schedules while honoring the value of their time. Through an exclusive screening for an exclusive audience, developers consumed Microsoft Build content while being among the first watch the premiere of Top Gun: Maverick. Based on its success, it was scaled out globally to reach developers around the world and served as a guiding light for other major Microsoft events like Ignite, Inspire, and Envision.

Winning Campaign #2

‘Subscription Overload’

In the rapidly evolving tech landscape, companies face a deluge of “as-a-service” solutions, which drive innovation but also lead to subscription overload and escalating expenses. HP recognized this challenge as an opportunity to introduce HP Subscription Management Service. The challenge was to educate businesses on how it would streamline their cloud subscriptions. We employed a multi-channel strategy of leveraging display, search, YouTube, content syndication, and publisher-direct media buys to successfully engage the audience while exceeding our target objective.

Winning Campaign #3

‘Surface Show and Go’

Microsoft Surface devices are considered premium offerings, and their price point demands an in-person experience for buyers to fully appreciate their value. To address this challenge, we created Microsoft’s first-ever hybrid device showcase kit to showcase the premium nature of the Surface devices through both physical and digital experiences. The campaign’s success, innovative approach, and premium offering have set a new standard for how Surface devices are experienced in the modern workplace.

Winning Campaign #4

‘To the Cloud’

In the ever-evolving tech industry, Managed Service Providers (MSPs) play a crucial role in managing businesses’ IT infrastructure. With the introduction of cloud technology, MSPs are faced with an important imperative: innovate before you’re forced to. TD SYNNEX recognized this pivotal moment and embarked on a new initiative to empower MSPs with the knowledge and tools required to successfully embrace the cloud. New MSPs had minimal experience selling cloud solutions and had barriers around knowledge, skills, and processes. Existing MSPs struggled with scaling their cloud practice, while navigating the multitude of TD SYNNEX programs and resources. To address these unique challenges, we engaged new MSPs with a 7-step guide to building a profitable cloud practice. To empower existing MSPs, we partnered with IT World Canada to create an exclusive webinar that covered the latest trends and strategies to accelerate their business transformation. As a result, the campaign in-market period was extended to extract every ounce of value from this high-performance campaign.

Winning Campaign #5

‘Winning Future SMB Owners’

Intuit faced increasing competition from modern cloud-native rivals in reaching the young startups. To secure the future of small business customers, Intuit needed to engage customers earlier in their journey to ensure QuickBooks was chosen as they entered the workforce. We developed an integrated digital strategy targeting university and college educators, recognizing them as influencers. By engaging with educators in focus groups, we gained insights into their methods for evaluating tools and resources for their curricula. Leveraging this, we used concise and punchy quotes and data from these educators as key proof points to incorporate QuickBooks into their curriculum.

Want to learn more about B2B marketing best practices? Request a free Nology session with us for practical insights to guide your campaign strategies.

Challenger Sales Model

The Challenger Sales Model: Elevating B2B Marketing through Teaching and Tailoring

The Challenger Sales Model, introduced by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson, is a ground-breaking method that shifts the focus away from merely building relationships with prospects. Instead, it emphasizes taking control of a sale by teaching customers how to solve their problems effectively. This blog post will dive deeper into the Challenger Sales Model and discuss how B2B marketers can apply it to creating impactful marketing content.

Understanding the Challenger Sales Model

The Challenger Sales Model revolves around three core principles: teaching, tailoring, and taking control of a sales experience. It’s a sales approach designed to excel in an environment where buyers are already well-informed about products and features. The model is based on five distinct profiles of sales representatives: The Hard Worker, The Relationship Builder, The Lone Wolf, The Problem Solver, and The Challenger.

The Challenger profile stands out as the most effective, as it creates constructive tension by disputing a customer’s way of thinking and encourages them to consider new opportunities and solutions they may not have thought of otherwise.

Applying Challenger Sales Model to Marketing Content

In today’s world, B2B buyers are more informed and face complex buying decisions. The Challenger Sales Model can be a game-changer in this context. To integrate the Challenger Sales Model into your marketing content, concentrate on the following:

Providing insights: Share valuable information that challenges customers’ preconceived ideas, illuminates unknown problems, and uncovers untapped opportunities in their business. This can help customers view your company as a thought leader in the industry.
Creating constructive tension: Dispute customers’ assumptions, identify flaws in their current approach, and present a better solution. This not only engages the customer but also highlights your expertise and the unique value of your product.
Teaching customers: Educate them on aspects they might be unaware of, positioning your business as a knowledgeable and helpful resource they can rely on to navigate the complexities of their industry

Enhancing Thought Leadership with the Challenger Sales Model

The Challenger Sales Model offers a fresh and innovative approach to B2B marketing, enabling businesses to stand out in an increasingly intricate and competitive landscape. By incorporating the principles of this model into your marketing content, you can engage prospects more effectively, challenge their assumptions, and ultimately, guide them to see your product as the best solution to their problem.

In periods of economic uncertainty, thought leadership gains even more importance. Adopting the Challenger Sales Model empowers businesses to establish themselves as industry experts and dependable partners, offering valuable insights and guidance customers require during difficult times. This approach not only helps build trust and credibility, but it also cultivates long-lasting relationships with customers who will remember the support and expertise provided when they need it the most.

Key Takeaways

Embracing the Challenger Sales Model in your B2B marketing content and strategies can lead to a more engaging and effective approach to reaching your audience. You can position your business as a knowledgeable resource and trusted partner by challenging customer assumptions, providing valuable insights, and teaching them something new. In times of economic downturns, this approach becomes even more vital as customers seek guidance and support from businesses that demonstrate thought leadership and a deep understanding of their needs.

5 Award-Winning B2B Marketing Campaigns from Intercept

With the 2022 CMA awards wrapped up, it’s official – Intercept is the most awarded B2B agency in Canada.

Our team accepted 13 awards, accounting for more than 70% of the overall B2B marketing categories. Congratulations to Intuit, TELUS Business, Kinaxis, and Community Savings Credit Union for also demonstrating best-in-class B2B marketing.

Here are five of our winning campaigns and how we approached the challenges to drive measurable business impact.

Winning Campaign #1

‘Into the Breach’

Microsoft needed to break through in the market with their state-of-the-art, cybersecurity solutions for businesses. We created an experience for security teams leveraging an “Into the Breach” video game style execution where teams identified attacks and fixed them using Microsoft cybersecurity tools.

Because marketing security solutions are generally whitepapers, industry reports, and eBooks – Into the Breach was in a league of its own. We took a calculated risk to do something breakthrough and succeeded.

Winning Campaign #2

‘DevBuilder ’

Microsoft wanted developers to choose their tools and technology to build new business applications. The challenge was successfully connecting with developers who were experiencing high levels of burnout and low levels of engagement. We launched “DevBuilder” to offer developers personalized support from Microsoft that would build culture, skills, and solutions. This initiative connected developer teams while building their skills, vision, experience, and applications faster. DevBuilder set a new global standard by ranking first in the world within Microsoft, for the most highly engaged developer teams at strategic accounts.

Winning Campaign #3

‘Surface Pitch Perfect’

Microsoft had to close the gap on Surface revenue while empowering sales teams to best pitch 10 different Surface devices. While innovation and device breadth are strengths, multiple device options were starting to create confusion among Microsoft’s sales reps. There was hesitation from sales as device value propositions began to blur.

Sales teams needed more than just information to succeed – they needed practical guidance on how to land a pitch to customers. To meet this need, we invited partner sales reps to a 3-minute ($500!) pitch competition selling multiple Surface devices to a panel of Microsoft judges. We earned the attention of busy sales reps by appealing to their competitive nature and preference for easy-to-understand programs.

Winning Campaign #4

‘Align in the Metaverse’

As pandemic concerns loomed, Microsoft needed to virtually bring together Channel Ambassadors from Canada and the US while combatting serious webinar fatigue. Webinar attendance benchmark rates told us to expect less than 40% – but Microsoft wanted to land 75% live attendance. How did we encourage Channel Ambassadors to attend this important event live? We hosted the event on a private island – in the metaverse! Participants enjoyed live keynotes, personalized breakout paths, team building activities like scavenger hunts, charades, and even boat racing.

The metaverse experience was genuinely unique. We saw overwhelming engagement from the Channel Ambassador community – more questions, more best-practice sharing, and more people having fun.

Winning Campaign #5

‘Innovation Mavericks’

Microsoft is known as the tech company for ‘big businesses’ but they wanted to get small businesses running on their cloud solution, Azure. Microsoft built a 30-person team of field sellers to win SMB customers but needed a smart marketing strategy to generate high-quality leads. To reach this new SMB audience, we launched Innovation Mavericks to provide high-growth companies with funding, tools, experts, and offers to turn their visions into breakthroughs.

In our first year, we helped nearly 100 businesses identify innovation roadblocks, offered strategic business and technology mentoring, and provided access to innovation investments.

Staying ahead of change and creating campaigns that drive results starts with data-driven insights. Our annual study, Nology, keeps us and our clients plugged into the latest B2B marketing trends in the global tech sector.

Want to learn more about B2B marketing best practices? Request a free Nology session with us for practical insights to guide your campaign strategies.