Delfin Vassallo is most useful for brand-first B2B thought leadership on trust and long sales cycles.
Best for
A B2B agency selling brand-first demand generation to enterprise clients with long sales cycles.
Not for
An AI content platform seeking sponsored posts with tracked demo signups and pipeline links.
Key takeaways
Branding is top 2026 priority; AI ranks 18th for B2B leaders.
Committees of 11 to 14 people research before first contact, so relationships matter.
AI-generated content can undermine trust; looking like AI is enough.
Check first: Confirm audience analytics and documented follower roles, industries, and seniority before contacting.
Main ideas
Brand-building should outrank funnel mechanics in complex B2B · Stay visible to the 95% who are not buying yet · Buying committees buy relationships, not just demand capture
Delfin Vassallo writes about B2B marketing, especially how brands earn trust and stay visible during long sales cycles.
They argue that marketing should reach buyers before they are actively shopping: in complex purchases, a committee may do much of its research quietly, and a trusted name can influence which vendor gets considered.
The posts also connect brand credibility to human-sounding content, including a warning that AI-generated work can undermine trust when it feels generic.
Follow them for a brand-first critique of lead-generation tactics and short, practical takes on how trust, visibility and marketing leadership intersect.
Vassallo links broad brand arguments to the realities of complex B2B buying.
One post describes committees of 11–14 people researching before first contact; another turns the “95% not yet in-market” idea into a case for educating future buyers.
The branding post contrasts that long-term work with the pressure to make marketing measurable through lead scoring and MQL funnels.
Together, these examples explain why they see brand and personal credibility as part of demand generation, not a substitute for it.
The work is strongest as a clear point of view and synthesis of research and industry discussion.
Buyers assessing business impact should ask for a detailed case study.
A separate event recap curates ideas from other speakers, including AI search and marketing operations, rather than presenting a distinct original framework.
Delfin Vassallo's posts return to one core claim: in complex B2B, brand and trust decide who gets considered long before a buyer raises a hand.
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They contrast that with funnel mechanics such as lead scoring and MQL programmes, which they say were imported from American martech and never fitted long sales cycles.
They anchor arguments in third-party research—McKinsey's State of Marketing Europe 2026, Gartner surveys and the Ehrenberg-Bass 95-5 rule—and turn findings into short LinkedIn commentary.
AI is a recurring tension: they argue it is not a top marketing priority and that AI-looking content hurts credibility, while also flagging AI search and GEO as live topics in peer conversations.
Brand-building should outrank funnel mechanics in complex B2B
Vassallo argues that branding, not AI, is the top priority for B2B marketing leaders, citing McKinsey's State of Marketing Europe 2026, where branding ranks first and AI ranks 18th for B2B marketers.
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They say more than a decade of lead scoring and MQL funnels imported from American martech never suited long, complex sales cycles.
The Ehrenberg-Bass 95-5 rule explains why: while about 5% of buyers are in-market, the other 95% have already built a shortlist, and the brand determines who makes it.
The post's sharpest formulation: brands did not forget brand-building; they dismantled it to make it measurable to the CFO.
With authenticity ranking third in the same survey, they connect it to human connection in a world of AI slop.
The post cites McKinsey's sample of 500 senior marketing leaders across France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, where branding ranks first and AI 18th. It closes with an offer to talk to anyone hiring a CMO about rebuilding what funnel-first thinking pulled apart.
B2B teams should keep showing up for the large majority of their addressable market that is not currently in-market.
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Vassallo says the label matters less than the job: whether a team calls it brand awareness, problem awareness or content marketing, the aim is to stay top of mind so that when a prospect is ready to buy, they come to that brand rather than start a fresh search. The payoff, they say, is protection against discovery through Google and LLM search.
In the post 'Educate the 95%...', Vassallo writes that B2B buyer research points to the same conclusion: be visible to the 95% of the ICP not yet in the market. They say they discussed this with Lari on the Generate More podcast, described as an AI SEO agency podcast, and link the episode.
Buying committees buy relationships, not just demand capture
Vassallo argues that demand generation assumes buyers are actively shopping, misreading complex B2B.
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In this setting, the sale is to an 11-to-14-person buying committee that does its homework quietly and reaches out only when someone in the room can vouch for the vendor.
Gartner research puts 61% of the buying journey before first contact; Vassallo frames a trusted referral as what accelerates the decision, rather than demand generation.
The practical conclusion: building a demand engine means building personal credibility and market authority, because being the name that comes up in the room still matters most.
The post 'Committees buy relationships...' cites the 11-to-14-person committee and the 61% figure, then makes the practical point: in complex B2B, the person whose name comes up in the room still matters most.
AI-generated content creates a credibility problem — and 'looking like AI' is enough
Vassallo cites a Gartner Marketing Survey finding that 50% of consumers prefer brands that avoid generative AI in consumer-facing content.
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The key point: it may not matter whether AI was actually used; if content looks like AI, audiences become sceptical.
They call this the compound effect of AI slop in ads and content marketing, framing it as a credibility problem for brands.
In B2B, they argue, future business is lost without trust in the company and brand.
This sits in tension with their event recap, which flags AI search and GEO as a hot topic: the distinction is between AI as a discovery or search subject and AI-generated consumer-facing content.
The post 'Customers are fed up with AI...' opens with Gartner's 50% figure, links to the source and asks readers how much AI they use to create marketing assets. Vassallo notes that the survey covers consumer-facing content; applying its finding to B2B trust is an extension, not something the survey measured.
Several posts follow a repeatable method: cite a named external source, pull out the finding that matters to B2B marketers, add a practitioner interpretation and link to the original report or source.
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Vassallo applies this approach to McKinsey's State of Marketing Europe 2026 and a Gartner marketing survey. The posts are short, usually make a single argument and often address the reader directly or ask a question.
The McKinsey post opens 'AI is not a priority...' before presenting the branding-first finding and linking to the report. The Gartner post opens 'Customers are fed up with AI...' before presenting the 50% finding, linking to the source and asking readers a direct question.
Vassallo also curates Nordic B2B marketing conversations.
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One post recaps a Marketing Morning by Obsidian event in Helsinki and credits five named speakers, each with a distinct point. Their contribution is the framing and observation about the event format, rather than an original framework.
The recap credits Ossi Ahto with the idea that marketing should talk business to the C-suite and board, not talk marketing; Akira Ahola with a collaborative, co-creation approach to marketing operations, whose limits Vassallo says they challenged; Halfdan Moth Timm with 'context-maxxing' when building a marketing operating system; Matias Vahtola with AI search and GEO as the season's hot topic; and Louise Philipsen with how to win share of voice in LLMs using LinkedIn. Vassallo also notes the venue—a cinema in central Helsinki with popcorn—as an example of event innovation.
Start here for the question this work answers: why should a B2B agency or CMO put brand back at the centre of complex sales?
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It lays out the thesis and supporting details — McKinsey’s Europe survey and the 95-5 rule — in one place.
This is the clearest statement of Delfin Vassallo’s core argument: branding, not AI, is the top priority for B2B marketing leaders.
The post cites McKinsey’s State of Marketing Europe 2026, saying branding ranks first and AI ranks 18th for B2B leaders.
It connects that finding to a longer critique: a decade of lead scoring and MQL funnels imported from American martech did not work for complex, long-cycle B2B.
Vassallo uses the Ehrenberg-Bass 95-5 rule — 5% of buyers are in market, while 95% have already built a shortlist and the brand decides who makes it — and argues that brands dismantled brand-building to make it measurable to the CFO.
The post also flags “authenticity” as third and ties it to human connection in an AI-slop world.
For brands planning a campaign
Use this as the anchor for a CMO webinar or thought-leadership series on rebuilding brand-first demand generation. Rather than simply repeat McKinsey, bring in the agency’s own client examples of brand authority shortening long sales cycles, and position the agency as the partner that reconnects brand to pipeline.
This answers a practical buyer question: if committees decide before they talk to sales, what moves a complex B2B deal?
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It is a concise entry point to the argument about trust, referrals and personal authority.
Vassallo argues that demand generation builds awareness only when buyers are already shopping, a poor fit for complex B2B.
The post points to 11–14-person buying committees that do their homework silently, then contact a vendor once someone in the room can vouch for it.
It cites Gartner research that 61% of the buying journey is done before first contact and reframes that as a trusted referral accelerating the decision, not demand gen winning.
The practical conclusion: building a demand gen engine means building personal credibility and market authority, because in complex B2B the person whose name comes up in the room still matters most.
For brands planning a campaign
For an agency positioning itself as a brand-first authority, this supports a campaign built around executive visibility and peer proof rather than lead capture alone. A webinar or content series could show how named experts, client advocates and committee-level trust accelerate deals before the first sales call.
It answers the question that follows from the 95-5 rule: what does a brand do about the 95% who are not buying yet?
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The post translates the idea into awareness and content work.
This short post recasts the 95% idea in campaign terms: stay visible to the 95% of an ICP that is not yet in-market, whether you call it brand awareness, problem awareness or content marketing.
The goal is to stay top of mind when prospects are ready, so they come to you rather than reset their search.
Vassallo links the point to a conversation with Lari on the Generate More podcast and frames it as one way to beat Google and LLM searches.
It makes a compact case for out-of-market education before demand is captured.
For brands planning a campaign
A thought-leadership series can use this to make the case for problem-education content aimed at future buyers, not just bottom-funnel offers. The agency could build a webinar or resource on category education that makes the brand the remembered answer when the buying window opens, including how that work shows up in search and LLM answers.
This explains why authenticity and human connection recur in Vassallo’s work, even on AI.
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It offers a trust-based counterweight to AI-generated marketing and connects directly to brand credibility.
Vassallo highlights a Gartner Marketing Survey finding that 50% of consumers prefer brands that avoid GenAI in consumer-facing content.
The key point is that it may not matter whether AI was actually used; if content “looks like AI,” audiences become sceptical.
Vassallo calls this the compound effect of AI slop in ads and content marketing, framing it as a credibility problem for brands.
In B2B, the post argues, a lack of trust in the company and brand costs future business.
It ends by asking marketers how much AI they use in marketing assets.
For brands planning a campaign
A brand-first campaign can use this to make the case for visible human expertise, transparent AI use and quality control in content. A CMO webinar could pair AI efficiency with trust risk, showing where automation helps and where it damages credibility in long-cycle B2B.
This shows which conversations and people Delfin Vassallo tracks, giving readers a sense of the network and current topics behind the brand-first argument and the wider Nordic B2B marketing context.
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This event recap from a Marketing Morning by Obsidian session presents Vassallo as a connected observer of Nordic B2B marketing.
The post summarizes five speakers’ points: marketing as a business growth lever for the C-suite and board, collaborative and agile marketing with limits, “context-maxxing” in a marketing operating system, AI search and GEO, and winning share of voice in LLMs through LinkedIn.
It notes the venue — a cinema in Helsinki with popcorn — as an example of event innovation.
For brands planning a campaign
Useful for a multi-voice event, roundtable or webinar series featuring speakers on marketing operations, AI search and LLM visibility.
For a brand-first agency, it suggests a route to collaborative programming.
Ask for examples of Vassallo’s own original frameworks before presenting this as evidence of them.
Commentary on third-party research and industry reporting3
Brand building versus funnel mechanics2
Reaching the buyers who are not shopping yet2
Skepticism about AI-generated marketing content2
Buying committees and the trust that precedes contact1
Event recaps and curation of other practitioners1
Podcast and conversational appearances1
Openness to leadership-level conversations1
Brand building versus funnel mechanics
Delfin Vassallo argues that more than a decade of B2B marketing focused on lead scoring and MQL funnels imported from American martech never suited long, complex sales cycles.
Read more
Citing the McKinsey State of Marketing Europe 2026 report, the posts note that branding ranked as the top priority for 2026, while AI ranked 18th among surveyed B2B marketing leaders.
The Ehrenberg-Bass 95-5 rule helps explain why: roughly 5% of buyers are in-market at any moment, while the other 95% build a shortlist—and the brand determines who makes it.
The conclusion: branding was not forgotten so much as dismantled to make it measurable to the CFO.
For brands planning a campaign
A clear positioning hook for a brand-first agency: a thought-leadership series revisiting the brand-versus-funnel argument, using the McKinsey priority ranking and the 95-5 rule as evidence. A CMO webinar built on the same framing would give senior marketers a shared vocabulary for defending brand spend internally.
A recurring argument: B2B teams should reach the 95% of their addressable market not currently in buying mode.
Read more
The label matters less than the job.
Brand awareness, problem awareness and content marketing all help a brand stay top of mind, so that when a prospect is ready to buy, they choose that brand rather than start a fresh search.
The stated payoff is protection against discovery through Google and LLM search.
For brands planning a campaign
Suits a content series for demand-generation teams focused on in-market capture. A webinar or article could explore what out-of-market visibility looks like when it cannot be attributed to a pipeline number.
Buying committees and the trust that precedes contact
Demand generation builds awareness, but the posts argue that it assumes buyers are actively shopping.
Read more
In complex B2B, the sale is to an 11-to-14-person buying committee that does its homework quietly and reaches out only when someone in the room can vouch for the vendor.
Gartner research is cited for the claim that 61% of the buying journey is complete before first contact; a trusted referral, the posts suggest, accelerates a decision rather than winning it through demand generation.
The practical recommendation: build personal credibility and market authority alongside a demand engine.
In complex B2B, being the name that comes up in the room still matters most.
For brands planning a campaign
Gives a brand-first agency a concrete case for investing in its leaders’ reputations, not just campaign assets. A webinar segment on how personal credibility enters the committee room before any sales conversation would resonate with CMO-level attendees.
A Gartner Marketing Survey is cited for the finding that 50% of consumers prefer brands that avoid using generative AI in consumer-facing content.
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The post highlights a distinction for anyone producing AI-assisted work: content that looks like AI can trigger audience skepticism, whether or not AI was actually used.
AI slop in ads and content is framed as a credibility problem for brands; without trust in the company and the brand, future B2B business is at risk.
The post closes by asking readers how much they use AI to create marketing assets.
A third-party survey finding paired with a practitioner’s interpretation, ending with an open question to the audience.
The cited survey concerns consumer-facing content, so applying its findings to B2B trust is the author’s extension.
For brands planning a campaign
A useful way for a brand-first agency to distinguish itself from AI-output-heavy competitors, and a strong thought-leadership angle on how perceived AI authorship affects trust. The post’s open question also signals potential for audience engagement in a webinar.
Commentary on third-party research and industry reporting
Several posts follow the same format: cite a named external source, pull out a finding relevant to B2B marketers, then add a practitioner’s interpretation.
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Sources include McKinsey’s State of Marketing Europe 2026 (n=500 senior marketing leaders across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom) and a Gartner marketing survey.
Each post links to the original report or source.
The writing is concise, makes a single argument and often ends by addressing the reader directly or asking a question.
Short-form LinkedIn commentary anchored to a cited report, with a link to the source and hashtags covering B2B marketing, leadership and marketing.
For brands planning a campaign
A repeatable format for a branded content series: research-led commentary in which the agency supplies the interpretation and named sources lend credibility. It is easy to plan and schedule, and fits this creator’s established approach.
One post rounds up a Helsinki marketing event run by Obsidian, summarizing takeaways from five named speakers: Ossi Ahto on talking business to the board rather than marketing, Akira Ahola on co-creation in marketing operations, Halfdan Moth Timm on context when building a marketing operating system, Matias Vahtola on AI search and GEO, and Louise Philipsen on winning share of voice in LLMs through LinkedIn.
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The recap credits each speaker by name and praises the event format: a cinema venue with popcorn.
A curated event recap that shares credit with other practitioners and makes the event format part of the story.
For brands planning a campaign
Shows a working relationship with the Nordic B2B marketing event scene and a willingness to amplify other practitioners. For a brand-hosted event or webinar, this offers a plausible model for an attendee recap that extends reach without requiring a new argument.
The 95% visibility argument was developed in a conversation on Lari’s podcast, Generate More, described as an AI SEO agency podcast, with a link to the episode.
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The post shows the argument extended in a longer spoken format, not just short posts.
A podcast appearance that expands on a theme also explored in short written posts.
For brands planning a campaign
Shows that this creator works in conversation as well as short-form text—a useful fit for a campaign built around a CMO-level webinar or recorded discussion rather than written articles.
One post closes with a direct hiring pitch: if you are hiring a CMO right now, let's talk.
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Vassallo offers to help rebuild what funnel-first thinking pulled apart, framing the brand-versus-funnel argument as an area of hands-on work alongside the analytical content.
For brands planning a campaign
Signals openness to senior-level engagements, relevant if a campaign includes an advisory or consultative component rather than content alone. Ask about partnership and commercial terms separately.
Vassallo's posts show media appearances and research citations: a guest slot on the Generate More podcast, coverage of an Obsidian marketing event in Helsinki, and repeated use of Gartner and McKinsey data to support arguments about complex B2B buying.
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One post offers CMO-level help rebuilding brand strategy but names no business. Ask whether the podcast appearance was paid or part of an ongoing arrangement, and whether the offer led to a client engagement.
Generate More – The AI SEO Agency
Mention
Delfin Vassallo appeared as a guest on the Generate More podcast, hosted by Lari, discussing visibility with the roughly 95% of an ideal-customer-profile audience that is not yet in market.
Vassallo cites Gartner research to support two arguments: that 61% of a complex B2B buying journey happens before first contact with a vendor, and that 50% of consumers prefer brands that avoid generative AI in consumer-facing content.
Vassallo draws on McKinsey's State of Marketing Europe 2026 report, which surveyed 500 senior marketing leaders across France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, to argue that branding ranks first among 2026 priorities while AI ranks 18th for B2B marketing leaders.
Delfin Vassallo writes short, argument-led LinkedIn posts about how complex B2B buyers choose.
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A useful starting point is the brand-versus-funnel argument built on McKinsey's State of Marketing Europe 2026 and the Ehrenberg-Bass 95-5 rule, followed by the case for staying visible to the 95% of buyers who are not yet shopping.
The buying-committee post explains why personal credibility and referrals shape decisions before a sales conversation starts.
A later post on AI offers a practical caution: audiences judge content as AI-made whether or not it is, damaging brand trust.
Both write for B2B marketing leaders about why executives hesitate to invest and what a disciplined marketing system should look like.
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Schmukler addresses the risks behind marketing objections and argues that standing still carries its own cost; Vassallo argues that funnel-first thinking pulled brand-building apart and that brand is what gets a vendor considered. Both publish primarily on LinkedIn, using short practitioner posts rather than long reports.
Schmukler draws on agency leadership experience to address executive objections, agency accountability, and employee thought leadership. Vassallo anchors arguments in cited third-party research, including McKinsey and Gartner, and frames the discussion around the brand-versus-funnel priority debate.
Zumair and Vassallo both argue that much of the B2B buying decision happens before a lead reaches the pipeline.
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Both cite outside research, including Gartner, Forrester, and 6sense, and urge marketers to look beyond MQLs and pipeline attribution toward preference, visibility, and category consideration.
Zumair focuses on measurement and AI visibility, proposing new metrics such as AI visibility, share of consideration, and third-party validation. Vassallo focuses more on brand priority, buyer-committee trust, and AI credibility, with shorter posts built around a single argument.
Both write for B2B marketing and sales leaders about the gap between generating interest and converting it.
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Fanaras argues that most companies have a follow-up problem rather than a lead problem, and that fragmented brands leak pipeline; Vassallo argues that brand and trust determine who enters the buying committee's shortlist long before contact. Both use LinkedIn posts to turn practitioner experience into advice.
Fanaras focuses on sales-process and brand-consistency topics, including reactivating dead leads, non-assumptive follow-up, and unifying messaging across channels, while promoting podcast episodes and live sessions. Vassallo makes a more strategic brand-versus-funnel argument, backed by external survey data and event curation.
Delfin Vassallo covers B2B marketing and leadership, including brand-building and trust in complex buying journeys—topics relevant to brand-first and demand-generation campaigns.
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Before booking, ask for recent audience analytics and, if professional targeting matters, documented survey results or another source showing followers’ roles, industries, and seniority.
Delfin Vassallo’s LinkedIn posts from March to September 2026 offer no partnership or sponsorship details.
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Across five posts, they discuss B2B marketing—brand versus demand generation, buying committees and AI skepticism—but don’t mention paid formats, rate cards, audience packages or how to inquire about working together.
Two posts feature other people’s channels: one links to an episode of a podcast hosted by Lari at Generate More, and another summarizes talks by other marketers at an Obsidian event in Helsinki.
Neither post states or implies payment.
Marketers should ask for a sponsor policy, media kit or disclosed commercial example before considering a partnership.
A B2B marketing agency that sells brand-first demand generation to enterprise clients with long, multi-stakeholder sales cycles wants a thought-leadership series or a CMO-level webinar on branding versus funnel tactics.
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Delfin Vassallo fits the argument, format and level of conversation.
The argument is already theirs, and it is specific.
Their post on McKinsey's State of Marketing Europe 2026 (500 senior marketing leaders across France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) reports branding as the top 2026 priority and AI as 18th for B2B leaders, then uses the Ehrenberg-Bass 95-5 rule to explain why: 5% of buyers are in-market while the other 95% have already built a shortlist, and the brand decides who makes it.
A companion post makes the point operational: stay visible to the 95% who are not shopping yet, whether you call that brand awareness or content marketing.
A third post on buying committees cites Gartner's finding that 61% of the buying journey is finished before first contact and argues that in an 11-to-14-person committee, the deal often moves on a name someone in the room can vouch for.
That is the case the agency wants made, in the creator's own words.
This makes the fit stronger for the format the agency is considering than for a generic awareness placement.
Vassallo's working method is short commentary anchored to a named third-party source, one argument per post, a link to the original report, and often a direct question to the reader.
A branded series can follow that pattern.
The podcast appearance on Lari's Generate More show shows the same argument sustained in conversation, the format a CMO webinar needs.
Two limits matter before anyone commits.
The posts establish what Vassallo argues, not who reads them.
The agency needs recent audience analytics showing follower composition, seniority, industry and engagement, particularly because it needs to reach CMOs.
The posts also describe commentary, a podcast appearance and an event recap, but no media kit, rate card or inquiry address.
Ask directly whether Vassallo takes paid work and on what terms; treat this as an editorial fit that needs a commercial arrangement, not a package to book.
The decision: choose Delfin Vassallo for a thought-leadership series or CMO-level webinar on branding versus funnel tactics, conditional on reviewing recent audience analytics and agreeing terms directly.
The reason to choose is not reach; it is that the campaign's argument is already their public position, the hardest thing to manufacture.
When to choose a specialist
An AI content-production platform for B2B marketing teams wants a paid sponsored series with tracked demo signups, a product walkthrough, and a code or link that ties each post to pipeline.
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This is a poor fit for specific reasons, not a matter of tone.
The position is in direct conflict.
Vassallo's post citing the Gartner Marketing Survey finding that 50% of consumers prefer brands that avoid generative AI in consumer-facing content goes further than the survey: it argues that looking like AI is enough to trigger scepticism whether or not AI was used, calls the pile-up of AI-produced ads and content a compound credibility problem, and concludes that in B2B, without trust in the company and the brand, future business is lost.
A paid series would have the creator promoting, under their own name, the exact category of tool their published argument says damages brand trust.
Either the posts get quietly diluted or the platform buys an endorsement that reads as a reversal — the credibility problem they describe, now with their own face on it.
The buying audience is also wrong.
The posts speak to senior marketers and general managers about brand, committees and credibility.
A platform selling content production needs marketing-operations and content-production buyers, and the posts do not show that those people are in this audience.
The delivery mechanics are unproven.
Tracked signups and attributed pipeline require audience baselines and reporting, neither of which the posts include.
No sponsorship format, rate card or inquiry route is described.
The platform would be paying for a measurement story the posts do not substantiate.
Better alternatives for a paid sponsored series with tracked demo signups, a product walkthrough, and a code or link that ties each post to pipeline are creators whose published work is about content operations, marketing technology stacks, or demand-gen measurement, and who have documented sponsored formats.
Vassallo would suit a platform whose pitch is that AI-assisted production needs human editorial control and disclosure — but that is a different, narrower campaign need, not the tracked-demo campaign described here.
A worked campaign example
Worked angle for the good-fit brief, built on what Vassallo already publishes.
Series frame: “The shortlist was written before you knew they were shopping.” Three LinkedIn posts plus one 45-minute CMO webinar, all built on published research reframed through the agency's own client experience.
Post 1 — the silent homework.
Open with the Gartner figure that 61% of the buying journey is complete before first contact, and the 11-to-14-person committee that does its work quietly.
The agency supplies a counter-example it can defend: a deal where the first sales conversation came after a referral, or a deal lost because no one in the room could vouch for the vendor.
Close with the practical question: who in your market can say your name in a room you are not in?
Post 2 — what measuring brand to the CFO actually costs.
This is the agency's differentiator, so it has to be concrete: what it reports when brand spend cannot be tied to a pipeline number, and what it stopped doing (lead-scoring rituals, MQL targets) to get there.
Vassallo's framing — that brand was dismantled to make it measurable — is the spine; the agency's own reporting example is the proof.
Post 3 — trust and the AI question.
Use the Gartner finding that 50% of consumers prefer brands avoiding GenAI in consumer-facing content, and the sharper point that looking like AI is enough to lose people.
The agency states its own standard: where AI is used, where it is not, and how it is disclosed.
Webinar — “Buying committees decide before you call.”
Vassallo hosts.
Two guests from the agency's clients: a CMO and a sales leader, disagreeing on where trust actually gets built in a long cycle.
One working resource handed out live and usable afterward: a one-page committee map — who is in the room, what each person needs to see, and which proof point answers each one.
The closing ask is a short brand-and-pipeline conversation, not a demo request.
The agency must supply its own client examples with permission to use them, and write out its internal reporting practice plainly.
Before launch, agree on recent audience analytics showing seniority and industry, whether Vassallo takes paid work and on what terms, and the agreement.
The campaign should not promise attributed pipeline from these posts.
Keep the measurement honest — the argument only holds if the campaign is measured the way it says brand work should be.
Choose Mark Schmukler when a campaign needs agency-operator credibility and executive objection-handling rather than a research-led brand argument.
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After 25+ years leading a B2B agency, their published work argues that most B2B marketing objections are really risk objections — wasted spend, murky ROI, the wrong agency — and that executives miss the risk of standing still.
A second post makes the case for thought leadership beyond the C-suite, with account managers, strategists and subject-matter experts carrying the public voice.
For a webinar aimed at hesitant CMOs, Schmukler's argument is about turning marketing from a leap of faith into growth infrastructure.
Schmukler argues from agency experience, not named external data.
Vassallo's posts draw on McKinsey, Gartner and Ehrenberg-Bass findings that a brand-first series can reuse directly.
Choosing Schmukler trades that research spine for operator credibility: stronger on objection-handling, but less equipped with the findings a CMO may ask to see.
Choose Mohammad Zumair for a campaign focused on measurement and AI-search visibility.
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The posts argue that AI is breaking the assumption that business interaction is countable, cite Forrester's 2026 finding that 94% of business buyers use AI in their buying process, and contend that buyers can be influenced by a conversational answer that records no click, form fill or session.
A second post presses the same point: buyers rank shortlisted vendors before engaging sellers, only 2% start with no vendor in mind, and the job is to create preference before demand exists.
This suits a campaign delivered as a measurement argument to a CMO audience already fluent in pipeline metrics.
Zumair's argument is analytical rather than formative.
They explain what to measure — AI visibility, category association, share of consideration, win-rate movement — while Vassallo explains why a buying committee reaches out only when someone in the room can vouch for the vendor.
For a thought-leadership series about trust inside an 11-to-14-person committee, the referral framing is the more useful spine.
Choose Linda Fanaras when the campaign task is funnel recovery or brand consistency rather than building preference ahead of the pipeline.
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One post argues that most companies have a follow-up problem, not a lead problem, and promotes a podcast episode on reactivating dead leads with a guest who generated $2.37M largely from prospects other salespeople had written off.
A second post diagnoses a fragmented brand — different channels telling different stories, employees who cannot articulate the offer — and offers a live session on the four symptoms.
The guest-led tactical conversation maps cleanly onto a webinar built around a playbook.
The buyer task shifts.
Fanaras addresses demand already in the CRM and message consistency across touchpoints; Vassallo addresses why the shortlist forms silently before first contact in long, complex sales.
For a brand-first series on committee behaviour and 95-5 visibility, Fanaras is a different choice, not a drop-in substitute, however strong the follow-up material is.
