We're joined by Jake Bird, Director at JI Marketing, a consultancy that bridges the gap between AI innovation and strategic marketing. Jake founded JI Marketing in February 2025, after working in B2B marketing for the best part of a decade.

In this bumper episode, Jake shares how he quickly recognised the major impact AI was going to have on B2B marketing (and particularly on how companies go about ABM), which led him to become Head of AI at the agency he was working for in 2023 - a role that he came up with and proposed to the company's directors.

Jake combines deep expertise in both B2B marketing and all things AI - a potent and rare combination of skills which makes him a huge asset to B2B companies and agencies looking to increase go-to-market efficiency and effectiveness.

Jake steers refreshingly clear of AI hyperbole and sensationalism: he recognises the transformational potential of the technology, while recognising that it isn't a silver bullet. He highlights the limitations of agentic AI, and provides specific examples of where AI can be deployed effectively and where it isn't so well-suited.

The biggest opportunity to leverage AI today, according to Jake, is simple: train your employees to use it effectively, and see a relatively quick and low-cost 10 to 15% improvement in productivity.

When it comes to content and marketing touchpoints, Jake is a strong advocate for quality over quantity - which is a view we share at Casla.

Episode Map

Section 1: The JI Marketing Origin Story - 0:32

Section 2: The State of AI in B2B Marketing - 5:44

• Unrealistic expectations of agentic AI - 5:51
• Why AI agents need to be treated as bottom up systems and processes, not top down - 35:07
• Why it’s important to get into the mindset of swapping in and out of different AI tools - 43:42

Section 3: What does the future hold for AI in B2B marketing - 49:30

Bonus Questions - 1:04:00

• If you could advise B2B businesses to do one thing in their marketing, what would it be? - 1:04:11
• What's your most contrarian take when it comes to B2B marketing? 1.06.10

You can find Jake on LinkedIn here.

Check out JI Marketing on LinkedIn here and visit their website here.