Spotlight

Creativity Week Recap

Jun 23, 2026 · 40 min · 10 segments

We just came out of Creativity Week, and we sat in on three different webinars covering AI in branding, B2B marketing psychology, and why most creative briefs are broken. In this episode, Derek and…

We just came out of Creativity Week, and we sat in on three different webinars covering AI in branding, B2B marketing psychology, and why most creative briefs are broken. In this episode, Derek and Marc break down the 9 biggest takeaways — 3 from each session — and argue about a few of them along the way.If you're in marketing, brand strategy, or B2B, this one's packed with frameworks and stories you can actually use.WHAT WE COVER:Session 1: Stef Hamerlinck — The Future of Branding is Generative- Why the "sea of sameness" is turning into a "swamp of sameness" as AI floods every channel- The actual definition of AI "slop" (it's not just content you don't like)- Why the AI backlash online is louder than it is representative — and why people often can't tell AI from human-made content anywaySession 2: Why B2B Is Never Just Business- The real reason B2B buyers make "rational" decisions (hint: it's fear, not specs)- Why the feature war is a trap, and what to build instead (the Blackline Safety example is worth the listen alone)- Why playing it safe with creative is actually the riskier moveSession 3: "I'll Know It When I See It"- Why most creative briefs fail before the work even starts- How to replace "I don't like it" feedback with an actual evaluation framework- Why AI is great for getting unstuck but can't generate a genuinely original ideaWhether you were at Creativity Week or missed it entirely, this episode gives you the highlights and the conversation behind them.

We just came out of Creativity Week, and we sat in on three different webinars covering AI in branding, B2B marketing psychology, and why most creative briefs are broken. In this episode, Derek and…

Speakers: MarkHostDerekHost

Show signals: SuitabilitySafeBiasNot politicalAudience≈2k followers

Humanity in B2B Marketing0:50 – 10:07

DerekHost

0:50

yeah i think you know in general there's like and i did take notes here but in general there were a lot of quotable lines each episode right it's like You know, from the Steph one, he talked about being unmistakably you, which is kind of funny because we're talking about AI characters and stuff like that.

DerekHost

1:11

But there's still some authenticity through those AI characters.

DerekHost

1:14

And I think you and I have talked about this before.

DerekHost

1:17

I'm so against, like, the AI creative or AI video production and all that stuff.

DerekHost

1:23

Which, I mean, fair enough.

DerekHost

1:24

Yeah,

MarkHost

1:26

I want to dig into that later, but keep going.

DerekHost

1:28

Yeah, yeah.

DerekHost

1:29

But yeah, I think he made some really good points about that authenticity component to it.

DerekHost

1:36

I guess the other one, Jodi from Blackline, she said something about someone else will know.

DerekHost

1:43

And I think that's a really funny quote because we were talking about competitors.

DerekHost

1:49

It's like, yeah, we're not necessarily looking to our competitors to make money.

DerekHost

1:55

marketing decisions.

DerekHost

1:57

We're actually looking at our customers, like what, what, what are our customers needs? What are their pain points? In terms of coming up with a creative component or creative, a memorable marketing moment for their audiences, and so on and so forth.

DerekHost

2:15

And on that same one too.

DerekHost

2:17

And I'm talking about the B2B, you know, why don't we just get into that one? B2B, why B2B is never just business.

DerekHost

2:24

And it's mostly around making good creative for B2B companies.

DerekHost

2:29

Yeah.

DerekHost

2:29

You know, I think you and I both know it can be hard to be creative with B2B companies.

DerekHost

2:37

And I think one really good point of that was that, All of them, Alex, who is from Precision Drilling, she moderated the discussion.

DerekHost

2:48

We had Suzanne, who is the founder of Relish Ideas, Christina, who's the brand and design strategist of WCD, Rhonda, who's the head of marketing for Rosen Canada, and Jody over at Blackline Safety.

DerekHost

3:05

I think they all made this point about B2B buyers, well, they don't leave their humanity at the door, right? And a lot of the time, these companies are worried about looking bad in terms of...

DerekHost

3:18

Sorry, let me turn off my Microsoft Teams here.

DerekHost

3:21

I got a million chats open up.

DerekHost

3:26

I think a lot of companies, you know, they talk about... how it can actually cost somebody their job if, uh, creative might be too risky or whatever.