Michael Treff, CEO Code and Theory | B2B Marketing - The Year in Review & the Year Ahead

A CMO Confidential Interview with Michael Treff, the CEO of Code and Theory joins us for our 150th Show to share observations on the major forces impacting the B2B space. Michael details how "empowered buyers" are forcing sellers to increase focus on customer value creation and transforming marketing and sales from "leads to information" which is also shifting spending to capital expense. Key topics include: why the next AI frontier is customer experience; the need for companies to have both a long and short-term AI plans; why budgeting won't get any easier and; the gap between the CX problems and CX actions. Tune in to hear why you need to have an "AI plan for your humans" and learn if you need " a personalized relationship with your mustard."

CMO Confidential #150: Michael Treff on B2B’s Year-In-Review, What’s Next, and How AI Will Actually Drive Growth**

B2B is being rebuilt from the core. Michael explains why budgets are shifting from media to infrastructure, how the funnel is being rewritten by agentic search, and where AI must move from efficiency to growth. We also cover the KPIs that matter, budgeting realism for 2026, and three things every CMO should know by the end of next year. Sponsored by Typeface—the agentic AI marketing platform helping brands turn one idea into thousands of on-brand experiences. Learn more: typeface.ai/cmo.

**Chapters**

00:00 Intro + show setup

01:00 Sponsor: Typeface — agentic AI marketing, enterprise-grade & integrated

02:00 Guest intro: Michael Treff, CEO of Code and Theory

03:00 B2B landscape: investment shifts, changing journeys, disintermediation

07:00 From MQLs to value: sales enablement and end-to-end outcomes

10:00 Mid-roll: Typeface ARC agents & content lifecycle

11:00 Why suites win: implementation and value realization after the sale

15:00 AI phases: Wave 1 (efficiency) → Wave 2 (growth) pressures on agencies

17:00 CX as the bridge: measure outcomes, not vanity metrics

22:00 Roadmaps, humans, and culture—planning beyond point tools

26:00 Budget reality check: deliberation, polarization, and trade-offs

29:00 Personalization vs. business impact—what to fund and measure

33:00 By end of 2026: know your human plan, AI maturity, and new journeys

35:00 2026 prediction: the ROI vice tightens—agencies must be consultative

36:00 Closing advice: “Interrogate everything yourself.”

38:00 Wrap + where to find past episodes

39:00 Sponsor close: Typeface—see how ASICS & Microsoft scale personalization

**About our sponsor, Typeface**

 @typefaceai  is the first multimodal, agentic AI marketing platform that automates workflows from brief to launch, integrates with your MarTech stack, and delivers enterprise-grade security—named AI Company of the Year by Adweek and a TIME Best Invention. Learn more: typeface.ai/cmo.

**Tags**

B2B marketing, enterprise marketing, customer experience, AI marketing, agentic AI, marketing ROI, sales enablement, Code and Theory, Michael Treff, Mike Linton, CMO strategy, marketing budget, personalization, Martech, Typeface

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