HubSpot GROW Europe landed in London earlier this year, and attendees left armed with some essential information about B2B marketing’s next chapter. If you weren’t able to make it, don’t worry; our very own Raven Wheatley-Hawkins was there and (now that the dust has settled) she’s excited to share the things that stood out most to her.
2025 has been the year where AI, data quality and operational discipline decide the performance gap between B2B teams that scale, and those that stall. But whether you’re a CMO, a RevOps lead, a HubSpot power user or a marketing leader plotting next year’s plan, these are the five takeaways I believe matter most.
One of the strongest messages from GROW was simple but essential: in a world where anyone can generate content, brand becomes your competitive advantage.
HubSpot’s LOOP framework (express > tailor > amplify > evolve) hammered this home. AI democratises creation but it also accelerates sameness and mediocrity. If every competitor can produce a blog, email or landing page in seconds, your creative edge can’t just be ‘we use AI too’.
Your B2B content will be better than the competition when you have these three things:
And ‘tailor’ no longer means dropping a first name token into a subject line. AI-powered customisation now expects you to use everything you know. That means renewal dates, past interactions, content consumed, lifecycle stage, buyer intent signals and even OOO patterns.
In other words: AI has raised the bar for relevance, and only real brand strategy can carry you over it.
GROW Europe demonstrated again and again that the real bottleneck for AI isn’t the model, it’s the data.
Up to 80% of business data is unstructured, often sitting in email threads, duplicated properties, outdated lists and incomplete records. HubSpot’s Smart CRM and Data Management tools are now able to fix that. But that’s only if teams commit to making data discipline a non-negotiable.
Here’s what’s changing:
For marketing leaders going into 2026, we need to make sure it’s the year of operational honesty: if your CRM hygiene is poor, no AI tool will rescue performance. But if your CRM is strong, AI will multiply your results.
One of the most exciting developments showcased at GROW was the arrival of practical, ready-to-use AI ‘agents’. Not experimental ideas but working assistants across the revenue engine.
HubSpot’s suite now includes:
These aren’t just time savers. They fundamentally shift how teams operate.
As HubSpot put it, AI now handles more of the “doing”, giving humans more time for thinking, strategy, creativity and connection.
The message for marketing leaders? Start small but start now. Here’s what we recommend: Pilot one agent per week, measure baseline metrics before activating, document results and scale what works.
The organisations that treat AI as a teammate, not a toy, will be the ones that grow faster in 2026.
One of the smartest discussions of the day focused on regulatory readiness. With the launch of the EU AI Act, and GDPR still the backbone of European data protection, marketers can’t innovate blindly. But equally, they can’t freeze.
The clear best practice from GROW: build governance that empowers experimentation, not bureaucracy.
Your team should confidently be able to answer five core data questions:
Where does it live and who has access?
Every tool connected to HubSpot needs defined permissions.
Know which systems aggregate, de-identify or retain data.
Create templates, don’t treat compliance as a blocker.
Understand retention, deletion, anonymisation and archival.
The unlock here isn’t legal documentation, it’s literacy.
Every marketer using AI, not just legal or ops teams, needs to understand risk levels, data categories and safe use principles.
Businesses with confidence and care will be rewarded going forward – those teams bold enough to push innovation and disciplined enough to protect customers while doing it.
Not every insight at GROW was product-focused. Some of the most refreshing sessions tackled something marketers feel daily, operational overload.
Hybrid workers now spend 20 hours a week in meetings, 3x the amount from five years ago. Back-to-back calendars kill creativity, strategy and momentum.
HubSpot’s advice? Give people autonomy and space to think again.
Some of the most practical ideas we’re already using:
Why does this matter for HubSpot users? Because every automation, every AI workflow and every creative idea depends on people having time to think, design, test and evaluate.
Tools don’t create strategic clarity, teams do. And teams thrive when given the space to excel.
There’s no need to compromise – leaders should combine discipline, creativity and curiosity
All of the developments discussed made one thing clear: the next competitive advantage in B2B marketing won’t be from piling dozens of tools into your stack. It’ll come from cleaner data, clearer goals, smarter processes, stronger brand identity and confident, responsible AI adoption. Above all, it’ll come from teams that feel empowered, not overwhelmed.
Yes, AI is accelerating but the fundamentals of brilliant marketing remain clarity, coherence, creativity and human insight.
If you’re planning your 2026 HubSpot roadmap, from data quality to AI agents to smarter workflows, our team at Pod is always happy to help.