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Martech Trends and Predictions 2025 - An Interview with Scott Brinker

Picture of Nicholas Page   Nicholas Page  ·  2 minute read

In this episode of Tech Marketing Trends, Jakob Löwenbrand is joined by renowned martech authority Scott Brinker—author of the Chief Marketing Technologist blog and VP of Platform Ecosystem at HubSpot. Together, they explore Scott’s annual martech report and discuss how exponential innovation in AI is disrupting the industry. Scott shares what marketers need to know to stay competitive as AI transforms platforms, workflows, and career roles.

 

Martech is expanding—again

Scott reflects on how, after a period of market consolidation, the martech landscape has once again exploded—driven by a wave of AI-native tools and easier development capabilities. The result? Over 3,000 new products in just 18 months. This mirrors the SaaS boom of the early 2000s, but with big tech players now agile and ready to respond. Established giants like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Adobe are pushing rapid AI adoption, making it harder for challengers to disrupt—but the innovation space is wide open.

“There were something like 3,000 new products—largely AI-native—launched in the last 18 months.” - Scott Brinker

 

 

Prompting a new kind of software builder

AI is lowering the barrier to software creation. Non-technical users can now describe workflows in natural language and let AI generate and execute code. In Scott’s words, we’ve moved beyond “no code” to “no awareness of code”—a trend that dramatically expands who can build solutions. For marketers, this shift is both empowering and dizzying, ushering in a future where software is made on the fly, not programmed line by line.

“The people making these requests… often have no idea that software is being written and executed by the AI on their behalf.”

 

 

The rise of AI agents

Scott and Jakob dive deep into agent technologies. These AI-powered tools act autonomously or semi-autonomously to complete tasks—whether summarizing leads, building workflows, or exploring new partnerships. With integrations and APIs now mature, agents can interact across platforms to orchestrate complex workflows. While definitions vary, the core capability is consistent: these are tools that “do things for you”—and they’re becoming essential to how teams get work done.

“It’s not only no code. It’s like no awareness of no code.”

 

 

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Navigating disruption in the platform ecosystem

Scott discusses how this AI wave differs from past tech shifts. During the cloud revolution, many on-prem software giants were slow to adapt. Today, vendors have the playbook and infrastructure to respond rapidly. Instead of being displaced, they’re absorbing AI faster than ever. But Scott sees opportunity not just in replacing existing tools—but in building for entirely new categories that didn’t exist before.

“What new categories of things are now possible that weren’t even in the realm of imagination before?”

The evolving role of marketers

AI is rapidly automating content creation, data analysis, and routine tasks. For marketers, this means evolving beyond execution into strategy. The greatest value lies in combining human judgment with AI capability. Scott urges marketers to explore AI tools hands-on and invest in their data foundations. First movers who embrace experimentation will gain lasting competitive advantage.

“I think for marketers who are willing to lean into this and deliver more and more value, I'm still pretty bullish… Most companies are not experimenting with this stuff very well. So those who do will have a tremendous advantage.”

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