MarTech Insights and Highlights from 2025

Introduction

Scott Brinker, the godfather of MarTech and founder of chiefmartec.com, shares critical insights on how artificial intelligence transformed marketing technology in 2025 and what lies ahead for 2026. As VP of Platform Ecosystem at HubSpot with over 2,100 episodes interviewing 800+ marketing leaders, Brinker brings unparalleled perspective on the intersection of marketing, technology, and business ecosystems. His analysis reveals that despite predictions of consolidation, the MarTech landscape expanded to 5,384 tools—a 9% increase—while experiencing 8.6% vendor churn, demonstrating how AI didn't shrink MarTech but fundamentally transformed it.

AI Adoption: From Experimentation to Production

The biggest revelation from 2025 was how quickly marketers moved from AI skepticism to active experimentation. According to Brinker's research, most marketers are already using AI agents and agentic capabilities within their MarTech stacks, though primarily in limited production use cases. Content production emerged as the clear wi er, with marketers successfully using AI to brainstorm ideas, create content variations for different cha els, and analyze customer engagement—dramatically reducing time-to-market while maintaining human oversight at each critical step.

The Evolution of Customer Service Chatbots

Customer service chatbots underwent a remarkable transformation in 2025, finally delivering on their long-promised potential. Powered by advanced LLMs and co ected to comprehensive backend data including knowledge bases, ticket histories, and customer profiles, these chatbots now achieve 60-70% resolution rates. As Brinker notes, "This year, they've started to get good" because companies learned to provide chatbots with the right data access, moving beyond the frustrating experiences of previous generations to create genuine value for both customers and businesses.

The Shift from Deterministic to Adaptive Automation

Marketing automation fundamentally changed in 2025 as organizations learned to combine traditional deterministic workflows with adaptive LLM capabilities. While deterministic automation provided predictability through "if this, then that" rules, it proved fragile when faced with exceptions. LLMs introduced non-deterministic processing that could adapt to unexpected inputs and changing conditions. The breakthrough came when marketers started embedding LLMs at specific workflow steps, maintaining overall process structure while gaining flexibility to handle unstructured data and dynamic scenarios.

Context Engineering: The New Frontier

Looking ahead to 2026, context engineering emerges as the critical skill for marketers to master. Moving beyond simple prompt engineering, context engineering involves bundling instructions with access to relevant data and tools that AI agents can use autonomously. The challenge isn't just providing information but finding the right balance—too much context overwhelms the system, while too little limits effectiveness. Success requires marketers to clearly define processes, identify necessary data sources, and determine which tools AI agents need to accomplish specific tasks.

The Personal Software Revolution

The democratization of software development through AI coding assistants created what Brinker calls the "personal software" era. Professional developers report 10x productivity gains, while non-technical marketers can now build custom applications and automations for their specific needs. This shift fundamentally changes the MarTech landscape—commercial solutions must now compete not just with other vendors but with what customers can build themselves. The implication for 2026 is clear: orchestration and governance tools that provide guardrails for this explosion of custom solutions will become essential.

The Customer Journey Revolution

Brinker's boldest prediction for 2026 centers on AI empowering customers rather than marketers. Agentic browsers and AI assistants are breaking traditional marketing playbooks by giving buyers complete control over their journey. Customers can now use AI to analyze complex pricing structures, compare competitors, and gather information without engaging with sales teams. As Brinker emphasizes, "The information asymmetry starts to shift and it is actually that the buyers have more information than the sellers do," fundamentally disrupting established go-to-market strategies.

Key Takeaways for Marketing Leaders

The transformation of MarTech in 2025 teaches several critical lessons for 2026. First, successful AI implementation requires clear process definition and quality data—the technology works, but only when properly supported. Second, the rise of personal software and customer-controlled journeys means competitive advantage will increasingly come from product quality, brand strength, and customer experience rather than marketing tactics. Finally, as traditional playbooks break down, marketers must embrace new approaches that respect customer autonomy while finding i ovative ways to demonstrate value. The companies that thrive will be those that lean into these changes, focusing on genuine customer value rather than trying to maintain control over increasingly obsolete processes.