The Big Imaginarium Summit Recap — Part 1
- Scott Stedman
- May 2
- 7 min read
Updated: Jul 23
This article was originally published on LinkedIn by Scott Stedman, CEO of The Imaginarium.
"Ah, love, let us be true to one another!" – Matthew Arnold
The tone was authenticity. The subject was marketing. Who’d have thought it could turn out so well?
A room full of B2B marketing leaders converged on TOURISTS in the Berkshires for two days of exploration and connection. During that time, something remarkable unfolded. Between presentations, thoughtful work sessions, and carefully crafted activities, we discovered that everyone in the room was grappling with similar challenges—from SaaS CMOs to leaders at massive global organizations, from PE operating partners to key vendors from the B2B marketing ecosystem. The façade of "I've got this figured out." gave way to genuine conversations about what keeps us up at night.
By the time we stepped back into the April chill, something had shifted. The poem's uncertainty had transformed into certainty—not about markets or metrics, but about having a community of remarkable peers ready to support each other. We left with more than just fresh strategies; we left with the knowledge that we're all in this together.
Below, I’ve tried to put together a short overview of the powerful talks at our event. I learned so much from each session, and significantly more from the honest dialogue that took place over meals, modern art, and scrumptious drinks. A big thank you to everyone who participated in this incredible Imaginarium Summit.
Getting The Most from Your Private Equity Partner: A CMO's Playbook
Speakers: Darren Herman, Bain. Dan Rosenberg, Octane11.
Summary
What would you expect when you bring the architect of Bain Capital’s marketing center of excellence together with a leader in B2B measurement and analytics? An absolute masterclass in private equity's approach to marketing. It was a lesson in aligning objectives from the start. Private equity has a singular focus: fulfilling the investment’s thesis. This leads to clear goals like tripling EBITDA in five years. Unlike public companies or venture-backed startups that operate on a longer horizon, PE-backed CMOs face the most transparent scoreboard in business—did you increase enterprise value or not? This conversation revealed the stark contrast between what marketing pretends to be (creative, unmeasurable) and what PE demands it become: analytical, accountable, and directly tied to value creation.
What I Loved
Herman's distinction between VC (building a dream) and PE (scaling a business) cuts through the performative noise that plagues most marketing discussions. The best approach is to leave the marketing acronyms behind and align on a handful of metrics that directly correlate to enterprise value. The era of hiding behind unmeasurable "brand equity" is over. Most revealing was Herman's perspective on AI tools like Suno for music creation and synthetic agents for market research—PE doesn't chase technology for innovation's sake but coldly evaluates tools based on their ability to deliver faster, cheaper, better outcomes. This isn't about digital transformation; it's about profit transformation.
Takeaways
The PE marketing playbook demands executives who can help triple EBITDA in five years—not brand builders, but value creators
CMOs must become bilingual in both creativity and financial analytics—those who can't speak EBITDA will struggle to get buy-in
The dashboard fetish must die—five properly chosen metrics beat 50 vanity metrics every time
AI tools like Suno and synthetic research agents represent the arbitrage opportunity—delivering 80% of the quality at 20% of the cost
Bain Capital's approach proves the network effect of expertise—portfolio companies leveraging shared knowledge through Slack and in-person summits give their portfolio a competitive advantage built on shared trust and mutual support
How to Sabotage an Enterprise with AI
Speakers: Noah Brier, Alephic. Jon Lombardo, Evidenza.
Summary
The great Noah Brier, a legend in the innovation and AI worlds, delivered a masterclass in the organizational realities of AI implementation. His journey from junior copywriter to AI entrepreneur provides the perfect lens for understanding the central paradox of enterprise AI: the technology is evolving at light speed while corporate adoption moves at the pace of continental drift. Noah highlighted a breakthrough project with Amazon that used AI to increase copywriting efficiency, achieving 70% of copy output—not through complex systems but through thoughtful application of custom AI models that amplify human expertise.
The Simple Sabotage Rule Manual
Noah brilliantly resurrected the CIA's 1944 Simple Sabotage Field Manual—a document distributed to citizens in Nazi-occupied territories with instructions on disrupting enemy organizations without detection. The manual's genius lies in its recognition that bureaucracy itself is the perfect weapon: "Insist on doing everything through channels. Never permit shortcuts. Refer all matters to committees. Advocate caution. Bring up irrelevant issues in meetings." These instructions, designed to cripple Nazi production (which they successfully did), are indistinguishable from standard operating procedures in most Fortune 500 companies today. This historical parallel showcases the self-sabotage occurring in AI implementation—the very organizational antibodies designed to reduce risk are preventing the adoption of tools that could create extraordinary value.
What I Loved
Noah's recognition that bureaucracy is the true enemy of AI transformation cuts through the usual technical discussions. His focus on providing "broad access" to cutting-edge models rather than centralized AI departments represents the most profound shift in enterprise technology deployment since cloud computing. The idea that AI operates more effectively with fewer artificial constraints—rather than being forced into existing human workflows—challenges conventional implementation wisdom. Noah's insights on providing private tokens and custom data to models represent the next wave of competitive advantage: companies that build proprietary AI infrastructure that encodes their unique expertise will outperform those treating AI as generic software.
Takeaways
The gap between AI's capabilities and corporate adoption is widening daily—organizations spending months on AI strategy are falling behind faster than they realize
Custom AI tools amplify expert output—Amazon's 70% copywriting efficiency gain represents the real ROI case, not vague promises about innovation
Private tokens and proprietary data represent the next frontier of AI competitive advantage—generic models create generic results
The centralization vs. decentralization tension will define winners and losers—companies restricting AI to specialized departments will underperform those providing broad access
Organizations that recognize how their own processes mirror the CIA's sabotage manual will gain first-mover advantage in the AI revolution
AI in Marketing: Two Truths and a Lie
Speakers: Jess Kao, Adobe. AJ Sedlak, Ford. Frannie Danzinger, Integrate.
Summary
Instead of the typical tech crystal-ball gazing (yawn), this panel of B2B luminaries offered something genuinely useful—a practical roadmap for navigating this curious new landscape where human creativity and algorithmic efficiency dance an awkward tango. No breathless predictions about robot overlords or marketing singularities here! Just thoughtful insights about finding the sweet spot between what machines do brilliantly and where human intuition remains irreplaceable. By the end of their session, we weren't just nodding along—we were equipped with actionable strategies for this AI-infused reality. And isn't that what we really needed? Not another tech fever dream, but a clear-eyed guide for marketing in this strange new world where we're all figuring it out together.
What I Loved
The panel's refutation of the "junior marketers face extinction" narrative was both vigorous and necessary. Like all great fallacies, this one contains just enough truth to be dangerous. Nevertheless, the evidence stands before us: companies flourishing are not those replacing humans with machines, but those creating a marriage between the two. It reminds one of the eternal truth that innovation without tradition becomes chaos, while tradition without innovation becomes dust. The algorithmic and the human need each other, much as logic needs imagination.
Takeaways
The culling of junior positions creates not efficiency but a vacuum—like removing the foundation of a house to improve the view from the windows
Firms embracing AI as enhancement rather than replacement consistently outperform their competitors—the tools must remain servants, not masters
Customer comfort with AI-generated content varies wildly—wisdom lies in recognizing these differences
In the new landscape, creative direction becomes not obsolete but essential—the conductor becomes more important as the orchestra grows larger
The paradox resolves: technology achieves its highest purpose not when it mimics humanity, but when it magnifies our uniquely human gifts
Putting The Customer First: A Deep Dive into Small Business
Speakers: Jonah Goodhart, Mobian. Johanna Mayer-Jones, Washington Post. Jamil Khan, H&R Block.
Summary
America's small businesses represent one of the greatest market inefficiencies in the digital economy: employing ~50% of non-governmental workers, yet operating with an outdated digital infrastructure entirely ill-equipped for the rapid pace of innovation. While enterprise companies deploy $20M AI initiatives, the neighborhood restaurant can't configure basic email marketing. The data is unequivocal: small businesses that adopt even basic AI tools outperform their analog competitors by 35% in revenue growth. The speakers revealed how H&R Block's unique position creates the foundation for an enormous AI-powered value creation opportunity in the market.
What I Loved
The discussion brilliantly illuminated what we might call the small business contradiction: local enterprises form the backbone of our economy, yet remain strikingly unsophisticated in their operations. The insight that millions of small business owners manage both personal and business finances through the same channels reveals not a failure of ambition but a triumph of pragmatism. I loved the concept of using AI to solve the very human challenge many small business owners face: isolation. The idea of AI as not only a tool but as a community-builder among similar businesses represents a profound shift in mindset—technology serving not just as calculator but as connector, enhancing rather than replacing the human relationships at the heart of commerce.
Takeaways
Small businesses employ 50% of non-governmental workers, yet often operate with fundamental marketing and operational gaps that AI could address
The future of small business marketing lies not in technological sophistication but in enhanced storytelling capabilities and unlocking those capabilities at scale for a community that can’t always access innovative ideas
AI promises to transform isolated small businesses into networked communities of shared knowledge and experience
Trust remains the essential currency of small business—AI tools must enhance, not erode, the personal connections that sustain these enterprises
Stay tuned! Part 2 of the Imaginarium Summit reflections will be published soon, continuing the conversation on where B2B marketing is headed next.
