Study: 77% of B2B marketers deem AI scrutiny inadequate
June 15, 2026



Rresearch from B2B agency Ledger Bennett, part of Havas Media Network, and AI advertising and orchestration platform StackAdapt reveals widespread dissatisfaction with the modern B2B RFP process, with 77 per cent of marketers saying AI-related questions are not being asked rigorously enough during vendor evaluations.

The report, produced in partnership with B2B research specialist NewtonX and surveyed 426 marketers across the UK, the US and APAC including Australia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. The findings point to a growing disconnect between how agencies and platforms are selected, and how marketing success is ultimately measured.


Despite AI ranking as one of the most important considerations in vendor evaluation, more than 60 per cent of respondents said their current RFP process cannot distinguish genuinely useful AI capabilities from hype. This follows from just 23 per cent saying they evaluate AI against defined criteria, highlighting the knowledge gap many marketers face due to increased pressures to implement AI into work streams to boost efficiencies.

The research also exposes major challenges in media measurement and operational complexity. While most marketers set clear KPIs, 63 per cent said they cannot effectively measure cross-channel performance. At the same time, 76 per cent manage six or more media platforms, while 59 per cent still manually stitch together reporting data most or all of the time. Not a single respondent said they had access to a fully unified reporting layer. Despite marketers intentions, there is a clear need for a unified measurement approach across the industry.

The report also found that poor strategic alignment is directly impacting business performance. Half of marketers said they had experienced negative business outcomes when execution was prioritised ahead of strategy, including reduced ROI and missed product launches.

The findings suggest marketers are struggling to measure the full customer journey. More than 60 per cent of the buyer journey is effectively invisible to marketers, causing upper-funnel tactics such as video and brand-building activity to be consistently undervalued because they are harder to attribute.

When asked what would improve the modern RFP process, 41 per cent of respondents said structured outcome-definition frameworks would add the most value, while 40 per cent wanted clearer examples of high-performing briefs.

Andrea Sexton, CEO at Ledger Bennett, commented: “There will be widespread awareness that RFPs need to be modernised but this research really paints a stark picture. B2B marketers need fully integrated partners that see strategy, creative and media as one. They need transparency when it comes to AI’s true benefits. And they need to simplify and unify measurement. We urge others within our industry to unite behind a standardised, results-oriented framework to ensure stronger partnerships within our industry and ultimately create longer lasting, more valuable customer relationships too.”

Giuseppe La Rocca, VP Enterprise at StackAdapt, added: “The industry has increasingly conflated what’s measurable with what’s meaningful. This research shows how deeply that mindset now influences RFPs, media planning and performance evaluation. Marketers aren’t confident in the value of AI capabilities, their ability to measure cross-channel performance in a streamlined way, or feel assured that strategy is prioritised over ‘getting the work done’. The findings underline the need for a more modern and honest approach to evaluating marketing effectiveness.”