“I will defend brand to the death.” Ty Heath, Global Director of Thought Leadership at LinkedIn and Jury President for the B2B Creative category at Cannes Lions 2026, joins Conor Byrne on That’s What I Call Marketing for a conversation about B2B marketing, brand building, AI search, thought leadership, creativity and the future of buying decisions.
Ty has helped shape some of the most influential thinking in modern B2B marketing through The B2B Institute at LinkedIn, including work on the 95/5 rule, brand and demand, buying committees, B2B creativity and the emotional nature of business decision-making.
In this episode, Ty shares her journey from high-performance athletics to Google, Nestlé, IBM and LinkedIn, and explains why the lessons of elite sport still shape how she thinks about leadership, resilience and long-term practice. The conversation then moves into some of the biggest questions facing marketers today. What changes when buyers use AI tools and LLMs to build their shortlists? How should brands think about visibility, authority and credibility in an AI-assisted search world? Does gated content still make sense? Why does brand still matter when algorithms and AI tools are influencing discovery? And what will Ty be looking for as Jury President of the B2B Creative Lions at Cannes Lions 2026?
This episode is part of the Cannes Sessions, sponsored by The Digital Voice, the amplification agency working with leading ad tech and martech companies globally. The Digital Voice helps brands show up across the full mix, from global press and thought leadership to content, social, events and creative, including major moments like Cannes Lions.
What you will learn:
Timestamps:
03:03 – From elite athletics to marketing leadership
10:51 – Google, Nestlé, IBM and finding a path into marketing
15:20 – Why words, language and communication carry responsibility
17:52 – The emotional reality of B2B decision-making
18:57 – Building The B2B Institute and changing B2B marketing
21:55 – Brand and demand, the 95/5 rule and long-term growth
23:18 – AI, LLMs and the changing future of discoverability
27:42 – Buying committees, buyability and making decisions feel safer
30:36 – The gated content debate
35:14 – Why brand still matters in an AI-assisted world
38:58 – Employee voices, executive presence and B2B credibility
43:23 – Cannes Lions 2026 and the rise of B2B creativity
Listen to more episodes of That’s What I Call Marketing for conversations with leading marketers, CMOs, founders, strategists and creative thinkers on brand, effectiveness, creativity, marketing leadership and the future of the industry.
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