MarTech Evolved: Smarter Stacks, Richer Data, Sustainable Growth
The MarTech Summit Amsterdam 2025: A Day of Insights, Innovation & Impact. We welcomed over 200 senior marketing professionals, alongside more than 30 insightful speakers and 12 leading MarTech exhibitors. Attendees explored the latest trends in marketing technology, discovered cutting-edge innovations, and engaged in valuable exchanges of ideas and strategies.
Now, welcome to our summit’s aftermath – Join us as we unravel the mysteries and shed light on the lingering questions posed to the brilliant speakers who captivated us during the summit!
Experience the summit in motion with BEETc On-Screen – our on-demand learning platform offering exclusive access to past MarTech Summit sessions, insightful webinars, and more. Use code PSR1MON to register now and enjoy 1 month of free access. Catch up, revisit, and discover fresh perspectives at your own pace.
Access Now: https://beetc.io/subscription-plan/
Unanswered Q&A from The MarTech Summit Asia
- Fireside Chat [Conversational Marketing] How to Build Conversations across Multiple Channels & Funnels that Keep You Closer to Your Customers?
- Panel Discussion | [Digital Content Creation] Redefining and Elevating Brand Engagement with Digital Contents
- Keynote Presentation [Server-Side Tracking] Always Look on the Server-Side of Life
- Panel Discussion [MarTech Intersection] Adapting MarTech Strategies to Regional Nuances to Streamline Marketing Ops
Fireside Chat [Conversational Marketing] How to Build Conversations across Multiple Channels & Funnels that Keep You Closer to Your Customers?
Speaker:
Abhishek Sharma, Senior Director, Product Management & Marketing, QIAGEN
❓How do you decide which channels are right for real-time conversations in your funnel?
It depends on the target audience and which channels they prefer to use. You can find this out quantitatively by looking at historical data or qualitatively talking to your internal/external stakeholders.
❓Where does employee advocacy fit in conversational marketing? Especially in B2B
Answered during the talk, but just to reshare one good program is Sales or Marketing Ambassadors.
❓Where do you guys stand in terms of recurring purchases and CLTV?
This is sometimes used as a KPI where it is difficult to show direct impacts. A value has been assigned to a customer, but it’s debatable sometimes within the organisation.
❓For b2b companies, how do you build two-way conversations with customers?
You need to have checkpoints within your campaign planning, for example, marketing qualification questions and responses based on their choices, etc.
❓What role does conversational marketing play in improving the conversion rate from MQL to sale? If implemented, what % improvement have you seen from this?
It’s difficult to give a % as it depends on your industry or products, but just adding a few additional conversation steps really improves the quality of leads. For example, for 1 of our launch campaigns, it increased further by 10%.
Panel Discussion [Digital Content Creation] Redefining and Elevating Brand Engagement with Digital Contents
Speaker:
Heather Hurd, Head of Marketing, Zander Labs
❓Creative storytelling vs brand guidelines/limitations. How do you strike a balance between compliance and engagement?
A great set of brand guidelines is meant to serve as guardrails, not cages. If you’ve built your brand guidelines with a growth mindset and a focus on not only where you are now but also how your company plans to grow, there will be enough flexibility to make room for creativity, storytelling, and stepping outside the lines a bit when the situation calls for it. In fact, really well-done brand guidelines will spell out things like which types of content need to be really brand aligned and not stray from guidelines (these should be just a few and the ones most impacted by regulations/legal concerns) and where the brand can flex and expand to make space for big thoughts and new ways of approaching the work.
❓How are you using AI in personalising customer content? Do you also use AI for data mining and personalising brand messaging?
AI is great at categorising, summarising, and spotting patterns, so use it for its strengths. If you’re using AI in your content production process, let it be a tool for pattern analysis and framework suggestions to guide you toward content that best fits your target audience.
❓What keeps you awake (business-related)?
What keeps me awake when it comes to my work is how important it is for businesses to really nail down their stories. As I mentioned in our session, storytelling so often gets dismissed as fluff, but when it’s well done, it is absolutely key to differentiation in an increasingly competitive and complex market. I want to see companies really rallying around telling the right story, in the right rooms, to the right people so that everyone gets excited about what they do and growth comes from that excitement.
❓How do you calculate ROI of your digital content?
Calculating the specific ROI of digital content is notoriously difficult. Content is generally a long-term cycle that builds trust, familiarity, and education more than it drives direct sales. For me, what works best is measuring sentiment, brand recognition, and other KPIs related to how well we’re getting our names out there. It’s key to be patient and look for increases in more easily measurable KPIs like pipeline or time to purchase. If digital content is doing its job well, you should be able to see small but consistent increases in engagement across most of your platforms over time.
❓What is your view on using AI to create content?
Not copy-pasting, but use it as a content starter and research agent for your content – It’s important to be really careful about using generative AI to create content directly. While it’s getting better and better, it is still extremely prone to hallucinations, incorrect data, lack of sources, and coming to strange conclusions. It’s also important to remember that it can only pull from existing content to create your content, so there is an argument for it being essentially incapable of creating something truly new. If you want to avoid regression to the mean when it comes to your content quality, leverage AI for what it does best – research, pattern recognition, summarisation, etc. – and make sure you’re keeping a human in the loop to keep everything correct, well-sourced, and brand-aligned.
❓With AI, other professionals who are not experts in creating content (design/copywriting) do and utilise it. How to keep quality still good in these cases?
This is where your brand guidelines and messaging frameworks come in. The better you structure these, the easier it will be for other teams in your organisation to use them to create content that meets their needs while still representing your brand the way you want it to. It’s also extremely important to make sure your content processes include time and resources for someone to review this content when it’s being shared on higher-impact channels so that you can provide feedback.
❓Do you see AI replacing A/B testing with predictive or generative models? If yes, how reliable is it today?
Current AI models aren’t ready for really useful A/B testing or predictive modelling unless you have someone on your team who is well-trained in the right prompting. As all marketers know, it’s diamonds in/diamonds out (a bit nicer than garbage in/garbage out?), so the key to making this work currently is expert-level prompting and a lot of data input to help AI tools better understand your content, audience, goals, methodology, and future paths. Most organisations now are still in the process of developing their internal prompt experts, so I think it will be a while before we can start testing out the possibility of predictive AI to replace A/B testing. It’s also important to remember that A/B testing can’t be the only way you’re measuring the success of your digital content. Direct, personal feedback from event presence, user surveys, customer-service connects, and sales meetings will always be a vital part of testing, refining, and optimising your digital content performance.
❓Should a company track and take public accountability for the environmental impact of their AI usage?
Especially as the next generations enter the market, decision-makers are increasingly conscious of where companies stand on major issues, even the ones that aren’t directly impacted by their work, market, or industry. Companies that want to engage with these savvy, critical audiences would be well served by full transparency about AI usage and impact. The more honest companies are about what they’re doing and how they’re mitigating the impact of these tools, the easier they’ll be able to overcome potential objections from would-be customers.
Keynote Presentation [Server-Side Tracking] Always Look on the Server-Side of Life
Speaker:
Denis Golubovskyi, CEO, Stape
❓Is server-side tracking a necessity or an unnecessary investment?
Server-side tracking becomes a necessity if you want to achieve more accurate data and better privacy, especially with constantly evolving browser restrictions on cookies. It helps you get more reliable tracking and keep user data safer.
❓Server-side tracking for sensitive industries?
For industries like finance or healthcare, server-side tracking is a great option, as it offers explicit control over what data is passed towards a specific destination, thus allowing it to be compliant with privacy rules.
❓How much development time and resources do you need to transition to SGTM if your tracking is already fully GTM-based? Is it achievable by marketers?
It is achievable by marketers but requires some level of understanding of how the connection between client and server is established. Developer involvement can be minimised as the whole tracking setup can be done in the GTM/sGTM interface.
❓What other security do you have to stop hackers, given the data you are collecting?
Server-side tracking adds layers like data encryption, user access controls, and monitoring. These help protect the data you collect from attacks. 3rd party providers like Stape, for example, have all the possible security measures in place and required security certificates, like SOC2 Type, ISO27001:2022, as well as GPDR, HIPAA, DORA and CCPA compliances.
❓Is sGTM container stable on AWS ecosystem or do you have to host it on GCP only?
You can run sGTM containers on both AWS and GCP. GCP fits well with Google tools, but AWS works fine if that’s your current setup.
❓Are there limitations in tracking user interactions visible only in the browser, like clicks, scroll depth… etc?
Yes. Actions happening in the browser must be captured client-side first. Server-side tracking improves how this data is processed but cannot replace initial event capture.
❓Why are the IT teams reluctant to set server-side tracking? Are there any risks associated with configuration or any clashes with enterprise architecture?
They could be worried about complexity, setup mistakes, or conflicts with company systems. These risks can be reduced by clear planning and using tools designed to simplify server-side tracking, like Stape.
Panel Discussion [MarTech Intersection] Adapting MarTech Strategies to Regional Nuances to Streamline Marketing Ops
Speaker:
Michelle Goderie, Chief Marketing Officer, EU Emerging Markets, Amazon
Shruti Akkipeddi, E-Commerce Analytics & Insights, JDE Peets
❓Which regional differences have had the biggest impact on your stack’s performance or adoption?
Michelle: Regional differences have most significantly impacted stack performance through varying digital infrastructure capabilities and regulatory requirements. Differences in local customer expectations around e-commerce.
❓How to overcome data issues in complex global organisations?
Shruti: Global organisations often face data issues like inconsistent formats, systems that don’t talk to each other, poor data quality, lack of governance, integration challenges, and limited access across regions. These problems make it hard to get a clear, accurate, and timely view of the business.
To address this, organisations should invest in a unified data platform, set global data standards and governance policies, and promote collaboration between teams to ensure data is consistent, accessible, and actionable across all markets.
❓How do you balance global consistency with local agility in tech-enabled marketing?
Michelle: Balancing global consistency with local agility requires a sophisticated “core and flex” approach. At Amazon, this means maintaining a robust central platform while enabling regional teams to adapt and customise within defined parameters. This structure ensures brand consistency while respecting local market needs and cultural nuances.
❓How can MarTech strategies support local communities and be mindful of current events? It feels challenging to navigate marketing in regions of conflict.
Michelle: Supporting local communities during conflicts or sensitive periods demands careful consideration and swift response capabilities. The key is maintaining a neutral stance while being responsive to local contexts.
❓How can we streamline the complexity and cost of regional customisation?
Michelle: The complexity of regional customisation can be managed through intelligent automation and modular systems. Rather than creating entirely separate systems for each market, the focus should be on building scalable platforms that allow for efficient localisation while maintaining central control of core elements.
Shruti: To manage regional data customisation, first standardise core metrics across all regions for consistency. Set up a regular feedback loop where local teams share their data needs. To avoid overload, create a clear process to evaluate and prioritise requests based on business impact, feasibility, and strategy alignment. Communicate priorities transparently and regularly review them to keep the process efficient. Focus customisation efforts on high-impact regions or segments and encourage local teams to follow data best practices to avoid unnecessary or duplicate requests. Reuse data models and reports across similar markets to save time and resources.
❓How much centralised/decentralised are you – global vs regional campaigns?
Michelle: Regarding centralisation, a practical approach is adopting a 70/30 model: 70% global framework with 30% regional adaptation. This allows for efficient resource use while maintaining necessary local relevance. Global campaigns drive major initiatives, while regional teams have autonomy for market-specific activities and apply differences in maturity levels.
❓How to convince global team of regional needs considering they are short on resources?
Michelle: When convincing global teams of regional needs, success lies in data-driven argumentation and pilot programs that demonstrate clear ROI. Building cross-regional coalitions can help advocate for shared needs, particularly when resources are constrained.
Shruti: Show clear, data-based examples of how regional needs lead to real business results—like more sales, better customer engagement, or increased market share. Make sure these local needs connect with the global goals so the global team sees how regional work helps the whole company succeed. For example, explain how a local campaign raised sales by 20%, supporting the global aim to grow online revenue. This way, the global team understands that investing in regional projects benefits both their priorities and local markets, making it easier to get their support.
❓For smaller multinational companies, what’s the martech strategy for content localisation?
Michelle: For smaller multinational companies, content localisation should focus on key markets first, using scalable translation management systems augmented by human review. This allows for efficient resource allocation while maintaining quality.
❓How do you manage strong regional MarTech stack differences? Streamlining across all countries or live with legacy and built on top?
Michelle: Managing regional tech stack differences requires an API-first architecture that enables flexibility while maintaining system integrity. Rather than forcing immediate uniformity, focus on creating interoperability between systems and implementing progressive modernisation.
❓Do GDPR requirements mean your European digital campaigns are less impactful vs other regions (or is that an excuse that European marketers like to use 😉)?
Michelle: Regarding GDPR and European campaigns, viewing privacy regulations as purely restrictive is overly simplistic. Successful companies adapt by focusing on first-party data strategies and privacy-first marketing approaches that can actually enhance customer trust and engagement.
❓Why are there still issues of localisation, language choice and local SEO that impact global brand ranking? Should we focus on the country and forget global wins?
Michelle: The challenge of localisation versus global brand ranking requires a nuanced approach. Success lies in implementing a hybrid strategy that maintains a global brand presence while delivering market-specific relevance. This includes using appropriate technical solutions like hreflang tags while creating market-specific content strategies.
❓How do you ensure the brand values and core message remain consistent globally while allowing for regional agility and flavour?
Michelle: Brand consistency across regions requires clear global guidelines while allowing for cultural adaptation. Regular alignment between global and regional teams helps maintain the core message while enabling local resonance.
❓How do you fight data residency issues, particularly now that more conflicts in the political landscape upset the data storing, processing and AI modelling?
Michelle: Data residency issues, particularly in today’s complex political landscape, require a distributed data centre strategy with strong sovereignty controls. Companies must develop contingency plans for political changes while maintaining efficient operations.
Throughout the event, your inquiries ignited conversations and fueled our curiosity. Your engagement has truly enhanced the experience for all involved. For those unable to attend the live sessions or wanting to revisit the insightful discussions and presentations, we invite you to access the BEETc On-Screen on our learning platform. Let’s continue to connect, learn, and grow together, fostering innovation and excellence in the ever-evolving landscape of marketing technology. We eagerly anticipate welcoming you back at future events. Of course, there are more exciting in-person events throughout the year, please visit:
Stay tuned for updates!
⭐ Register now! Yearly & Monthly Passes available!
BEETc On-Screen, our On-Demand Learning Platform, where you can find all the previous sessions of The MarTech Summits, exclusive BEETc On-Screen Webinars and more!
⭐Use code PSR1MON to register now and enjoy 1 month of free access. Catch up, revisit, and discover fresh perspectives at your own pace.
Gain more MarTech insights here: https://themartechsummit.com/content-library/
Last updated: July 2025
