At VivaTech 2026, Hirondo’s CEO Yannig asked 7 senior marketing professionals, CMOs, part-time CMOs, B2B growth and AI specialists, three direct questions. What makes a great marketer in 2026? What innovations caught their eye? And what should never be left to AI? Here are their answers, unfiltered.
What Makes a Great Marketer in 2026
The consensus across all 7 experts is clear: the best marketer in 2026 is the one who knows how to draw the line between human judgment and machine execution.
“A great marketer in 2026 is someone that knows what to automate and what not to automate, what to do with AI, and what not to do with AI. That is intrinsically related to your judgment, your capability, and your deep experience in the field.” Tania Saez, Fractional Growth CMO specializing in B2B ABM, Demand Gen & RevOps (Hirondo)
“A good marketer in 2026 is moving faster, more creative, and testing a lot of stuff.” Gaëlle Le Goff, Part-time CMO & Head of Communications (Hirondo)
“Everything is changing super fast. If you don’t keep up, it’s going to be ancient. You have to be fast and adaptable, or it’s old news.” Heidi McKee, AI Visibility Strategist, LLM Visibility / GEO for B2B SaaS (Hirondo):
“AI is mostly efficient when it comes to execution. But a good marketer should always keep in mind that nothing replaces their curiosity and their creativity.” Lise Yacoub, Operating Partner & CRO, business coach (Hirondo)
The pattern is clear: the best CMOs and marketers of 2026 are not those who master the most AI tools. They are the ones with enough domain depth to know when to use them, and when not to.
The Innovations That Stood Out at VivaTech 2026
David Remaud, CMO at iBanFirst (FinTech), a Hirondo client, highlighted a specific launch:
“iBanFirst announced the first MCP for Claude to connect Excel to a payment provider. It transforms any spreadsheet from a finance team into a full cash management tool. That’s remarkable.”
A live example of what AI agents deliver when embedded in real production workflows, not just tested in a sandbox.
Heidi McKee noticed a broader market shift:
“My favorite ones were AI agents really tuned into different workflows, specific and easy to use. Ones that are niche to people’s use cases: that’s a whole different story.”
The move is from generic agents to vertical ones, built for specific roles, processes and audiences.
Elena Souiller Fedorenkova, CMO at KNAVE (FinTech) and also a Hirondo community member, looked beyond software:
“VivaTech this year is all about robotics. Korben: service robots, cleaning robots, across Europe. That’s something that will really work out.”
Lise Yacoub highlighted two standout innovations: Tenaka, a French startup regenerating oceans using AI and technology, and VBTech‘s Brain Explorer, a fully functional, personalized digital twin of each patient’s brain, enabling neurosurgeons to simulate surgeries before making any incision.
The signal from VivaTech 2026: AI is entering its industrial phase. Demos are giving way to production use cases. Generic agents are being replaced by vertical, specialized ones. And the technology now extends far beyond the digital sector alone.
What Should Never Be Left to AI
This question generated the most decisive and most consistent answers:
Tania Saez:
“Judgment.”
One word. No nuance. Judgment, built from experience, mistakes and the ability to read situations, cannot be delegated.
Gaëlle Le Goff:
“Her brain.”
Same conviction, stated with a smile.
Elena Souiller-Fedorenkova:
“Anything related to creative and human decisions, positioning especially. We should own the positioning we choose for our company. Don’t hand that to AI.”
Louis Pruvost, Content Marketing Specialist & SEO expert, France & Germany (Hirondo):
“Never leave your understanding of customers’ real pain points to AI. If you delegate that, you lose your creativity entirely and your ability to cover their real needs.”
Heidi McKee was practical:
“The final copy of content. It requires a lot of editing, some human touches, AI phrases get so weird. Even though we are being more modern, you have to double check.”
David Remaud offered a nuanced take:
“I wouldn’t say anything specific. It’s more about always keeping a human eye on what you produce, with 10 to 20% human control at the end. So we stay smart and don’t start to be stupid.”
The consensus is not a rejection of AI. It is a demand for discernment. AI executes. The marketer decides, positions, understands, and signs off.
What This Says About the CMO Role
Seven voices. One coherent model: marketing in 2026 is a hybrid function, where human expertise and the ability to orchestrate technology coexist.
This is exactly what Hirondo stands for, a collective of fractional CMOs, part-time marketing directors, and senior B2B specialists who operate with the depth of an internal resource and the agility of an external one.
The Hirondo members present at VivaTech embody this model: Tania Saez on ABM and RevOps, Heidi McKee on AI visibility and GEO, Gaëlle Le Goff on go-to-market and institutional communications, Elena Souiller-Fedorenkova on product marketing in FinTech, Louis Pruvost on content and SEO across France and Germany, Lise Yacoub on B2B growth and facilitation.
Not a panel. A taskforce.
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