It’s time for B2B marketing to come out of its shell – so what’s holding it back?

But now, B2B is finally getting its moment in the spotlight. Jon Evans is talking about it on Uncensored CMO, a marketing podcast with over a million downloads. Marketing and advertising trade publications, such as The Drum, are writing about it, and books like Boring2Brave by bestselling author Mark Choueke are flying off the shelves.

Funnel vision

The B2B world has enjoyed a significant amount of smart and sophisticated marketing, but historically, that brilliance was not focused on the advertising side. Brave B2B marketers have been among the first to excel at data-driven efforts that connect with hard-to-reach decision-makers, using technology to deliver precise, targeted messaging, as well as working hand-in-hand with sales to deliver meaningful touchpoints that support the complex buyer journey. The creativity was present in many cases, but lower down the funnel and not visible to the masses.

However, most of the chatter happening currently is about B2B advertising, especially brand-building top-of-funnel advertising – and rightfully so. In the past, the buying group was much smaller, and the process was designed to work hand-in-hand with sales. Today, the buying journey is far more complex, with multiple decision-makers and touchpoints. In this new context, traditional rational, product-driven messages fall short. Recent research studies have shown how emotional strategies outperform, making room for creativity to break free in the space.

As a result, we’re seeing some great B2B advertising work out there. Campaigns like Workday’s ‘Rockstars’, Slack’s ‘Big Meeting’, Spotify’s ‘Spreadsheets’, and Zekelman Industries’ ‘Made in the USA’ are proving that B2B doesn’t have to be boring. These brands leverage humor, music, and belief-based marketing to grab attention and generate results.

Slow change

So, why isn’t everyone jumping on the creative bandwagon? The reality is that most B2B advertisers still aren’t stepping up their game. Despite all the talk about creativity, B2B ads remain, for the most part, uninspired. Research from LinkedIn tells us that most business decision-makers are underwhelmed by what they see. They want ads with humor, emotion, and memorable characters. Instead, they’re getting the same bland, predictable content.

Unfortunately, B2B has some deep-seated barriers that are holding brands back. I am a highly optimistic person, so I do believe more and more B2B brands will lean into creativity in advertising, but it will take time. There are multiple barriers in the industry that are difficult to change overnight.

For example, many B2B brands, especially in sectors like finance, technology, insurance, healthcare, telecommunications, and IT, will use similar shades of blue because it’s considered to be a “businesslike” color, representing trust, reliability, and professionalism. But by choosing a color so predominant in the space, B2B brands run the risk of becoming invisible.

Too safe

When it came to our agency, MX, we often see briefs calling for an “expert tone,” but in B2B, expertise is table stakes. It’s the baseline – not a differentiator. And having expertise doesn’t mean you can’t be humorous, friendly, or even playful in your advertising. In fact, that’s exactly what will set brands apart.

Unfortunately, many B2B marketers are still stuck in this old-school mindset that “serious” equals “credible”. Brand tone of voice is one of the most important factors in creating a distinctive identity, but it’s highly underutilized.

Another common pitfall is to copy the category narrative and not have the bravery to be different. So many brands are simply repeating what’s already out there, afraid to take risks or challenge the status quo. This stems from a desire for perceived safety – there’s less risk in saying the same thing.

But in reality, this "safety" leads to stagnation and commoditization. The brands that truly succeed are those that carve out their own narrative, like Salesforce, which positioned itself as a cloud-first disruptor early on; IBM with its shift toward AI leadership with Watson; and Mailchimp’s challenger approach.

Customer insights

Another common practice in B2B is developing customer personas. While these can be incredibly helpful, their impact depends on grounding them in genuine customer insights, ideally drawn from real voice-of-customer research.

Recently, due to budget constraints, we’re seeing more cases where customer personas are created without the depth of real insights – sometimes resembling more marketers' wishful thinking than actual customer profile. To create personas that truly connect, it's crucial to invest in real, meaningful customer insights wherever possible.

And finally, there’s the elephant in the room: brand awareness. B2B marketers still treat “brand awareness” as a dirty word. It’s seen as fluffy, soft, and somehow disconnected from real business impact, and they are instead overreliant on performance marketing because it’s something we can measure, and it’s now.

But here’s the thing: brand awareness is demand generation. They’re not two separate entities. When done right, brand campaigns don’t just build awareness – they create demand, generate leads, and drive sales in both the short and long term.

Tight budgets

The problem is, B2B can’t afford to be boring. The sector’s marketing budgets are tiny compared to B2C. While B2C brands are spending 5-15% of total revenue on marketing, B2B brands are lucky to get 1-7%. That’s a fraction of the resources, which means every dollar counts. And when you have a small budget, it’s easy to fall into the trap of being conservative.

But as Rebecca Hirst, CMO of EY UK, pointed out on the Uncensored CMO podcast, spending money on boring ads is like throwing it out the window. If you’re not capturing attention, you’re wasting your budget.

Got a taste for B2B? Plenty more over at our dedicated focus week hub.