B2B brands have traditionally focused on appealing to business needs as opposed to personalized marketing—resulting in creative that can be more functional than emotionally engaging.

"Many companies in B2B don't treat customers as humans,” said Emma Chalwin, CMO of Workday. “It’s more of a transactional relationship.”

As work-life boundaries blur and younger generations gain corporate buying power, more B2B marketers are adopting consumer-style approaches and focusing on memorable brand building.

• 64% of B2B marketers plan to take a consumer-facing approach to their work in 2025, embracing channels like TikTok and Instagram, according to a December survey by Madison Logic and The Harris Poll.

Rewriting corporate standards

This year, Cannes Lions expanded its B2B category to account for industry nuances. Entrants were asked to specify whether their work fell within the traditional B2B model or a model “attracting consumers as a way to engage a business customer.”

“The B2B world is converging with the B2C world, so it’s critical that you play in the mediums that typically work for direct to consumer,” said Keith Turco, CEO at B2B agency Madison Logic. “B2B used to be about a timeslot, and ‘Let me get them on their morning or afternoon commute.’”

This new generation doesn’t tie traditional professionalism to trust or credibility.

• 64% of buyers are more likely to engage with a B2B brand that uses simple language, according to a Transmission report.
• 50% more B2B buyers rated a brand as trustworthy after seeing their CEO in casual clothes, per the report.

“Even in enterprise software, emotions and how we build relationships play a huge role in those connections,” said Chalwin.

Considering personal interests

The average B2B buying decision involves 13 decision makers, per a December 2024 Forrester report. This collective choice forces B2B marketers to rethink traditional approaches targeting C-suite executives, as influence flows from multiple directions within companies.

New focus on personable and casual outreach is clear as B2B grows within the creator economy.

• Over half (53%) of US B2B marketers have a growing dedicated budget for influencer marketing, according to September 2024 data from TopRank Marketing and Ascend2.

Workday’s ongoing “Rock Star” campaign taps musicians to poke fun at corporate language, and the platform has partnerships with athletes including Naomi Osaka and Michelle Wie West.“We have brand ambassadors across golf, tennis, and Formula One,” said Chalwin. “[We asked] ‘How can we build a connection that’s more on a personal level, and then how do we introduce our customers to our prospects so they can share their peer-to-peer experiences?’”

Embracing new office hours

Madison Logic just added audio advertising to its portfolio earlier this year, aiming to reach the modern B2B consumer who is younger and more digitally native.

• 50% of B2B marketers plan to increase their investment in podcast advertising this year, per a November 2024 survey from Madison Logic and The Harris Poll.

"People are using their personal lives to actually work and do their research. We call it the 'at-work state of mind,'" said Turco. "You can be thinking about work anytime of the day, especially in this post-COVID world."

Whether the outreach is a whitepaper or a podcast, a strong B2B strategy requires a deeper understanding of your target consumer’s role and buying power within their organization, said Chalwin.

“Many companies in B2B talk to everybody as if they’re the same, whether they’re in healthcare, financial services, or retail,” said Chalwin. “It has to be more bespoke and more personalized, and not having one message that caters to everybody is so important.”