For decades, business-to-business (B2B) marketing has operated on a dull, slightly lazy assumption: that people instantly lose their personality the moment they start work.
We used to think that at 9:00 AM, everyday consumers suddenly turned into corporate robots. We acted as if the person who just spent their morning commute listening to true-crime podcasts and scrolling through social media suddenly cared only about rigid jargon and stock photos of boardrooms once they clocked in.
But that wall has completely collapsed. As I highlighted in my ebook, From straight to great - A guide to sounding real with your B2B copy, buying decisions are always made by real, opinionated individuals — not faceless corporate entities. The future of creativity in our industry is no longer about pitching to an abstract company logo; it is about talking to real people (who happen to be at work.)
In fact, research shows that over half of B2B buyers form a deep emotional connection with their suppliers — compared to just 10% to 40% of regular consumers*. Because business choices carry massive personal and professional risk, feelings will always trump facts.
For creatives, copywriters, and designers, this is brilliant news. The era of the boring corporate brief is officially over. Excellent, human creativity is no longer an afterthought — it’s the ultimate competitive advantage to help businesses cut through and dominate the market.
From boardroom to living room
The shifting B2B buyer profile isn't just a demographic change; it’s a cultural shift. Today’s decision-makers have grown up with technology. They don’t want heavy, 40-page corporate documents. Nearly 90% of them now bypass traditional marketing entirely, looking for honest opinions on platforms like Reddit, watching peer breakdowns on YouTube, and relying on trusted industry creators to make up their minds.**
Crucially, they carry their consumer expectations directly into their corporate lives. If an Instagram post can catch their attention on a Sunday evening, they expect that same engaging, emotional connection when they’re shopping for enterprise software on Monday morning. The demographics bear this out: over a third of Gen Z buyers are bypassing Google entirely and researching business brands straight on social media.*** If a brand doesn't look human, active, and relevant on their feeds, it simply doesn't exist to them.
Ultimately, B2B buyers are driven by normal human emotions like ambition, frustration, and the desire to look good in front of their boss. Remove these feelings to look "professional," and we lose the very thing that makes B2B creativity work: connection.
As Mark Ritson always points out, using emotion in B2B doesn't mean you need to make your audience weep or pull on their heartstrings like a John Lewis Christmas ad. He calls it ‘emotion with a small e’. In business, the emotions we’re playing with are much more subtle: things like confidence, relief, hope, and professional aspiration. It’s about making a buyer feel safe and smart for choosing you.
The creative's new playground
Many junior and mid-weight creatives, working in B2C worry that moving into the B2B space means safe choices and a long, slow creative death.
I tell them the exact opposite: it’s the ultimate creative playground. Why? Because the stakes are incredibly high. If their work helps a B2B company wins a new enterprise account, it can be worth millions. The opportunity to do work that genuinely moves the commercial needle is massive.
As I wrote in my ebook last year, we win over these informed, modern buyers by fundamentally changing how we approach the daily creative output:
Stories beat features: Stop writing instruction manuals. Instead of listing every single technical tool, tell the story of the operations manager who finally gets to go home to have dinner with their kids because your software actually works. Find the human benefit.
Kill the visual clichés: Ban the glowing blue grids, the hologram globes, and the literal corporate handshakes. Look at how premium consumer brands use bold design, striking typography, and unexpected imagery to command attention. If your design looks like typical B2B, it is already invisible.
Take the pub test: Read the copy out loud. If you wouldn’t say those exact words to a friend in a bar, don’t put it in the campaign.
As the legendary ad man Dave Trott always teaches, real creativity is about simplification. Before you can persuade anyone, you first have to get their attention, and then you have to be understood. If your copy is hidden behind corporate jargon, it never gets past step one. For me, B2B needs to be jargon-free, where possible. Simplicity isn't dumbing things down; it is the highest form of creative sophistication.
The optimistic outlook
There has never been a more exciting time to lead creative teams in the B2B space. The most successful businesses right now are the ones brave enough to treat their audience with respect, intelligence, and a bit of humour.
The next generation of unforgettable, award-winning marketing campaigns won’t come from fashion houses or soft drink giants. They’ll come from B2B companies that choose to be assertive, genuine, and interesting.
So, when we brief our creative teams, let's stop them from reaching for the safe corporate template. There’s a real human being sitting on the other side of that screen, waiting to be entertained, understood, and inspired. Let's go give them something worth their time and attention.
If you’re ready to ditch the safe corporate templates and build a B2B brand that genuinely drives revenue, let's talk. Get in touch to see how I can inject some real human personality into your next B2B campaign.
*https://www.b2binternational.com/2024/04/17/how-to-meet-the-emotional-needs-of-b2b-buyers/
** https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/linkedin-offers-guidance-on-b2b-product-launches/821165/
*** https://www.demandsage.com/b2b-marketing-statistics/