A new generation of B2B marketers is moving away from uninspired approaches to connecting with customers. It’s not a case of borrowing from their B2C peers either. It’s about reaching for truly emotional and inspirational ideas that engage with them as people, rather than job titles.

This new breed of B2B marketers is also (gradually) changing the competitive environment. Until recently, B2B marketing was seemingly destined to exist in an advertising space devoid of inspiration where the tortured visual analogy reigns supreme, driven by the implicit assumption that their customers are purely rational actors.

Unlike ordinary consumers, who can be influenced by humour, warmth, and emotion, B2B customers are supposed to be a different breed, making decisions purely based on logic.

However, there is growing awareness of the simple truth that B2B customers and B2C customers are the same people, with the same motivations and emotional responses to marketing messages at work and at home.

The experiences people have everywhere – home, work, the spaces in-between – impact their expectations of B2B brands. They are judged with as much depth and nuance as everything else.

Every brand needs to be consistent and coherent across different stages. It also needs to truly connect with customers. And we have found that this is where B2B brands need to dial up the emotion.

Customers expect B2B brands to be as polished and considered as any B2C brand. They expect an intelligent, anticipatory, personalised, seamless, omnichannel experience. They are looking for inspired B2B.

For more insights and analysis download Wunderman Thompson’s Catching the Next Wave: What’s Behind the Future of B2B Creativity.