You know the formula. I know you know it because you've seen it a thousand times:
- Stock images of professionals in gray suits sitting around a conference table
- Maybe a handshake, because business is about handshakes apparently
- Text that describes your product in excruciating, quantitative detail: "111% ROI, 33% faster speeds, 77% reduction in costs"
- Generic attributes that could apply to any brand: "innovative," "reliable," "trusted"
- A voice actor with a soothing baritone
- And then, at the absolute last second, the big branding reveal
I've been in B2B marketing for 20 years, and I've watched this formula persist despite overwhelming evidence that it doesn't work. Why does it persist? Because it feels "safe." It's what B2B marketing looks like, so it must be what B2B marketing should look like.
This is exactly wrong.
Why Sameness Fails
Here's what the research tells us: distinctive brands are more memorable, and more memorable brands get chosen more often. This is as true in B2B as B2C.
But B2B creative is remarkable for its sameness. In any given category—cloud computing, enterprise software, professional services—the ads are essentially interchangeable. Swap out the logos and you wouldn't know the difference.
This sameness is strategic malpractice. When everything looks the same, nothing stands out. When nothing stands out, buyers default to the category leader (because at least they've heard of that one).
A Personal Confession
I should be honest: I've approved plenty of this cookie-cutter creative in my career. When I was younger, I thought "looking professional" was the same as "looking like everyone else."
I remember a campaign from my third marketing job where we produced what I thought was beautiful, distinctive creative—bold colors, unexpected visuals, a sense of humor. Leadership made us scrap it. "This doesn't look like B2B," they said. We ran the stock photos instead.
The campaign underperformed by every measure. But at least it looked "professional."
The Elements of Effective B2B Creative
After two decades and many, many campaigns, here's what I've learned about B2B creative that actually works:
1. Lead with Distinctive Visual Assets
Your brand should be recognizable in a split second, even without the logo. Think Intel's "bong," Salesforce's Astro mascot, Oracle's red. What visual elements are uniquely yours?
2. Show Up Before You Sell
The best B2B creative isn't about the product at all. It's about the customer's world, their problems, their aspirations. When you understand their reality better than they do, they trust you to help solve it.
3. Don't Be Afraid of Emotion
B2B buyers are humans. They feel fear (of making the wrong decision), hope (of looking smart to their boss), and anxiety (of change). Creative that acknowledges these emotions outperforms rational product messaging consistently.
4. Invest in Distinctive Brand Assets
Logos, colors, taglines, sonic branding, visual styles, characters—these are assets that build value over time. Most B2B brands underinvest in them dramatically.
Using Simulated Cohorts for Creative Development
One thing I've started doing at SocioLogic: testing creative concepts with synthetic users before we produce anything.
I'll describe a creative concept to synthetic personas and ask questions like:
- "What's your first reaction to this?"
- "What does this tell you about the company?"
- "Would you remember this tomorrow?"
- "What questions does this raise for you?"
It's not a perfect substitute for market testing, but it's caught several bad ideas before we invested production budget—and surfaced reactions we didn't anticipate.
The Path Forward
B2B marketing is in the early stages of a creative revolution. The companies that break out of the gray-suits-and-handshakes formula will be disproportionately rewarded because they'll actually be noticed in a sea of sameness.
My advice: find the thing that makes your brand distinctive and lean into it aggressively. Be memorable even if it means being polarizing. The worst outcome isn't being disliked—it's being forgotten.
And please, for the love of all that is holy, no more stock photos of people pointing at charts.