B2B Marketing that Made me Feel Things ? - August 2024

Best ‘let’s go all in’: Walnut ???

Walnut is a Series B sales enablement software helping you create demos that don't suck. This campaign is not new, but it’s one of my all-time favourites in SaaS. ?? How do you demo a product that claims to be good at demos? You do well what most demos don’t - dramatising the need! ?? (Well, this ended up being a tongue twister!)

#WeAreProspects campaign is a social protest against ?? sales tactics. By people who have 'wasted their best years on demo calls'. Enjoy every second of this, especially the experts and their job titles. ??

Why it works: Find the enemy everyone can relate to. Take it down. Be a hero. (Sounds familiar? It’s cos you’ve been hearing this since the age when your main media consumption was…fairytales.) But this is for grownups, so let’s not get too pompous about it aaaaaand… turn it into satire!

Best ‘pixelated rebellion’: Detechtiv ???

Detechtiv are Swedish recruiters / headhunters for the tech industry. Recruitment is about really ‘getting’ the person and trusting each other. While most recruiters are sending impersonal DMs on LinkedIn ??,? Detechtiv decided to pull the crowd in with their brand and…games. Remember Duck Hunt?! Well, now you’re shooting runaway recruiters with tranquillisers. ?? (I kinda thought you’d be shooting sleazy competitor recruiters, but I guess the Legal department wouldn’t quite be into that. ??♀?)?

Why it works: 75% of B2B brands are misattributed to the competition (Source: B2B Institute of LinkedIn). If you’re a recruiter - before they get to know you, your brand is all you have to differentiate on.?So do it.

Best ‘surprise grandma’: LinkedIn ??

You know LinkedIn, but what is a grandma doing in that ad? ‘She hardly communicates professionalism or innovation’ - that’s what one could have said to KILL this idea. ?? But they didn’t and now we have this 15 second masterpiece that communicates ‘we have work people who understand what you do’ and makes you smile at the same time. This ran on….Facebook, as an ad, showing why it’s not the right place for your B2B ad. Brilliant! ??

Why it works: LinkedIn knows that B2B brands should worry about being seen, more than about being liked. It’s…their OWN research. A candid interview with a grandma stands out way more than a predictable visual of a smiling dude with a laptop and the targeting dashboard. Go grandma! ??

Best ‘humanise the software’: Chris van Praag??

Yes, this is CRM talking to a therapist. Unloved. Cos you don’t fill it in! ?? Or you do, but not like…properly, with attention! It’s disrespectful, really... Anyway, I hope every Marketing person that sees this forwards it kindly to their Sales team. If nothing else works - maybe this will? ??

Why it works: Emotional messaging works 7x harder than rational in B2B. (Source: B2B Institute of LinkedIn) You might not believe that, but that’s exactly how I got you reading this newsletter. Showcasing the problem from the perspective of the CRM is fresh and avoids all the talk of ‘cross-departmental friction’. ??

PSA: If you’re a challenger CRM brand, in order to gain disproportionate awareness you need to undermine the conventions of the market. THIS ?? is your convention - nobody loves updating CRM. Please please write an ad around that! If you don’t - DM me and I will.

Best ‘say it like you mean it’: TeamViewer ??

TeamViewer fixes all your IT problems, remotely - from phones to heavy machinery. It’s a big, publicly listed company. Tbh it looks like one. But it’s key message ‘Support that’s more supportive’ is impeccable - relatable, memorable, provocative. ??

Who hasn’t spent an afternoon standing at IT crying because they decided to wipe the laptop without checking everything is backed up? (No? Just me? That was a horrible day…) But, as above, the terrible convention of ‘Support’ being suddenly in charge of your life and thoroughly enjoying that power dynamic (again, just me?) is REAL. Use that to build a standout brand. ??

Why it works: Because in 2024, for the first time ever, business decisions are actually PERSONAL decisions. (Source: Dentsu B2B Superpowers index) Which means it's important for a business to claim that their service makes customers feel good. ??

Best ‘that feeling when...’: Elgiganten ??

Copy: Michael Fixed the printer ONCE, and that was the start of his career as an involuntary tech expert. Has that happened to you? We’ll find the solution.

Elgiganten is a major electronics store chain in the Nordics. They have a Business arm and this is their ad for people who have accidentally become their company’s tech experts. Cos they are the ones who will need help most acutely, and are more likely to care about the service offering than any person at the top signing it off.???♀?

Why it works: If the insight is strong ??, the creative can be simple - like this one-frame 15 second shot of the person’s face. His facial expression stops the scroll and the mystery of the situation keeps you watching. Minimal cost, maximum impact. This OVER any ‘epic’ (not really) B2B ad that relies on over-produced office stories with forced humour and 300 messages. That’s why they are NOT in this newsletter. ??♀?

Best ‘vintage’: Salesforce ??

Never seen this before? Neither have I until this week, via via Mark Walker . The year is 2000, Salesforce is …ONE year old. Siebel Systems is a rival CRM company with $1bn in revenue. They have a conference, which means…Salesforce has a way to access hundreds of prospects.... ??

So it HIRES actors (!) to carry signs with anti-software messages outside that conference, in alignment with their “The End of Software” positioning, as well as a FAKE news anchor to do interviews. Sounds like the Walnut video at the top? Yes, but 20 years earlier, so it felt authentic (remember, the days before ‘fake news’’) without the need for?the satirical touch. The Wall Street Journal reports on this - Salesforce is officially on the map.??

Why it works: Before thinking of the stunt, they got their Messaging straight. That’s right, they did the strategy, the homework! ?? They laddered those features and benefits up towards a simple non-buzzword-y promise that stood out in the market. Most SaaS marketer’s are NOT doing it today. Need help? I have a fun 2-hour workshop that fixes this for you - DM me. ??

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Greetings from shockingly warm Stockholm! ??

Diana