Guess who's back? Brand is back (in B2B...maybe)

2024 was full of chatter that, after a period of chronic underinvestment, “brand is back” in B2B. A number of reports seem to corroborate the gossip.

If the rumours are true, and investment in long-term brand-building really is on the up, then what does this mean for B2B brand and creative leaders whose leadership remains undecided or uninformed?

How can they seize this momentum and persuade their bosses that, now “brand is back,” it’s time to back their brand?

I first felt some winds of change gently blowing in January of last year.?

Velocity Partners launched a new (in their words) “sort-of-B2B-manifesto” declaring that B2B Brand is Back.

But it came with caveats. B2B is waking up to the power of brand, they said, but “B2B companies still chronically under-invest in their brands”, and a “4-to-18-fold increase over current levels” was needed to right the ship.

Maybe the right people were listening. In July, LinkedIn’s 2024 B2B Marketing Benchmark report stated that 67% of B2B marketers were increasing budgets for brand-building efforts.?

This was swiftly followed by the Fall 2024 edition of Deloitte’s CMO Survey which showed that US-based B2B CMOs expected their budgets for brand-building to rise by an average of 7.9% in the next twelve months.

And then in December, a B2B version of Havas’ long-standing Meaningful Brands report launched, called Decoding B2B’s Brand Boom.

In its introduction, Andrea Glenn, CEO of Ledger Bennett, a Havas company, observed that B2B has well and truly “shifted from a sales-led approach to a true recognition in the power of brand”.

We’ve felt the shift here at Shaped By. Our team saw a 7x uplift in brand-related briefs (brand strategy, brand awareness, brand identity) in the last six months of 2024, compared with the six months before that.?

And although this is even more anecdotal (and I’m aware of how echo chambers work), conversations in my LinkedIn feed about the value of strong brands in B2B became increasingly prevalent throughout 2024.

Add it all up...

...and there’s an argument to suggest that B2B’s long-term love affair with short-termism may be plateauing.

If it is a renaissance, it’s a timely one. DentsuB2B’s Superpowers Index 2024 report identified stronger brand-building as the number one trend defining winning B2B buyer experiences in 2024.

And according to research conducted by Bain & Company and Google, 86% of B2B buyers shortlist their preferred vendors before initiating the buying process, with 92% going on to purchase from that “Day 1” list - underscoring the need to build brand awareness and trust early on.

Ok but…so what?

If you’re an in-house creative or brand leader, you’re probably reading this and thinking:

“Yes, I know all this. I’ve been constantly banging the drum for brand investment. Leadership may finally be listening, so don’t just tell me “brand is back” and leave it there. Help me to capitalise.”

Well, the Shaped By team and I hear you.

Over the next few months, we'll be putting out a range of content and resources focusing on this very topic.

I’m very excited about what we’ve got lined up, both from our experts at Shaped By and our wider network of awesome clients, friends and industry gurus.?

Together we'll provide you with the tools and knowledge you need to build your business case for increased brand investment, and use that investment to maximum effect. We’ll cover topics like:

• Making a compelling case for brand investment
• How to develop founder-led B2B brands
• The role of thought leadership in brand-building
• Evolving your brand identity without losing consistency

Make sure you don’t miss it. Sign up to our monthly mailer here. Subscribe to our podcast and YouTube channel. And follow Shaped By on LinkedIn.?

One last thought…

I have an optimistic take on where this is heading. Hear me out…

Brand may be on the lips of more B2B CEOs and CFOs. But we’re still a long way from saying that it’s valued anywhere near as highly as it should be.

However - if the incredibly talented creative and brand leaders at B2B firms do finally get their hands on the dollars they need to build bolder brands, then not only will that value start to be appreciated, but the bar for effective differentiation, creative excellence and craft will start to rise.

Over time, this will trigger more insight and research into the effects of these investments on the businesses, which will feed back into boardrooms - and keep feeding the cycle.

We’ll also see another trend continuing to rise, which is the migration of uber-talented creative and brand leaders from agency-land into in-house B2B roles. Which will accelerate the bar-raising even further.

I see a huge opportunity for organisations that start this process now.?Getting themselves ahead of the curve, and taking the lead on setting that new standard.

If that’s your vision for your business, then hopefully the insights we share in the coming months can help you set the wheels in motion.