Move over Titanium, the wild creativity of B2B is here, says Cocogun’s Creative Partner, Ant Melder.
An iconic Belgian beefcake stares serenely down the barrel of the camera as his ankles, strapped to the wing mirrors of two reversing trucks, move eye-wateringly further apart, and we savour the hypnotic strains of Enya’s Only Time.
An unforgettable documentary on a YouTube science channel unpacks a tiny island nation’s ‘space program’, featuring a ‘spacecraft’ that never leaves Earth and instead travels beneath the sea in the quest for sustainable energy.
That fella who stole the show in The White Lotus season three on his wild revenge mission through Thailand spruiks his range of show-stopping designer goggle glasses.
What do these things have in common? Each of them is a piece of B2B creativity that is vastly more engaging, entertaining, and effective than most B2C ads. Because in a world where generic wallpaper, AI slop and soulless content are all too common, smart businesses are increasingly recognising the risk of playing it safe and the power of standing out.
In the words of the legendary Dave Trott, “Creativity is the last legal unfair advantage.” The Henry Fords, Steve Jobs, Richard Bransons and Whitney Wolfe Herds of the world have always known this. After all, long before it was ever a job title, ‘creative’ was a mindset. And this is probably blasphemy, but I’d argue there are just as many creative thinkers in the boardrooms and start-up incubators of the world as there are in agency creative departments. Now that a creative business mindset is being paired with epic execution, it feels like there’s literally no limit to where this can go.
The fusion of creative agency thinking with the influence and scale of B2B smarts kicks open the door to untold opportunities for originality, fun, and game-changing solutions. It also elevates us from ever being seen as the self-indulgent colouring-in department to enablers of exponential commercial impact.
From a purely selfish creative’s point of view, this moment couldn’t be more exciting. When I started out in advertising, back in the mists of the ’90s, there was press, poster, radio, TV. That was it. What Cannes, these days, diplomatically calls the ‘Classic categories’ (give it a couple of years, and maybe they’ll rechristen them as ‘Les Boomers’).
Then, by contrast, I look at what’s winning in the B2B space. Earlier this year, I had the privilege of judging the inaugural B2B category at the Spikes. Just like in the corresponding Cannes category, we saw wild activations, WTF!? events, new products, supply-chain innovations, and all manner of mind-blowing magic at the intersection of business, science, sustainability and innovation. In terms of pure creativity, it’s very much a case of move over, Titanium – B2B is here.
The irony to all this is that B2B sounds so…dry, right? And yet, this burgeoning space is where it’s at. Why? And why now? IMHO, there’s one reason: the most switched-on businesses and agencies have come to understand that people who run businesses, people who work in businesses, and people who do business with businesses are still exactly that: people. Humans with dreams, ambitions, taste, loved ones, stuff to do tonight, and – believe it or not – a sense of humour. So when we start treating them like that, rather than as functional cogs in a machine, they respond.
Sure, you could send your potential customers a generic eDM listing all the reasons the reversing stability function on your fleet of lorries is awesome. Maybe with a catchy subject line, decent copywriting, and a sprinkling of the right keywords, you’ll garner a click or two. But somehow I doubt it’ll be as memorable, effective, or as much fun as getting Jean-Claude Van Damme to do the splits between two moving trucks.
