Media Buying Briefing: Media agencies embrace B2B and blend it with consumer-facing campaigns

By Michael Bürgi

It was a busy week in the business-to-business world last week, as two major media agencies opened their doors and expertise to marketers who want to solidify their business-side connections.

First, Horizon Media launched Green Thread, its B2B offering that uses data and insights from the Revenue Enablement Institute. Later in the week, Havas Media Group launched Havas Business, which aims to upend B2B marketing with what it calls a “boardroom-ready” approach that has already secured work for Maersk and AXA clients.

Gravity Global has also continued to acquire assets to broaden its B2B skills, the latest being Mojo Media Labs.

With apologies to The Buffalo Springfield (and to date myself horribly), there’s something happenin’ here… but what’s clear is the media agency world has seemingly woken up to a $30 billion pool of business brought on by recessionary economic jitters. And from the looks of it, B2B and B2C (business-to-consumer) marketing are starting to overlap.

“The digital transformation, accelerated by the pandemic, has shifted B2B to more digital (vs. traditional) activities and spend,” said Kelsey Voss, principal analyst, B2B marketing, Insider Intelligence (formerly eMarketer). “As the B2B digital space becomes more crowded, there’s intense pressure on marketing leaders to stand out from the competition. The pandemic also ignited the expectation that marketing can drive business growth and not only keep businesses operating but be a major revenue center.”

The blurring of lines between B2B and consumer marketing could intensify as media agencies that have historically worked in the consumer space expand their offerings. “One thing I’ve always believed in — and I think a lot of the industry is starting to wake up to — is that the best B2B brands are more B2C in their marketing because decision-makers aren’t walking around the world thinking ‘I’m a business decision-maker.’ They’re people,” said Eric Perko, founder of independent media agency Apollo Partners.

“To succeed, B2B marketers have taken cues from B2C,” agreed Voss. “There’s a deeper focus on brand, customer-centricity, and the full buyer’s lifecycle — not just net new sales. There’s an effort to have better and more meaningful communication and engagement. These agencies understand the B2C — and this new B2B digital landscape is where agencies see an opportunity to help.”

Tom Gavin, senior vp of marketing for Coupa Software, a procurement platform, sees B2B crossing over into consumer territory all over the media landscape. “Look at a company like Salesforce, that’s a B2B brand, but yet it’s a brand that has made significant brand awareness efforts with everybody,” he said. Coupa’s done the same, by sponsoring segments in last year’s World Series and other major sporting events, even if it is largely seeking out a B2B audience (work that was handled by Apollo Partners).

But media agencies are also stepping into what’s already a crowded market, as various companies and ad-tech firms have already targeted B2B with their latest offerings. RollWorks, a SaaS supplier of account-based marketing (ABM) tools, is rolling out Accelerate, a new program …read more

Source:: Digiday