Why B2B Brands are Embracing Story

Jordan P. Kelley, Content Director, BrandStorytelling

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Why B2B storytelling? It’s a question more brands are starting to ask, and not a moment too soon. While B2C brands have long embraced storytelling to build emotional connection, B2B has historically stuck to the realm of rational selling points and performance stats. But that’s changing fast. The people behind B2B buying decisions are starting to behave like, well, people. They’re influenced by purpose, culture, and creators. They want to understand a brand’s values as much as its offerings.

BrandStorytelling spoke with three leaders helping redefine what B2B storytelling can be: Ricky Abbott, President at Transmission; Marc Battaglia, founder of Story + Strategy; and Brian Newman, founder of Sub-Genre. Together, they span the strategy, creation, and distribution sides of the storytelling equation. Their answers reveal a market waking up to the power of narrative, and a set of trailblazers ready to build something new.

What is changing in the current messaging landscape to make this moment ripe for B2B storytelling?

Ricky Abbott: We’re lucky to have data in our back pocket to paint a clear picture of how the market is evolving - personal decision drivers now outweigh professional ones in B2B buying 52% to 48%. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that a 4% difference is small, but what’s driving more than half of B2B buyers makes this a really exciting time in B2B.

We’re looking at a few distinct factors - audience behaviors and the places buyers consume media are changing, the rapid emergence of AI has increased brand importance, and, now more than ever, intersecting brand to demand with human connection is paramount. We’re witnessing behavior shifting away from purchase-driven and transactional to focusing on brand story. Once considered a cornerstone for just B2C marketing, brand storytelling is becoming absolutely integral to engaging and intelligent B2B marketing.We’re getting ahead of that shift by strengthening brand-to-demand motions to drive sustained business growth.

Marc Battaglia & Brian Newman: In one word the “audience” - it’s a key driver that ushered in B2C storytelling as well. Next gen B2B decision makers value brand building and a soul behind the products. They find value in “why” the company does it, not just how. They’re leveraging non-traditional platforms, influenced by creators, and want B2B brands to intersect with culture in meaningful ways. B2B brands that embrace this will position themselves as early differentiators while building long-term connections. This will become particularly important as the flood of AI content hits audiences.

From an agency standpoint, what signals are you seeing from clients that storytelling is a smart strategy in B2B?

RA: The main signal that we’re seeing is that clients are willing to have discussions around brand storytelling; they’re more open to creative, engaging and fun ways to amplify brand to drive not just conversions, but also brand affinity and loyalty beyond the point of sale. B2B marketers who were much more risk averse now have an appetite to leverage humor, emotional connection and even entertainment to resonate with their target audiences. They’re willing to take on their competition with ammunition that isn’t tunnel-visioned around speeds and feeds, but how the brand actually connects with its buyers.

How are you structuring teams, processes, or creative offerings differently to support B2B campaigns?

RA: We’ve recently launched a new capability at Transmission aptly titled Brand Storytelling. Our new capability seamlessly coalesces our media, creative, strategy and account teams with distribution and entertainment experts, offering clients the opportunity to bring various experts together in a one-stop shop.

The capability will be led in-house by myself, our VP, Global Growth, David Reid, and Heather Barrett, Sr. Director of Strategy and Planning. Our external advisory partners include:

Story + Strategy - A storytelling consultancy that unlocks breakthrough opportunities at the intersection of marketing and entertainment in order to build stronger brands in a non-interruptive advertising era.

Sub Genre - A NY-based strategic consultancy that guides brands & brand partners through the process of leveraging entertainment for marketing & CSR initiatives.

What’s truly exciting is that this capability doesn’t just sit on one side of the business, because we’ve integrated it across media, creative, strategy and account teams, our approach will permeate everything that we do.

To take it a step further beyond just our structure and process, we’re doubling down on our new capability and actually applying it to ourselves. We’ve produced a short film documentary on the first appearance of IBM’s artificial intelligence robot on Jeopardy! to showcase how B2B marketing has the power to influence pop culture. We’re debuting the film during Le Speakeasy at Cannes Lions this summer.

What early indicators or business needs most clearly signal that a B2B brand is ready to invest in storytelling as a long-term asset?

MB: I always look to see if the company has made ongoing investments in brand building and can easily articulate what it stands for. It’s not always front and center or obvious, but as you dig in with the partner, you can find connections across business priorities, characters and even pop cultural intersections that all help craft the storytelling strategy. Forward thinking partners leverage both performance and brand, it’s akin to running sprints and marathons that benefit the health of the business. Those partners create and commit to roadmaps for long-term storytelling that ladder to something bigger than just a campaign with an expiration date.

Can you share an example where strategic narrative planning shifted a brand’s internal alignment or external perception in a tangible way?

MB: “Belong Anywhere” from Airbnb, although not B2B it's an oldie but goodie. It was truly the heart and soul of the company positioning early on. The narrative became the mission and in turn led or influenced every single decision made. Because of that commitment, the narrative helped build one of the strongest modern-day brands. That translated into defining what makes an Airbnb story. It offered up both a simple litmus test that anyone could apply as well as a higher purpose that the company could aspire to. It served as the ultimate NorthStar to identify breakthrough characters and stories that served as the bedrock of the brand. It went beyond transactions or campaigns, becoming the rally cry for a brand and a long-term vision that shifted brand perception.

From the vantage point of distribution, how are B2B stories being received across platforms traditionally dominated by B2C content?

BN: This is a new area without many examples, but we’ve always found that distributors and streaming platforms respond well to good storytelling. If B2B brands follow Transmission’s lead and focus on working with great filmmakers, and giving them enough creative control to tell the best stories, we can find great distribution. You have to remember that you want viewers to not only watch your film, but tell others about it, and tell them to watch it as well.

What’s one underestimated channel or approach B2B brands should be using to get their stories in front of the right decision-makers?

BN: People forget that it’s not enough to distribute your stories on YouTube or Netflix, or any other platform, and hope it succeeds. Hosting IRL screening events helps to build word of mouth, because it’s an event people can write about, post about and share.

What excites each of you most about the future of B2B storytelling, and where do you see the biggest creative or business opportunity ahead?

RA:  What excites me most about the future of B2B brand storytelling is the power that it can yield and the different channels that it can be employed through; there’s so much opportunity for brand marketers to explore.

Brand storytelling is non-interruptive, it blends entertainment with marketing, it upends and modernizes traditional B2B marketing assumptions and formats, and it actually recognizes that buyers are humans who consume content like shows, films, and podcasts in their personal time.

As for the ways that brand storytelling can ultimately come to life, it feels like the possibilities are endless. From documentaries to social strategy to film festivals and franchise launches to online hubs and digital experiences, experiential and earned media; there is so much that smart brands can conceptualize and execute, it seems wild that B2B hasn’t explored it yet. We’re excited to join forces with Story & Strategy and Sub Genre to be the first to do it in a big way.

MB: It’s very much still in the early stages which is why it’s exciting. There’s a lot of parallels from what we learned in B2C that can be applied, and the next gen decision makers are going to push this evolution forward at an incredible speed. In B2B the stakes are higher, and decisions can have huge impacts on success and company outcomes. The solutions can be world changing, so unlike B2C where choosing a soda or hotel room is important but not critical, the storytelling stakes in B2B are already epic – that can produce some of the best brand led stories ever in my opinion.

BN: There are great “behind-the-scenes” stories in the B2B world, where the stakes are high, but for a long time, B2B brands have focused more on the product than the people behind the product. We’re already finding surprising, compelling, human stories that will be of broad interest, and we look forward to finding more of these stories.

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About Ricky Abbott:

Ricky Abbott serves as President for Transmission. With over 20 years of consulting experience with companies of all sizes and industry verticals, Ricky is an authority on B2B marketing. Whether it’s brand, demand, sales enablement, or ABM, Ricky has helped clients transform their Sales and Marketing operations through pioneering, customer-first programs designed to drive growth. He works with key stakeholders from the managerial level to CMOs and the Board to get to the heart of his clients’ ‘why’ – questioning every brief to ensure that what clients say they want is aligned with what they really need.

He also is a board member with Engera, an organization dedicated to creating sustainable change in under-resourced communities around the world. Previously, he has worked as a Business Director at DWA and Reed Business Information.

About Marc Battaglia:

Marc Battaglia is the co-founder of consultancy Story+Strategy. A creative diplomat that lives at the intersection of marketing and entertainment, Battaglia has been involved on all sides of the table. Today, he helps brands to connect the dots, build breakthrough stories, and flourish in this new story-driven era. Learn more at Story+Strategy.

About Brian Newman:

Brian Newman, founder of Sub-Genre, is known as a pioneer in the film and media industry, consulting on film and media content strategy, distribution and marketing for some of the top brands in the world. Sub-Genre guides companies through the process of leveraging entertainment to showcase their values, have greater impact, and to stand out from the crowd.

Current and former clients include: The Climate Pledge (Amazon), Hilton, Indeed, John Deere, Lowe’s, Oatly, Patagonia, REI, SmugMug, Stripe, Sundance, WeTransfer, and Yeti Coolers. Brian has served as CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute, produces independent films, and writes a popular weekly newsletter on film.