Cultivating authenticity, decoding customer decision making, and using generative AI to help enhance humanity were key topics at the recent WPP B2B Summit in New York.
CMOs and other executives from leading Fortune 500 companies, as well as partner WPP agencies, convened to share insights and innovative approaches to navigating the evolving landscape of the industry.
In his opening remarks, Conrad Persons, global strategist & B2B lead at WPP, emphasized how creativity is the last remaining source of competitive advantage for companies.
“B2B brands are suffering,” said Persons. “There’s less differentiation and less growth. And there’s confusion that data and technology will replace creativity. Viewing them separately is a false choice.”
Creative storytelling and creative uses of data and technology will help us close that gap, he added.
As customer-centricity is top of mind for most B2B marketers today, Ari Sheinkin, vice president, Global Demand at IBM, emphasized the importance of having integrated data across systems to truly prioritize and address customer needs.
“Roughly 90 percent of companies can’t really be as customer-centric as they want to be because their data’s not integrated,” said Sheinkin, who participated in a panel on B2B decision-making. “It’s not about building giant data lakes. We have a philosophy that’s more about data mesh — let your data be where it is, but put the emphasis on integrating it,” he adds.
To address the current challenges in B2B content marketing, Selena Cameron, global CEO at Group SJR, predicted that the future of industry will be led by conversations with customers. “Conversations are the heart of the human experience. And we believe conversations will be at the heart of where we see the next digital content revolution,” said Cameron.
Generative AI is still in its infancy, with so many companies and solutions emerging. B2B leaders agreed this creates an opportunity for decision-makers to experiment and gain insight into using the technology. “I think marketers should look at this as a time of strategic experimentation and knowledge-building,” said Michael Lombardi, global consulting principal, B2B Practice at Ogilvy. “And this will eventually inform their long-term strategy for how to bring AI into the business in the right ways.”
Read on to learn more about the in-depth sessions throughout the day.
Decoding B2B decision making
B2B decision making has become more complex, and marketers need to understand the diverse factors influencing their decision making, both rational and emotional. Discover here how behavioral scientist Chris Graves wields brain insights to better engage customers in decision making.
Emotional Engagement Driving B2B
By emphasizing emotional storytelling, elevating perspectives, motivating actions, and being magnetic, brands can create meaningful experiences, differentiate themselves, and drive impactful results in the evolving market. To learn more how emotion is the key to inspiring B2B growth, visit here.
Transformative B2B Experiences
Industry leaders emphasized that AI in B2B marketing enhances, rather than replaces, human interaction by enabling dialogue-based and contextually rich experiences. Sharing case studies from digital and physical engagements, panelists shared how AI can help drive more customer-centric interactions. To explore some exciting AI-driven initiatives click here.
