Advertising best practice, evidence and insights

What we know about business-to-business marketing

Article • WARC Best Practice, April 2019

Provides guidance and reading on business-to-business marketing; similar to B2C marketing in its emphasis on human traits, but very different in terms of budget size and a greater emphasis on relationships and networks.

How B2B and professional services brands can weather disruption

Article • Peter Matthews, WARC Best Practice, February 2019

Explores how B2B marketers can harness the opportunity to strengthen their relationships with their clients by clarifying and revitalising what they stand for.

How to develop an account-based marketing strategy

Article • Bev Burgess, WARC Best Practice, July 2017

This article provides a best practice guide to developing an account-based marketing (ABM) strategy, which treats individual accounts as markets and focuses business-to-business marketing on specific organizations.

Google Cloud: Know What Your Data Knows

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2019

Google Cloud, a tech service, used the NCAA basketball tournament to display the value the brand offers to IT decision makers in Fortune 500 companies in the US.

IBM: Cognitive Couture

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2019

IBM, a computer hardware company, established Watson as the leading AI for business in Australia, India and China by creating cultural capital in its support of fashion in these regions.

Understanding the “Elements of Value” for business-to-business brands

Article • Mary Connors, Event Reports, ANA Masters of B2B Marketing, May 2019

Bain & Company, the consultancy, has established a pyramid of values that separate the top-performing business-to-business (B2B) operators from the competition.

Korn Ferry: The Global Talent Crunch

Case Study • SABRE Awards, EMEA, Global Programme, Gold, 2019

Global executive search firm Korn Ferry created a global, data-led thought leadership campaign to reinforce its talent capabilities and elevate its position from transactional headhunter to strategic advisor.

Square: Square: Digital Towns

Case Study • SABRE Awards, EMEA, Financial Services, Gold, 2019

Electronic mobile payment company Square took a boots-on-the-ground approach to raise its profile among small business owners, and reach national and local influencers for its launch in the UK.

Refinitiv: Revealing the true cost of financial crime

Case Study • SABRE Awards, In2 EMEA, Best Use of Original/Commissioned Research for PR, Gold

Refinitiv, the international provider of financial markets data and infrastructure, revealed the true cost of financial crime through a global report.

SonicWall: Helping the good guys look cooler than the crooks

Case Study • SABRE Awards, In2 EMEA, Best in Digital/Print B2B Media (Earned), Gold

Internet security company SonicWall increased its share of voice by 50% using its existing data to develop press-friendly pitches for journalists in the UK.

SAS: Meet the man who hears colours

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Africa, Public Education , Gold, 2019

SAS, a software company, launched a media event that introduced Neil Harbisson, the world's first and only cyborg, to promote the notion of AI.

Siemens: Fabric

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Africa, Best in Show & EMEA, Gold 2019

Siemens, an automation company, used data from Lagos, Nairobi and Johannesburg to create unique fabrics for a truly African fashion collection that shows the power of data-connected cities.

Sage: Sage Budget Speech Campaign 2019

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Africa, Financial Communications, Gold, 2019

Sage South Africa, a software company, launched a "media deskdrop" and series of videos surrounding the South African government's annual budget speech to showcase its expertise in tax and compliance.

Patagonia & Levi Strauss & Co: Time to Vote

Case Study • SABRE Awards, North America, Retailers, Gold, 2019

Patagonia and Levi Strauss & Co, two clothing brands, launched a campaign across social media and print ads in the New York Times that encouraged US citizens to vote by enlisting the support of CEOs.

VMware: Employees First – VMware Elevates Employees as Drivers of Digital Transformation

Case Study • SABRE Awards, North America, Technology: Software & Services, Gold, 2019

VMware, a software company, generated more than 1,400 leads as a result of its social media effort to highlight employee technology pain points in the US.

Clorox® Total 360® System: A Game Changer in Fighting Outbreaks

Case Study • SABRE Awards, North America, Product Media Relations, Gold, 2019

Clorox, a manufacturer and marketer of consumer and professional products, promoted its new cleaning system among American professionals by giving them materials to promote the product as part of the fight against germs.

Establishing ABB's First Chief Digital Officer As An IOT Champion

Case Study • SABRE Awards, North America, Executive Leadership , Gold, 2019

ABB, an industrial technology company, increased global awareness of its ABB Ability platform by personalising the brand through thought leadership and event appearances from its chief digital officer.

University of Melbourne: Talent for Every Future

Case Study • Charlie McDevitt, Roshni Hegerman, WARC Awards, Entrant, Effective Content Strategy, 2019

The University of Melbourne targeted students and business leaders with a multi-faceted content platform to raise awareness of its teaching model and the graduate talent it delivered.

Gulf Lubricant Oil: Teaching the way they learn

Case Study • Megha Kimothi, WARC Awards, Entrant, Effective Innovation, 2019

Gulf Lubricants, a big player in the personal mobility segment of the Indian automotive industry, used virtual reality as an innovative tool to teach mechanics how to become successful salespeople.

Google Cloud: Ask the Cloud

Case Study • Jane Dorsett , Ellie Gogan-Tilstone, Chris Oliver, WARC Awards, Shortlisted, Effective Innovation, 2019

Search engine Google used direct marketing to target chief technology officers in the US to achieve growth in the B2B cloud computing market.

Interac: Earning Curve

Case Study • Maxine Thomas, Mike Sutton, Erin McManus, WARC Awards, Entrant, Effective Innovation, 2019

Interac, the Canadian interbank network, boosted brand affinity among the small business community in Canada.

Microsoft Azure: Cloud Society

Case Study • Alvaro Bretel, WARC Awards, Entrant, Effective Innovation, 2019

Microsoft, the technology company, used an online learning platform to grow understanding and sales of its Azure cloud-computing service in the Middle East and Africa.

B2B marketers can tap a behaviour-based approach

News • 27 March 2019

B2B marketers who have been finding success with account-based marketing can take this approach a step further by embracing behaviour-based marketing, a new WARC Best Practice Paper suggests.

Debunking common myths SME’s have about branding

Article • Research on WARC, March 2019

Summarises findings from a paper published in the Journal of Brand Strategy on debunking the ten most common myths SMEs have about branding and why SMEs need real branding to succeed.

How behaviour-based marketing can improve B2B marketing

Article • Jon Clarke, WARC Best Practice, March 2019

Outlines the five-step approach which helps to start the journey to a more behaviour based strategy.

B2B audiences