At the start of my career B2B tech had a bit of a reputation for being dull and dry. No longer. Zooming out, the big picture is that B2B is getting simultaneously consumerised and politicised – which gives it more energy and impact than ever.
Consumerisation is visible as B2B brands embrace more emotion in their marketing and comms, treating audiences like humans not numbers. Campaigns from enterprise businesses like ServiceNow and Salesforce now feature global celebrities and colourful mascots. Content is authored by high-profile CEO personalities. Customer case studies are turned into engaging stories or chatty podcasts.
Politicisation is becoming a fact of life that some relish and others accept with a wary shrug. Brands like Anduril take overtly political stances in external comms and talent acquisition. Infrastructure players from Stripe to AWS are gatekeepers who can shape our digital economy. Everyone’s corporate policies on ESG, D&I or WFH have become media fodder.
Consumerisation and politicisation aren’t contrasting forces though. They’re due to the same structural shift. Today’s online media ecosystem is defined by “context collapse”: anyone can talk about anything anywhere. So the lines between business, consumer and political conversation are completely demolished.
This means tech brands require both more creativity in their comms and marketing, and more specialised expertise to help them navigate sensitive situations. It’s why we set up Delphi. If it’s something you need help with, drop us a line to chat more.
