We talk a lot about helping brands evolve and drive meaningful change. While it’s always been a driver of our agency, it’s never been a more relevant message today as brands look to carve out a deeper space in their respective industries—and a deeper connection with their audiences.
For us, helping brands evolve means strengthening their foundation and building a more impactful narrative around their “why”. Why do they do what they do? Why should their audience care? Why should their brand be the go-to choice for a product, solution or show?
It’s the “why” that gives us a platform to jump from and create campaigns and content that move the needle from consideration to conversion. Because within that why is the intersection of a brand’s business need and their audience’s human truth—or the logic and the emotion. We think of that as the magic spot for impactful and effective marketing.
To demonstrate what we mean, we’re sharing three examples of client work that moved audiences—and performance metrics—by leaning into their why and not their what.
Celebrating passion first, brand second
Jaw-dropping precision. Mechanical advancements. Sophisticated innovations. When our client HEIDENHAIN came to us looking for a way to establish its name in new markets, we knew promoting product benefits and measurements was table stakes. We needed to do something that resonated with mechanical engineers and drew them to the brand in a completely different way.
The idea was simple: celebrate their achievements and show how the brand enables them to deliver the world’s most inspiring mechanical accomplishments.
By focusing on the engineers (our audience), we were able to tell a more powerful story that drove increased interest in the brand and engagement with our marketing. But more importantly, we were able to spotlight the pride and passion of our audience in a way that connected deeper and made HEIDENHAIN more memorable.
Drawing parallels between brand and prospect
Whether you’re new to the buzz or have been implementing automated solutions for a while, automation is on almost every company’s mind these days. But how can they keep up with the rate of change? Enter the Automate Show.
Automate is a leading showcase of robotics, motion control, vision and AI automation solutions—a premier destination and resource for those interested in automating their operations. The show attracts visitors from around the world across a range of industries, like logistics, automotive, aerospace, industrial manufacturing, retail, agriculture and so forth. However, their challenge was that many prospects didn’t know about the show or why to choose it over other industry events.
Enter the big idea: drive awareness and interest by highlighting our audience’s own aspirations and human traits that drive them in business—like maintaining a competitive edge and being seen as a trailblazer.
Instead of just promoting exhibitors, solutions and networking opportunities, we promoted a mindset. And, we provided the reasons to justify their attendance by highlighting the tools and education available to help pave their path forward, on and off the show floor.
Championing resilience with a rally cry
When one of our clients came to us looking for a product-focused campaign to sell seasonal agriculture parts and accessories during a challenging year, we knew there was an opportunity to go from commodity to value-add.
It started with an insight that more than ever before, farmers needed a dealer partner to help them squeeze the most out of their harvest season. With extreme weather conditions and uncertainty ahead, farmers had a “get back on track” mentality and needed support to find the right solutions to reap the best possible outcome.
Enter our campaign: a rally cry that spoke to the resilience and passion of the agriculture industry and equipped farmers with solutions to take back their harvest.
While products were still at the forefront, the true heroes of the campaign were the farmer’s determination and dealer. From teaser videos to paid ads to an ebook, we were right there with our audience supporting and rooting for them.
While these are only three examples of how B2B brands can leverage emotion and human connection to drive results, the possibilities are endless—and the impacts impressive. Curious to learn more? Let’s chat!
