What can B2B Learn from Consumer Brands?

You may be interested to read what our b2c and b2b Strategic Directors have to say from their perspectives.

Paul Bevan (B2B)
There are no Brand Managers in B2B Marketing
I’m sure there are plenty of excellent brand practitioners in b2b organisations, and there are excellent b2b brands, but the sad fact remains that for too many organisations brand remains an ethereal and sometimes peripheral discipline.

Having listened to Peter Kirby, Think Smart’s new consumer marketing expert, describe the depth of involvement of brand management throughout the business in creating value, I can only wonder that many b2b brands survive at all. The biggest difference between b2b and b2c companies appears to be in their respective attitudes towards the role of marketing in creating value. No more than 4 years ago I sat in a presentation from the new consulting partners in a multi-national IT services firm being told in no uncertain terms that 'consultants create value, marketing communicates the value'. I suspect that in b2c organisations on the other hand marketing is seen as a key value creator.
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Peter Kirby (B2C)
B2B brands just aren’t like consumer-facing brands, are they?
This was the rather stunning reaction from a colleague when I declared I’d be working in the b2b environment, and one on which I dwelt awhile. Was she right? Would my skills and experience be as relevant to the b2b world as to the world of everyday household brands?

All great brands add meaning and importantly value, beyond the rational, to the products and services with which they are associated. Put simply, a b2b brand should be no different from a consumer facing brand in terms of the rigour with which it is constructed and the passion and dedication required to nurture it to success and profit.
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