Making Business Personal

I had two really awesome conversations yesterday about Business to Business advertising.

One question that I've really wanted to ask, and finally got the chance to, was about the current trend of optimistic advertising in the face of the economic recession we're currently finding ourselves in. I was wondering if this trend, geared mostly towards consumer advertising, also held true in the world of B2B advertising as well.

As it turns out, the answer was yes. Though these huge businesses (and especially their C-suite executives) make extremely important buying decisions involving tons of research, several company pitches, and a much more involved level of thinking than we'd make as individuals in our daily lives, B2B advertising has to have the information that will help companies make the right purchasing decisions. In order to put together an ad of this caliber, catering to the top executives of some of the nation's largest companies, a great B2B agency has to not only recognize that these executives need to know exactly how their client really meets the needs of this company, but also that the executives themselves are (a very important thing): human.

They, too, are subject to the emotions and the personalities that seem to plague all of us. They, too, are probably feeling the effects of this depression, both in their careers and their personal lives. As such, it's important to not only advertise to their logical sides, but to their emotional sides as well.

And the recognition of this core insight is what helps top agencies such as Doremus achieve the standing they have today and in the past.

I find this concept to be so fascinating, especially in the light of the subject of my last post. If these B2B agencies made use of Mindset Media's research about personality and media usage, both in their media purchases and also in their creative executions, targeted towards the traits of the leaders of their target companies, would this have a significant effect on how effective their advertising is? Would it change the way that B2B companies advertise, and would it have any effect on how they choose their target companies and audiences? Would this also hold true for the internal advertising that some agencies do, catered to the overall culture and traits of their clients' employees? It would be an extremely interesting study to see how the use of Mindset Media's findings would change the way that B2B advertising can be conducted.

On the flip side, however, would the likelihood that people with leadership traits are more likely to buy hybrid cars really have an effect on the decisions that these leaders are making for their companies? Who's to say that changing its advertising to fit more of a C-suite executive's personality will actually help an agency in its quest to increase demand for its clients?

Like I said: a very interesting study.

At the end of the day, it always comes down to relationships. How can you foster a friendly relationship between a manufacturer and the company that sells the manufacturer's goods? How can you advertise the manufacturer so that sellers actually want to buy the products it produces? How can you create and nurture that relationship- between the agency and the client, between the client and its audience, and ultimately, between the products themselves and their audiences- to help it become beneficial and fulfilling for all parties involved? Is personality targeting the way to do this? Or will a traditional selling approach work better?

After all, maybe a CEO's tendency to buy hybrid cars would blossom into a focus on sustainability for the entire company. And maybe this focus on sustainability will ultimately help the company prosper in regards to its consumers.

And if the company is high in demand... well then, it must have a good supplier.