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Going further afield
Working with fast-moving and dynamic markets like telco and connectivity often means that we become absolute experts in our sector. However, we also run the risk of tunnel vision.
Our focus can lead to missing some of the great work and innovative new approaches to telling stories that are making waves in the wider world of marketing. Every so often, we like to stick our heads above the parapet and look at what’s going on. Here are a few interesting things we found, and our thoughts on how these insights could help to elevate B2B marketing in the telco and connectivity arenas for 2026 and beyond.
CONCRETE HUMAN STORIES
Weightmans, a regional law firm headquartered in the North of England, had a reputation for consistent, everyday delivery; they are known for being a “safe pair of hands”. Following a rebrand and a reorientation of their mission around their new proposition, “See the Possibility”, they wanted to build their name and reputation as a bold, innovative leader in the legal market. Instead of a flashy conceptual campaign, Weightmans chose to use their own people to tell the leadership story.
Through a multi-channel, multi-disciplinary content campaign, Weightmans told the story of #realleadership and #simplyme. Drawn from people from all levels of the business, these videos, blogs, articles, and social posts told the story of their career journeys, showing through concrete examples Weightmans’ philosophy that leadership comes from empathy, kindness, and open communication.
The use of these real human stories, aligned to specific goals and built with their new mission in mind, enabled Weightmans to show their new focus, without having to spell it out directly—which is what made it believable and genuine.
EMBRACING WARMTH AND HUMOUR
There’s a reason that “People buy from people” is one of the oldest cliches in the B2B marketing sphere. It’s an old (and perhaps too simplistic) insight, but it’s still as true today as it was when it was first coined. Relatability and engagement sell. Humour, especially when it’s delivered with warmth and authenticity, is one of the most effective ways for brands to build that relationship. B2C brands have already embraced this philosophy, but some B2B brands are yet to take the plunge.
One brand that has taken this gentle, tongue-in-cheek stance to heart is US insurance giant State Farm. In a star-studded ad launched in early 2025, they warned against relying on generic insurance alternatives, by depicting people in need of rescue expecting to be saved by Batman who are instead approached by “Bate-man” (played by comic actor Jason Bateman) who is inept and ineffective at the vigilante job. The ad then compares the choice of “the real thing” in Batman to the choice of State Farm as “the real thing” in insurance. The ad had huge success in the US, going viral and prompting discussions about the brand for months.
TURNING CHALLENGERS INTO FANS
As technology brand marketers, the core of our jobs lies in helping to convince audiences that our clients’ solutions can solve their problems better than competitors’ can. We make claims about capabilities and technologies and their benefits. But what do you do when people disbelieve these claims, or challenge your assertions? One strategy is to ignore detractors or incorporate their feedback quietly into product development without publicly acknowledging them. However, some B2B brands are using scepticism as a vehicle to demonstrate the validity of their claims.
One such brand, scientific instrument manufacturers SCIEX, turned market scepticism around a new product launch into a virtue. They created a campaign called “Proof Point” where they openly invited scientists to challenge their assertions and their technology. They created an experiential installation at their largest trade show, inviting scientists to criticise their product in real time. Each visitor was given a “Prove It” button, which they could push at any time to interrupt a product presentation and demand validation of claims and then displaying their feedback on giant screens. This live activity was complemented by a digital campaign allowing scientists to download their dataset and see the proof for themselves. This bold stance enabled SCIEX to dominate the conversation in this space and reap the rewards this attention delivered.
RIDING THE CULTURAL WAVE
There’s a bit of a conundrum with B2B marketing, whether it’s better to stay “evergreen” and create campaigns or content that can exist forever, or tap into the current debates, issues, and talking points that are dominating culture. This is an especially tricky point when the issue at hand is one that could impact your business detrimentally. There’s no one right answer; each brand must make its own decision on how to engage, and probably make that decision again and again, depending on the debate under consideration. However, when executed well, facing a potentially challenging cultural tide can turn this conversation into a compelling content approach that elevates your brand and firmly positions you as a leader in the space.
One example of this is German market research firm Growth from Knowledge (GfK). There’s a market assumption that eventually AI and machine learning might make their offering obsolete. After all, why would you pay a firm to generate research insights, when an AI can gather them for you?
GfK chose to challenge this assumption with a live debate on the future of marketing, held between GfK’s CMO and a ChatGPT-powered bot called Ruby. The campaign was built around this debate, with the video shared on YouTube and leveraged through B2B micro-influencers sharing their input and thoughts on the debate (which GfK’s CMO won). Check it out:
SUMMING UP
For us, B2B storytelling is a perfect mix of commerciality and technical knowhow, filtered through a lens of human engagement and enablement. The technology behind telco and connectivity brands delivers genuine human impact, and the internal people that make this impact possible have real, trusted stories to tell. Perhaps pairing customer and internal experiences could help bridge the gap between your business and your customers in a way that feels grounded and real,
An effective content approach brings benefits, features, and applications to life in the context of how it makes customers’ (or customers’ end users’) lives better. So, whether the trends and insights we’ve discussed are new to you, or are already a core part of your toolkit, we hope that you’ve found this exploration useful and inspiring. Why not make 2026 the year you add an extra dimension to your storytelling?