McCann London

B2B Needs To Be More MLM Enemies To Lovers: A practitioner’s point of view [3 min read. AI Slop free] It’s easy to assume that B2B marketing needs to be rational and fact-based, but the data tells a different story. Binet & Field found that emotion in B2B marketing is 7 times more effective than logic alone. Emotional marketing drives memorability and can even create superfans. “Sure Lauren,” you say, “that’s nice, but budgets are shrinking by the minute. My client has a list of features their sales team needs them to highlight and a paper-thin media budget. Also, why do I need superfans?” Glad you asked. During the marathon that is the B2B sales cycle, where purchase decisions take place over years (5 on average), not minutes and are discussed by groups of people (10 on average), not decided by one person at the supermarket shelf, you need people who will champion your brand. Clients often err on the side of going broad. They’ll load a campaign full of proof points to see what sticks. This is wrong. Broad storytelling doesn’t create superfans. Emotional connection creates superfans, and emotional connection comes from specificity, from making people feel seen. This is about centering your campaign on the benefit that one VP of Sales raved about in her stakeholder interview for ten minutes, rather than the case study four others briefly acknowledged. It’s about speaking directly the fact that she can’t stand that her team uses ten different spreadsheets and that she’s desperate for automation. In doing so, we create someone who forwards our content around the office, who brings us up in budget meetings, who fights for us through rounds of RFP meetings, and then spreads the word to future superfans. This is where I bring things back to MLM enemies to lovers. Heated Rivalry wasn’t written for everyone. It was for fans of a highly niche sub genre: mlm, enemies to lovers, hockey, romance. That specificity is why it’s so beloved. It makes fans feel as though they’ve found something that speaks directly to a craving no one else was addressing. They become superfans, introducing it to their friends and their book clubs, creating new superfans and eventually a TV series that everyone is talking about. The mainstream TV success of books written without the pressure to appeal to everyone is well documented. Game of Thrones, Outlander, The Queen’s Gambit, the list goes on… before these were all hugely successful TV shows, they were books for fantasy nerds, history nerds, and chess nerds (respectively). They weren’t written with mainstream appeal in mind, and yet they achieved exactly that because of their ability to create superfans. B2B campaigns need to do more of this. We need to get comfortable telling powerful stories designed to speak to someone, not just anyone. Our budgets are small and shrinking. Our work needs to work harder. This is how we do it. Disagree? Tell me in the comments.

Writing Is How (Personal) Brands Grow: A Practitioner’s Point of view: [3 min read. AI slop free] One of the things you’ll have to do most often as a junior is write stuff. Writing with personality, a skill we all have within our power, is not just a chance to communicate what you think and who you are in one fell swoop, it’s the key to your own success. Building a brand requires being noticed and remembered. Your personal brand at work (*wretch break*) is no different. Your audience is your colleagues and done well your writing is your greatest opportunity for broad reach and for reaching those who are hard to access, your seniors.  A newsletter I co-wrote with Mary Mekonen Millie Theobald Nicola Medicoff landed us a shoutout on LinkedIn from our CEO Mel Arrow and widespread agency praise. This shit works. People remember how you make them feel, and writing becomes a broad reach channel for your personal brand. Don’t wait to write well for those big strategy projects. Write well with what you’ve got, and you’ll get there sooner. Consider how otherwise-dry monthly competitor reports, messages rallying troops to the pub, or in internal newsletters can become a moment of brilliance for your stressed colleagues.  But what actually makes good writing?    This isn’t a hard-sell for McCann, but there’s value in what was written years ago; the best way to do advertising is by finding the truth, then telling it well.     Advertising moves people into action by communicating information (of course) but also, crucially, by creating a feeling. One without the other is never enough. In advertising as in your career, writing should balance this duality.     But how do we actually do that?     Firstly, focus on the truth. What is it you’re trying to say in its most fundamental form? Precision is all important.     Next, comes telling it well. What is it you’d like to communicate about yourself? Imbue what you’re saying with personality. If there’s any appropriate room for flair (even just a teeny tiny sliver of space) take the opportunity and run with it. Have fun, take risks, break rules, be provocative. Might this get you into trouble? Maybe. But what does that famous pink neon bar sign with the misappropriated quote say? “Well-behaved women (etc!) don’t make history”.      Building a personal brand is the cringe corporate side-quest we never knew would be so important. No one finds it fun, least of all those who are more concerned with doing their job well than shouting about it from the rooftops. Those like me who feel icky about it are probably those who need to do it most – the best aren’t always the loudest, most confident people in the room. But using writing – something you’re already doing – and amplifying it to best serve you is an easy win that could reap big rewards. Not taking the opportunity to do this means you’re missing out on the career you likely deserve.  Plus, isn’t it nice to try and put what we preach into practice? Lizzy

If your brand disappeared tomorrow… what would actually be missing? 🧐 Just days ahead of Brands&Culture in London (6-7 May), we caught up with a truly transformational brand leader - Global Brand Director of Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Carly Burford. Here’s her perspective on what it takes to build cultural relevance today. We can’t wait to see her on stage next week! A few final tickets are still available - grab yours before they go (link in comments). See you there ✌️ #culture #brands #marketing #culturemarketing #event