• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, August 14, 2024

Creativity drives purchases in B2B marketing and advertising, but many business decision-makers who participated in a study said most messages lack relatability, unique perspective and strong storytelling required for success.

Business decision makers said they don’t often see creativity in B2B ads, regardless of the vertical. The findings were released Wednesday in a joint study conducted by Magna and LinkedIn. The verticals studied include Auto, Retail, Education, Healthcare, Tech, Financial Services, and Agency.

The study involved controlled testing of 67 Sponsored Content Ads in the LinkedIn news feed comprised of Single Image Ads and Video Ads, with 26 brands represented and tested among 1,773 LinkedIn users resulting in 3,024 exposures.

Creative B2B ads — both display and video — on Microsoft's B2B network LinkedIn received 53% more viewing time and an average of 61% more likes, encouraging next steps that can foster connections. 

Ads that feature humorous scenarios and storytelling received the highest marks in Auto and Retail, but those only reached 69% and 67%, respectively. Healthcare and Tech each received 62%, Education received 57%, and Agency received 56%.

Strong storytelling for each sector studied received the lowest marks. Retail at 56%, Education at 55%, Tech at 53%, Financial Services at 53%, Auto at 52%, Healthcare at 49%, and Agency at 41%.

When B2B ads are seen as creative, business decision makers are 40% more likely to consider purchasing the brand.

Time to purchase has lengthened. As B2B buying committees today include more decision makers than in the past, the purchase cycle continues to lengthen.

With just 5% of buyers in-market for a new purchase at any given time, it’s more important to consistently use creativity in ads and marketing.

Celebrities may not be the answer. A known name did not help or hurt brand key performance indicators (KPIs), but the presence of a human improved performance. And, B2B brands should consider shifting the creative focus on the ad based on who they are trying to reach.

When B2B ads are creative, they work significantly harder for brands. Business decision makers are 40% more likely to consider purchasing the brand if their ad is seen as creative.

Participants in the study said they consider an ad to be creative if it features humorous scenarios and storytelling, eye-catching and color visuals and set design, use of AI to improve the experience, highlight diverse customer loyalty — and if it includes animals and nature, and aligns with like-minded organizations.