B2B creativity is having an identity crisis. For years, it was dismissed: mocked for being too boring. Too rational. Too crap. The industry’s response? Inject emotion. Make it “more like B2C.” And yes, emotion was sorely needed. For a time, I also thought that was the answer.

But that answer was a cop-out. It was copying the teacher’s pet and pretending it was yours.
What we were all guilty of was that we never set out an alternative vision for what B2B should be.

Instead of trying to make it more like B2C, we should have been asking what does great B2B look like?

Today, we have done our homework.

A unique identity for B2B creativity

I believe B2B creativity should be an epiphany. It should jolt you awake to a problem (one you’ve grown numb or even surrendered to) and compel you to act.

Great. But how do we get there?

As always, it all starts with strategy. And strategy, at its best, is empathy. Not just understanding the problem your audience faces, but their lived experience of it. The details. The stakes. The thoughts and emotions at the edge of awareness.

When you see the world through their eyes, you’re not just analysing your audience – you’re being your audience. That’s when you can speak in their voice. And with their voice, deliver a message that lands. That message is your strategic proposition. Or as we call it at alan.: the provocation.

But a provocation alone isn’t enough to cause an epiphany.

How to provoke an epiphany

Strategy needs creativity to turn provocation into transformation. To turn the message into a story that provokes change. How?

By doing three things: reframe, recruit, resolve.

Reframe means revealing something familiar in an unfamiliar light. The goal is to give the audience a new understanding of the problem - one that engages them both intellectually and emotionally, so they don’t just see it differently, they feel it differently too.

Recruit means igniting agency. Frustration. Urgency. What we (only half-jokingly) call the “oh-fuck moment.” That rousing penny-drop instant when the audience wakes up to a problem they’d quietly accepted and feels a surge to do something about it.

Resolve is the story’s final act: the way forward. A great idea shouldn’t just dramatise the pain – it should show you how to end it.
This is where the product or service makes its appearance: not as an add-on, but as the deus ex machina that guarantees the happy ending.

I believe that, in the best B2B creativity, the product becomes the enabler of change. The tool that helps the audience finally win the fight they’re in. We’re not saying: "buy this because we sell it.” We’re saying: “Here’s your world. Here’s why it hurts. And here’s how to fix it, with our help.”

“SOUNDS GREAT, DANIELE. BUT HOW DOES IT LOOK IN PRACTICE?” 

I’m glad you asked.

Our framework in practice

Let’s take our latest campaign for tech company Veeam as a live example. The provocation? Simple. Take Cybersecurity Seriously.

When we spent time with CISOs, we understood that their lived experience wasn’t just one of caution and preparedness. It was one of frustration. They feel misunderstood. Dismissed by boards that don’t fully appreciate the seriousness of the warnings they raise.

That’s when it clicked: CISOs don’t just fear the threat. They fear being the only ones who see it.

So we reframed it.

We dropped the C-suite into horror-movie tropes, making the threat violently visible to everyone except the very people who should be alarmed in the first place.

This way, we recruited them.

The “oh-fuck moment”, delivered by seeing (spoiler alert!) a C-suite blissfully and contemptuously ignoring a crazy killer outside the office or a fellow CISO transforming into an alien, made the problem feel alive again. Immediate. Urgent.
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So, we showed them how to resolve it.

Driving them to a thought-leadership hub where they could learn how to get their C-suite to see the threats –and keep the horror out of the boardroom.

That’s how we’re transforming Veeam into a champion for cybersecurity and data resilience. And that’s how we transform brands into agents of progress.

So, no, B2B creativity shouldn’t be more like B2C.

It should be more like activism.

Because it shouldn’t just stir emotions.

It should spark epiphanies.

The kind that drive lasting, meaningful change.

‍‍Daniele is alan.’s award-winning Creative Director, formally McCann, VCCP and Ogilvy, known for turning strategic propositions into brand platforms that demand attention. Connect with Daniele here.