Do your clients really understand what sets you apart? If your message is muddled or blending into the noise, it’s time to rethink how you communicate. It’s not enough to just say what your insights company does and how it helps clients, your content and strategy must clearly communicate this. That’s where positioning comes in.

In the fourth and final instalment of the Marketing Applied series on Greenbook’s Grow Your Insights Businessexpert channel, Iosetta Santini cuts through the fluff to show you how sharp positioning can set your brand apart… And keep it memorable. You’ll learn how to craft a value proposition that speaks to your audience, align your message across every touchpoint, and internalise your positioning so that everyone in your team tells the same story.

If you want your brand to resonate rather than just exist, this is one you can’t miss.

Read the full article: Marketing Applied Part Four: Stop the Fluff, the Art of Positioning

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Without a clear strategy, marketing efforts can become scattered and ineffective, so how can you fight this?

In this third instalment of Marketing Applied series on Greenbook’s Grow your insights business expert channel, Iosetta Santini emphasises the importance of diagnosing challenges, setting objectives, understanding the market, and targeting the right audience before jumping into the implementation phase.

Strategic marketing requires intentional choices: deciding what to do and not do, anchored by a well-thought-out objective. By kicking off with diagnosing your product and market, you are ensuring you have defined the right goals so everyone can align their efforts to lead to real impact – not wasted resources.

Want to maximise your marketing success? Start with strategy.

Read the full article: Marketing Applied Part Three: Tactics Without Strategy Is the Noise Before Defeat

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Do your prospects know who you are, but forget you when it matters most? In the insights industry, awareness alone isn’t enough. What really counts is being remembered at the right time: when buying decisions are made.

In part two of her Marketing Applied series on Greenbook’s Grow your insights business channel, Iosetta Santini unpacks the concept of mental availability: why pairing it with brand awareness is like the ketchup to your mustard, and how you can build it into your marketing. From distinct branding to customer-focused messaging and being part of industry events, discover the steps to ensure your company stays top-of-mind.

Read the full article: Marketing Applied Part Two: What You Need to Know About Mental Availability.

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For the finale (well, it was after lunch) of two packed days at IIEX EU in Amsterdam, Colonel Mustard Lucy Davison brought together our expertise in insights communication with the hottest topic of the moment – AI. We teamed up with Hennieke Potman, Global Consumer and Market Insight Manager from Flora Food Group to share our research into a common question we hear when advocating for thoughtful, structured insights communication: “Why not just use AI?”

In true research fashion, we put AI to the test in a real-world experiment: could it help us communicate insights faster, better, cheaper, or more effectively? The answer: not yet. While tools like ChatGPT, Piktochart, and Synthesia showed promise, we learned that human input is still essential – for structure, storytelling, data safety – and sanity.

Our brief was to create materials that went beyond Powerpoint reports which could be shared in Flora and which should make a measurable impact.

Here’s what we found out…

Lesson 1: The short-list only gets shorter

We began by exploring the landscape of generative AI tools, testing a wide range from LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot to tools like Claude and NotebookLM. We wanted to see if they could meet key criteria: data secure, low-cost, easy-to-use, time-saving, and genuinely useful. We also explored visual content generators like Custom GPTs, Vyond, Pictory, and our current favourite, Gamma, to see how they handled video and infographic production.

To ensure a fair comparison, we used the same input each time – a dense, 48-slide insights deck filled with data, charts, and infographics, on gender equality. We asked them to create videos, infographics and summaries – the materials for Flora to share.

The results? Very mixed. The tools varied widely in output, usefulness, and quality – and some offered more headaches than help.

Yes, generative AI can produce content based on your input – but that’s where the optimism ends. When we fed our insights deck into popular tools like ChatGPT, the results were underwhelming (and occasionally laughable).

Even custom GPTs designed specifically for infographic creation for example, could barely manage a bar chart. The outputs were incorrect, cluttered, or just plain bizarre – a classic case of hallucination.

And animated videos? Let’s just say the chaos on screen earned a solid laugh from the IIEX audience – but not for the right reasons.

Most of the tools we tried did not make it through the first round of testing.

Lesson 2: Trust still matters – read that data security clause!

Amongst the dozens of tools we tested, a few stood out for producing semi-decent outputs – notably Gamma, Piktochart, and Synthesia. These made our initial shortlist thanks to their ease of use and relatively polished results.

But when we looked closer at their data policies, things got murky. Scrutinising legal clauses and privacy terms quickly became a task in itself. And while many in the insights world love Gamma, its data protection terms are vague at best – offering no clear commitment that your input or output won’t be used to train their models. For this experiment, where we were working with confidential Flora research, that was a dealbreaker. Gamma had to go.

Lesson 3: It’ll take (your) time… A lot of it

AI tools love to promise the same things: faster, better, more efficient outcomes. And yes, in some cases, they delivered. For example, ChatGPT-4o (with its latest image generation update) helped us create custom visuals for our infographic. But other tools? Across the board, we found that the tools required a lot of human editing, creative judgement, and iteration – more than without using them.

Take Synthesia. It’s a platform that lets you create talking head videos using stock avatars – or even one in your own likeness, complete with your voice. Sounds futuristic, right? And on the surface, it is. The editing interface is user-friendly, and generating an avatar version of Hennieke was eerily realistic.

But things got manual, fast. We still had to write the storyboard, script the content, and manually adjust everything from tone of voice to timing and animation. After seven iterations and over five days of tweaking tone, timing, and visuals, we finally got a version we liked. Ironically, doing it the ‘old-fashioned’ way and filming Hennieke presenting, would have taken us just three. So, while Synthesia automated the avatar, the rest still relied heavily on human creative direction.

The same was true with Piktochart. It gave us a decent starting point for our infographic, based on a storyboard we fed in – but missed key insights, context, and tone. We had to fill in the gaps ourselves, then redesign fonts, colours, and layout elements to align with Flora’s brand. What began as a “smart” AI quickly became a clunky design tool. In the end, using good ol’ Adobe design platforms – with a real human at the helm – proved quicker and better for the job.

In total, the Flora and Mustard team spent over 60 hours producing all the content.

What does this mean for insights communications?

The bottom line? These tools not plug-and-play. AI can support the process – if you’re prepared to invest more time editing, refining, and steering output than you would without them.  Above all they don’t replace the creative thinking and sharp eye that only humans bring.

What is important to know is that when we shared the final materials and measured impact at Flora, the content captured attention and sparked engagement across the board – proving again the value of thinking beyond the PowerPoint report and creating insight communication campaigns that resonate.

Final lesson: AI is promising but people make it meaningful

Of course, AI isn’t the problem – it’s the expectation that it can do it all. The creativity, context, and quality control still need to come from people – AI just gives us a new set of crayons to colour with.

Experimenting with these tools reminded us just how valuable we are.

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Research conferences are full of buzz – but sometimes it’s more noise than clarity. Amidst the AI talk and similar shiny promises at Quirk’s London, it was easy to lose sight of what really makes this industry tick.

That is why one session stood out for all the right reasons: Vodafone Business’ ‘Creating Authentic B2B Thought Leadership’. It was a timely reminder for strong thought leadership doesn’t just inform – it builds trust, proves value, and challenges decision-makers to look at their business problems in new ways – especially crucial in a progressively tech-driven market.

More than a message

What began as an internal trends report soon evolved into an outward-facing campaign, designed to offer real value to customers – not just the sales team. By addressing genuine business pain points, they transformed insight into impact.

But they didn’t always get it spot on. During their 2018–2019 ‘Future, Ready?’ campaign, Vodafone found one question kept surfacing: Who is ready? What does it actually mean to be future-ready? Businesses will always have follow-up questions, and you campaign needs to be ready to answer them. So back they went to the drawing board.

The outcome was their ‘Fit for the Future’ campaign – built on a robust framework that helps businesses assess their own readiness for what’s next. With just a short online assessment, companies can now find out how ‘fit for the future’ they are – directly addressing customer questions and creating ongoing value.

Why did it resonate? The key factor that made this work was because it didn’t just speak to customers – it supported them. The most impactful thought-leadership isn’t just about broadcasting ideas; it’s about solving real problems, offering clarity, backing it up with research, and showing up as a true partner.

Guiding principles for robust thought-leadership

So, how do you actually get started? Luckily, the team at Vodafone Business offered up some practical principles and not just theory:

• Secure internal buy-in.

Before you even begin, get your colleagues on board.  Make sure the value of the campaign is clear and aligned with your business objectives. Without internal support, it won’t gain traction.

• Offer something of real value.

Your story needs to be original, credible, and genuinely useful – something your audience won’t easily find elsewhere.

• Prove you know your stuff.

Build your narrative on research. Even small-scale desk research can go a long way in establishing authority and direction.

• Collaborate for credibility

Partner with trusted institutions to boost credibility, deepen your research and amplify your reach (Vodafone worked with the London School of Economics!).

• Get the delivery right.

Even a strong message can fall flat without strong execution. Work with the press and recognised industry voices to validate and broadcast your campaign (they worked with The Economist).

And remember: it’s not about commercialisation… yet. This is about brand positioning, building trust, and being recognised as an expert in your space. You’re playing the long game.

Vodafone Business has the stats to back that up:

• 88% of decision-makers say their respect for a business increases after engaging with thought-leadership.
• 41% of C-Suite execs have invited a company to pitch after encountering their thought-leadership.
• 45% say it directly led to choosing to work with a business.

So, the next time someone inevitably asks, “How do we commercialise this?” – that’s your answer.

Thought-leadership isn’t about the quick win. It’s about creating the kind of long-term impact that shapes how decision-makers see you, long after the campaign is done.

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In a sea of AI talk and industry buzz, Vodafone Business reminded us what real cut-through looks like. They reminded us that true impact comes from insight, integrity, and a commitment to supporting clients, not just selling to them. A big thank you to Quirk’s London for curating a programme where meaningful ideas like these could shine. It was a timely reminder that while technology may shape our future, it’s the strength of our thinking – and our ability to communicate it well – that truly drives the industry forward.

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Creating a gold standard of LinkedIn networking

LinkedIn has transformed itself into a community building tool that is both, a blessing and curse. It has become a place where reputations are built, conversations begin, and new opportunities emerge. However, it is also a new language to be learnt and best enjoyed with a solid understanding of its full potentials.

LinkedIn has over a billion users worldwide, but only 1% actively creating content… This offers a real opportunity for any company ready to show up, share insights, and build a strong brand presence. With this many users, it is no surprise it has become such an important platform for companies: research shows that 82% of people are more likely to trust a company when its senior executives are active on social media(1) and 70% of employers say that a personal brand is more important than a resume (2) so, a with a cornucopia of branding opportunities such as LinkedIn available for free, you’d be foolish not to use it.

Stop Selling, Start Showing Up

Let’s get started, it’s important to shift how you think about LinkedIn. It isn’t a space for hard selling or cold pitching (is it ever?) – it’s about building credibility by being visible, helpful. Instead of pitching, focus on being visible and valuable. By consistently offering relevant insights, you’ll naturally become known as someone who creates solutions. When you consistently offer relevant ideas and perspectives, people will associate your name with creating solutions to the problems they have.

If you’re aiming to get more out of your time on LinkedIn, the formula is simple: write, connect, and engage. These three actions increase your visibility and help you build a solid network.

If you’re looking for a quick guide on what to do on your LinkedIn, start with these 3Cs:

• Create your own experiences and knowledge – aim to be seen expert in your field on the platform. How can you add value for your audience?
• Curate content from others that you believe your network will find useful or interesting, with your own thoughts spicing up the conversation.
• Converse with those in your network. Ask questions, tag others who might have something to add, and respond to comments. Show people you are an active, curious member of the community.

But how exactly can you approach doing these, you ask?

Write to be seen, share to be heard – just make sure people want to hear it

Posting is key to showing people what you, and your company, is an expert in and why you are distinct. But… How do you find the right subject, tone of voice, and how much information is too much information?

To get answers for this, we must start small. Begin by sharing your insights once a week or a month to build confidence. Focusing on topics that align with your specific interests and areas of expertise. This approach ensures an authenticity and relevance in your posts that’s specific to you. Communicate your ideas with a calm confident expert voice but always make sure you aren’t alienating potential clients with overly complicated jargon.

Aligning your content with your brand is crucial. Here are some key things to keep in consideration when you’re creating content for LinkedIn:

1. Understand your own Identity and messaging: Ensure your content topics reflect your company’s mission, values, and unique value proposition.
2. What are your campaign objectives: Align your marketing strategy with clear business goals, whether it’s building brand awareness, establishing thought leadership, nurturing leads, or strengthening existing client relationships: know what you need before you go in.
3. Know your audience and their interests: Who do you create for, Tailor your content to address your audience’s needs, what are their pain points? Their interests?, when you know position your brand as a reliable resource.
4. Focus on your brand’s actual expertise: Highlight your company’s strengths and repeat key messages to reinforce your brand’s distinct benefits.
5. Choose the right channel: Select content forma

ts and platforms that that work for you, make sure you align with your brand’s tone and communicate this to your target audience.

Delve deeper in our Greenbook ‘Grow your insights business’ article, “Sealing the Deal: 5 Steps to the Perfect Brand-Content Match,” where Colonel Mustard Lucy Davison discusses the importance of this alignment for a healthy brand that keeps you visible and valuable in more detail.

Connections count

Your network also plays a huge part, in not just your presence online but also your company’s – so, it’s worth putting in the effort to grow it thoughtfully. Connect with people you’ve gelled with at events or online, and always send a message when you request to connect – it makes a difference. The more people you’re connected with, the more people see your posts and updates, and the greater the chances that something good will come from it. More on this in the next section…

Engage with consistency

Neither you nor your company page needs to post every day to stay visible. A lot of the value comes from just engaging with posts: like, comment on, and repost your company’s updates – these posts will come up on your connections’ feed! Aim to do this with every post to increase post impressions. On the other hand, you should do the same with content which you find relevant. Sharing your opinion on a subject you’re an expert in will show others that you are active, curious, and interested in what you do! Not only that, it will keep you and your company on people’s feeds (and minds)!

Put the “Pro” in Profile

Before increasing your activity, take some time to make sure your profile is up to scratch. It should be completely filled out: a clear headline, a summary that reflects who you are, and a recent photo, nothing overly fancy, just professional with a friendly tone.

The content of your profile should highlight the value you bring. Ask yourself this; what do I do really well? What do people rely on me for? What would a friend say if they had to sum me up in four words? What do I enjoy doing when I’m not working? (Hint: you don’t need to mention all of this in your headline and don’t say your role!) Networking isn’t for bragging about job titles, details like these are repetitive and quickly forgotten. Show your spark to the masses, while also highlighting your expertise, will be what sets you apart. The more authentic your profile, the more memorable it becomes.

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Ultimately, creating strong engagement on LinkedIn is about being consistent. Share valuable insights, build genuine connections, and stay active within your professional community. If you write regularly, grow your network thoughtfully, and interact with purpose, you’ll build a reputation that sticks.

Stay visible, stay valuable, and the results will follow.

(1) https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/why-personal-branding-is-crucial-for-ceos-in-todays-world/468320
(2) https://wisernotify.com/blog/branding-stats/

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Are you struggling to make your brand stand out in a crowded market? Are you focusing too much on hyped up consumer marketing mantras and not enough on getting long-term impact?

If your feeling lost on the way to the top of your buyers’ shortlists, then you need to rethink your approach to brand awareness. On Greenbook’s Grow your insights business expert channel, Iosetta Santini breaks down why the journey to being remembered is just as important as being found in part one of her Marketing Applied series. Learn how to stay top-of-mind with potential buyers, create lasting impressions, and ensure your brand is in the conversation before the search even begins.

Find out how your insights company can stay revenant on our Marketing applied part one: Why we’re obsessed with brand awareness.

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The team at Keen as Mustard was thrilled to lead the ‘Beyond Storytelling’ masterclass for the ESOMAR Academy in October. This is a 5-star rated, specialised training to guide insights professionals through the essentials of creating compelling communications. From irresistible story hooks to impactful design, attendees learnt how to bring a powerful and visceral understanding of the customer to their internal audience.

If you missed the training don’t panic – you can sign up to see the recording here: https://esomar.org/tr4in1ng5/beyond-storytelling

Not only did the course get a 5-star rating from attendees, but we have also been signing up clients to deliver bespoke training to address their specific communication challenges. To talk about how we can support you, contact Simon Dunn or click here: simon@mustardmarketing.com

What is ‘beyond storytelling’?

Researchers are brilliant at getting data and revealing insights but communicating them often remains a challenge. The past ten years of storytelling training has led to no greater impact for insights. All too often, powerful insights are left unused – wasting time, budget, and missing the chance to fuel strategic decisions.

If you are one of the insight professionals still emailing data-packed PowerPoint presentations we can help! Our research with Coca-Cola revealed that PowerPoint summaries fell flat with stakeholders, compared to videos, newsletters, and infographics. It’s clear things need to change if we want to bring the voice of the customer to the heart of organisations and create customer salience. This training is designed to equip researchers with communication tools that engage, resonate, and drive action.

Lesson 1: Focus the Message and Control the Narrative

We start by advising on your blueprint for a successful campaign – distilling the essential elements, acting as a reference point for strategy and creative at every step.

The training builds on what we need to know before you can do any communication – the audience, the objective for the communication and how we are going to measure success.

Next, we pinpoint what needs to be communicated – the context, insight or key finding, a single key message and a call to action. We share how to pinpoint the message from a host of data and how to ensure you stick to that core message.

Working through these key questions means you can focus your message, control the narrative, and guide your audience to engage meaningfully with your insights.

Lesson 2: From message to story

To go beyond storytelling, you need to master it first. In lesson two, we build from message to story, starting with making titles, headlines or email subject lines work for you, ensuring it is seen, heard, and remembered. Here, we learn how the insights industry can learn from journalists on how to captivate your audience from the start and use our own research to show the five best ways to write a headline.

Another key to planning your message is building a story arc. In the session, we cover identifying your character, setting, conflict, and resolution. In order to further connection and build resonance with your audience with your story, we show how to tap into emotions, using metaphors, and consistently reflecting your company’s unique voice.

Lesson 3: Bringing Your Insights to Life Visually

Design breathes life into your insights, it packages the story you wrote into captivating visuals. It does more than “make slides look pretty” – design plays a pivotal role in communicating findings effectively by making it easier for your audience to follow the material.

We share our foundational design principles to guide you on creating and assessing your communications and show how keeping your single key message and creative brief at the forefront of your mind is foundational in creating impactful designs that  align with your goals.

The three lessons from our ESOMAR Academy masterclass lay a powerful foundation for transforming insights beyond storytelling, into materials which captivate and drive outcomes. In a data-saturated market, strategic narratives that resonate with your audience are vital. Now is the time to make your insights communication impossible to forget.

Don’t forget, you can still view the training if you sign up here: https://esomar.org/tr4in1ng5/beyond-storytelling

If you would like us to tailor the training to your company and specific needs, we are booking into January 2025 now – please email us at simon@mustardmarketing.com.

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Our industry has leaned a little too heavily on storytelling to communicate customer insights to stakeholders and decision-makers. Now, there is nothing wrong with storytelling. It is a fantastic tool in many ways, but it lacks dimension. In insights, researchers typically use storytelling to report findings, deliver them, and move on. The customer‘s voice doesn’t infiltrate the organisation’s decision-making, and insights often go unused. Point and case, the 2023 UK Customer Satisfaction Index shows that customer satisfaction has been the lowest it’s ever been since 2014. According to Forrester study, while 74% of companies want to be ‘data-drive’, only 29% actually are.

So we need a better way to raise the profile of insights, to get the visceral experiences of customers into the heart of organisations to drive informed decisions.

It’s my view that we are sitting on a treasure trove on exciting, inspiring customer content, but it’s not sparking the actions it should. So, how can we change that? At the Customer Salience Summit, organised by FlexMR, I had the pleasure of diving into this very topic: how our industry can take a page from Hollywood’s playbook to make customer insight famous.

It’s worth noting, that despite Hollywood’s famed glitz and glamour, in 2023, the revenue of the insights industry in the US was US$77 billion – more than double the $33.4 billion from Hollywood’s box office. Yet, somehow, our industry doesn’t have nearly the same level of visibility. The answer? Fame.

So, what would the dudes over in Hollywood do in our shoes? Run a campaign.

A campaign is a constant, intentional effort to control the narrative—keeping the conversation going around your content, the information you’re sharing, and the customer’s relationship with your organization. And there are six things the insights industry can do to build this approach.

The star: There are no movies without a star. When you think of iconic films, the actors come to mind first. So, when presenting your findings, think about who’s the best person to deliver and represent your message. It might not be the researcher who did the work – you need someone inspiring to captivate, sell the story and bring it home. Find your star, whether that means hiring someone, training a current employee, or incentivising your team.

Better titles (and one-liners): We all judge a book by its cover, even when we claim not to. A brilliant title and one-liner stick to your mind (see: Ghostbusters – “who you gonna call?”). In insights, we’re famously bad at this. Is it any wonder our insights don’t stick when decisions are being made? A 2015 study analysed 69,907 news headlines and found five key elements that grab attention: surprise, curiosity, questions, negativity, and — wait for it — numbers! Lucky for us, we’ve got plenty of those, so let’s use them!

Trailers: These are quick engaging videos which get you excited for the films. With insights, they can spark curiosity amongst stakeholders and help convey key points you want to highlight. For instance, a testimonial or interview with a customer can humanise your data and emphasise the importance of customer voices. It’s time for us to start putting faces (or even animations) to the data.

PR: Internal public relations help you maintain control of the ongoing insights narrative. To ensure that we are driving action from insights, we must leverage all channels and carefully curate messages that will resonate with our audiences. Constant sharing of insights, nuggets or snippets, will help elevate the insights team, as well as keeping customer voices in the forefront of decision-makers’ minds.

Targeting: Just like films, different audiences have different needs – identifying and targeting them is crucial to designing your campaign. Each stakeholder audience will use your findings in unique ways, so tailoring your materials to their requirements will help them better integrate the insights into their day-to-day decision-making.

Premiere: The premiere is where all your hard work comes together. Don’t let it be dull – engage your audience by encouraging them to think about and interact with your insights. This is how you bring your findings to life and make them resonate with the people who need to understand their importance and put them to use. As a researcher it’s all too easy to work flat out until the debrief, and then sigh with relief and walk away afterwards. Remember, for everyone else, the premiere is only the beginning.

Implementing this fame model will not only boost traffic to your platforms or start provoking more strategic questions from your audiences – it will raise your team’s profile and increase awareness within your organisation. You’ll create lasting impressions that bring insights front and centre in your company’s decision-making.

So, why not go Hollywood on your insights? And if all else fails, give us a shout 😉 We’re keen as mustard to help bring fame to your insights.

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Notes from the audience of the Festival of Marketing

Picture this: a warmer than average October day, a room filled with marketers from all walks of life, each armed with a notebook, a pen, and a cup of coffee. It’s Festival of Marketing Day, and, as I’ve run out of pages, I’m ready to read out my notebook to who wants to listen.

Kill complexity

First out to talk to the troops is the fearless marketing maestro Mark Ritson. I’m not going to describe my anticipation and excitement for this session, but by the end I was vigorously (some might say too enthusiastically) clapping my hands.

What is changing in marketing? In a gripping talk about marketing duels and enlightenments, Ritson questioned the very bedrock of marketing strategies: “Much more often than not, segmentation is pointless”. You heard that right—80% to 90% of the time, segmentation misses the mark. He referred to Samuel Brealey’s article, “Anti-personalization: The best ad for one is the best ad for all,” emphasizing the need to simplify marketing strategies as what’s good for one person tends to be good for most people.

With the role of segmentation changing, is targeting also losing the battle? The double-edged sword of the digital era is micro-targeting. Did you know that the narrower your audience, the more engaging your copy must be? Yes, the targeting is more accurate, but is it effective, or necessary? Ritson talked about a return to mass marketing – not meaning targeting “everyone” but all potential buyers, albeit with a more sophisticated approach. So, after a wild swing towards complex targeting, it seems that mass marketing might be making a return. Tesco, for example, is already putting in place successful two-speed strategies –mass marketing through TV advertising, and more accurate targeting through digital channels.

The battle on positioning is one that we’re fighting daily at Keen as Mustard, and Ritson’s words hit home: “Positioning isn’t an end; it’s a way to get customers to associate your brand with your core attributes.” Say goodbye to those long, wordy statements. If you want it to work keep it short, sweet, and focused on what sets you apart from the competition. And here’s a wakeup call: “British consumers wouldn’t care if 94% of brands disappeared.” In other words, nobody cares about your brand as much as you do. So, kill the complexity and focus on cut-through.

Sharp videos

Cut-through and engagement are battles that Preethi Sundaram, Director of International Marketing at Vimeo, is fighting too. Did you know that 82% of internet traffic is video? Here’s the punchline: only 1% gets viewed to completion. At Keen as Mustard, we’re strong believers in the power of images but what is it that gets engagement? The advice from Vimeo is that “Ugly works”. Go straight to the problem and talk about that. Don’t be afraid of raising that difficult question. And in a time where screens are only getting smaller, and the available content is multiplying “Have a face at the beginning”, building that emotional human connection from the start can keep viewers till the very end. If you have already worked with us on video content this isn’t news to you, as we’ve certainly asked “do you have any consumer interviews? Any Voxpops?”. Voices, faces and human emotions are the unbeaten star of the show.

The Order of the Long-Term Brand Building

The Festival’s marketing warriors talked about one of the battles that is closest to our hearts: mental availability. As Anouschka Elliot, MD at Goldman Sachs says: “Mental availability is extremely important.” It’s key to brand success, especially in a B2B context. But – of course there’s a but – convincing the C-suite and stakeholders of its worth is not an easy win. It’s the ongoing marketers’ dilemma of how to demonstrate to a number-hungry board, that saliency is what the business needs for growth.

On the same panel, PwC and Jellyfish Global reiterated that mental availability shouldn’t be confused with awareness (more on this later), and that the marketing funnel is limiting. It’s good to have a simple structure to follow, but it should be adapted and evolved depending on the single organisation and its customers. Tom Roach, the Vice-President of Brand Strategy at Jellyfish International, reworked the standard marketing funnel saying goodbye to the classics—awareness, consideration, conversion—and marching towards the new —build, nudge, and connect. It’s a whole new emotional layer. An extra spice to your marketing for that extra kick.

Next up, The B2B Institute was also ready to fight the battle for mental availability. And just to clarify, with mental availability we mean increasing the probability that your brand comes to mind in different buying situations; “which is the most customer-centric marketing goal,” said Peter Weinberg Global Head of Development at the B2B Institute. “To win the market you need to win the minds” says Peter, the true ‘Knight of the Order of the Long-Term Brand Building’. And isn’t it true? Especially in a busy context like insights.

Something else we often repeat to our clients is that most buyers in B2B are future buyers (referring to the 95:5 rule by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science), and that’s why mental availability is so crucial for growth. However, there’s still an obsession with lead generation, mostly based on the illusion that because it’s measurable it works – and we see that all too clearly in the insights industry. This lead-only mindset is opening a space to feed the top of the funnel for those who are willing to put some eggs in the long-term basket, and work on “memory-generation” rather than lead-generation. “Prime the market with what we called pre-suasion rather than persuasion,” said Peter.

A single front

In other words, you can’t influence a buyer you’ve never reached. It’s a losing battle. The marketing “circle”, as The B2B Institute call it, should be much larger than the sales one – to allow for greater reach – but they should both strongly align. However, a study from the B2B Institute found that the average alignment between marketing and sales is only 16%, meaning that the two departments are talking to different buyers. There is a lot to be done in the B2B marketing space, but starting with understanding that mental availability will give you a strong – and essential – advantage over your lead-gen-obsessed competition is key. And we all know that “numbers” are king in our industry, so look for some signs that signal an increase in mental availability. Sales being one of them (more reach, more leads), but also hiring (high mental availability could bring 95% higher response to recruitment), and marketing (determine what is that increased the chances for your buyers to become leads).

Marketing is a discipline that is often not understood or misunderstood (even by marketers themselves) – hence why it can be demoralising, and it can feel like shouting at the wind. But what I’ve learnt from this event is that there is a lot of alignment amongst marketers as to what works in B2B generally that we can apply to insights. Worldwide experts, global company leaders, professors, creatives, and consultants, all maintain a compact theoretical and practical stronghold to win the old battles of building brands long-term, feeding the top of the funnel, aligning with sales, keeping it simple, and being customer centric. And, even if our only weapons are the double-edged swords of digital, the marketing funnel, and almost unmeasurable successes, we’re relentlessly, unanimously, pursuing our mission.

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