The Brief Creative Newsletter
November 22, 2025
053 - Why B2B brands are boring
The 4 things that you need to change right now
The Spark
This is stuff I'm enjoying out in the world (it's probably not B2B).
A few weeks ago I got an invitation from Zapier to an invite-only event in Zion, Utah. Twenty of their top creators from around the world in one of the most beautiful places on the planet—sign me up, right? Yup, but I wanted to take my kids and the amazing people at Zapier were all about it. We went out a few days early to hike the park and it was magic. And did I mention it was all a surprise?
Zion National Park with the fam (and Zapier)
The kids had no idea they were going on a trip, they thought they were dropping me off at the airport. When I asked if they’d come with me they were so confused but when they realized what was happening that confusion turned into pure joy. It was worth every bit of extra planning. I’ll save you all a long work/life balance post but based on how excited the other attendees were to see the kids running around, I think it’s safe to say that it’s ok to start rethinking our business travel and using it as an excuse to bring more of our full selves somewhere cool.
The Deep Thoughts
This is what I'm thinking about.
I've seen no less than 47 posts this week about how "B2B brands are boring." You know what none of them mentioned? WHY they're boring or HOW to fix them. There are four reasons why B2B brands are boring and each one of them has a pretty straightforward solution:
Yes, you can do both
For clarity’s sake, when I say boring I mean undifferentiated, safe, and unopinionated. This isn’t about industries or use cases. Not everyone is going to be working in cutting edge tech or entertainment or on super sexy products, but that doesn’t mean that their work has to be boring. Look at Air for example.
1. Stop marketing to “businesses”
A business doesn’t buy things. A business doesn’t use software. A business doesn’t hire an agency. Most importantly, a business doesn’t make decisions, people do.
Your customers aren't businesses. They're people who send memes in Slack and quote The Office too much. They want to work with brands that feel human. They want to work with brands that treat them like people, not buying committees.
HOW TO FIX THIS: Identify your ICP and create content for them. Be specific, speak their language, highlight their pain points. Fine, there’s a ton of people who will have to sign off on the purchase, but who’s your champion? Create for them and for them alone.
2. Stop working by committee
Marketing runs everything by legal. Legal runs it by compliance. Compliance checks with finance. Finance asks sales. Sales polls the field. By the time it comes back, everything is beige.
Teams are so scared of offending anyone that they stand for nothing. No POV. No beliefs. Just "professional" (which is code for forgettable).
I just watched Modus Create rebrand their entire company in 9 weeks. You know how many decision makers they had? Three. That's it.
Meanwhile, most B2B companies have 12 people weighing in on a single social post. That's not collaboration—that's cowardice dressed up as process.
HOW TO FIX THIS: Bring in DACI to identify who the appropriate stakeholders are along with clear roles and responsibilities. The reality is most people don’t want to share feedback but feel like they have to. Identify who needs to be in the room and let everyone else do their own thing.
3. Stop worrying about offending people
I get it… your Total Addressable Market (TAM) is huuuuge so you don’t want to piss anyone off, but by playing it safe and—let’s be honest here—covering your ass, your dooming your brand to blend into the crowd.
You can't be everything to everyone so don't worry about that imaginary TAM and focus on your real audience. Who’s paying attention? Who’s going to buy? Where are they following along? Their boss doesn’t matter because they don’t feel the pain that you’re solving for which is why you need to be direct. You’ll never break through by playing it safe.
HOW TO FIX THIS: Say things your champions believe in, even if they make you uncomfortable... especially if they do. That’s what stops the scroll. That’s what gets them to pay attention. That’s what gets them to buy.
4. Stop building boring brands
And sometimes brands are just boring. I’m not just talking about design or branding here, but they have no POV or strong beliefs, their voice isn’t distinct, they don’t even have a “great personality”.
B2B tends to be way too conservative because of 2 and 3 above. This isn’t just a content issue though, this is an overall brand issue. Your brand is your company's operating system, if it doesn't have personality, nothing else will either.
HOW TO FIX THIS: Before you write one more blog post, send another email, or sponsor another event booth, stop and put down into words what makes your company different. What is your unique POV? What is your brand story? Why does any of it matter (ARR isn’t enough)? Without an actual opinion, anything you do will come off boring (or indifferent) because it doesn’t have anything of substance behind it.
Building a not boring brand
It really comes down to three things: believing in something, openly sharing those ideas, and being decisive. If you can make progress on these 3 things your brand is going to stand out more than it ever has before. If you keep playing it safe, don’t be surprised when nobody knows who you are.
