B2B Brand Experiences Don’t Have to Be Boring

[00:00:00] Shannon Jones: B2B for a long time felt very rigid and performative and it was just such a separation from our humanity. I do think that there is this good balance of people being more genuine and sharing more and how that authenticity can then inform what we expect from experiences and how we expect to engage with brands and with each other.

[00:00:22] Alyssa Peltier: Great events create great brands, but pulling off an event that engages, excites, and connects audiences? Well, that takes a village. And we're that village. My name is Alyssa.

[00:00:34] Rachel Andrews: I'm Rachel.

[00:00:35] Felicia Asiedu: And I'm Felicia.

[00:00:37] Alyssa Peltier: You are listening to Great Events, the podcast for all event enthusiasts, creators, and innovators in the world of events and marketing.

[00:00:46] Felicia Asiedu: Hello and welcome back to Great Events where we break down what's happening in the events world and how you can stay ahead. Today, I'm always excited. I think every time you join me I'm super excited, but this is one of those really organic meetings. Then, me and this wonderful person that we have on this podcast today, we bumped into each other on the beach, no less. I was like, "Hey, you said something. What does that mean?" Without further ado, I'm going to get into that, but Shannon, welcome to the podcast.

[00:01:16] Shannon Jones: Thank you for having me. Glad to be here.

[00:01:18] Felicia Asiedu: Before we get into the how we met, what are we talking about today? Can you just explain a little bit about who you are, what you do, what your agency does so our listeners can get to know you a bit?

[00:01:29] Shannon Jones: Sure, I'm Shannon Jones, the Co-Founder of VERB, and we are a brand experience agency, really reimagining how people experience and interact with brands. We consider ourselves rule breakers and culture makers and have had the opportunity to work on a lot of really incredible breakthrough campaigns over the years. I've always been on the agency side for over 20 years, going from traditional sponsorship agencies back in the day, to media agencies, then experiential agencies, and then eventually starting my own shop.

[00:02:03] Felicia Asiedu: Love that, and it's all about experiences as you just said. That's what we're here to talk about today, reimagining those brand experiences, and I will give the detail to our audience. Where we met was Cannes Lions. Of course, everyone came back like, "I just came back from Cannes," really flooding everyone's LinkedIn. Everyone was really annoyed with it, but it was genuinely organic.

We were at the LinkedIn B2B Summit listening to brands speaking about what they've done to make changes. You stood up and you asked the question. Do you remember what you asked? You ended up using a particular term. Was it B2B influencer or was it B2B creator? 

[00:02:39] Shannon Jones: Oh, yeah. 

[00:02:43] Felicia Asiedu: I was like, "What is a B2B creator?" Why don't we start there? What is a B2B creator?

[00:02:48] Shannon Jones: Sure, it's an interesting evolution of that conversation. At Cannes Lions, this year in particular, you saw this influx of creators. I think last year was the first time there was a really concentrated focus on creators, but it was very clear they're here and here to stay. You've seen the evolution from more of the B2C consumer space to thinking about how creators show up in the B2B space, really just naturally B2B creators and LinkedIn and beyond.

You're starting to see more of that on LinkedIn with people promoting more B2B brands and platforms. It's definitely a space that's evolving. What we were talking about at the table was first introducing the concept, but then also how brands can even think about what a relationship with a creator for a B2B brand might look like.

[00:03:38] Felicia Asiedu: Let's break that down a little bit for our audience because most of the time on our Great Events podcast we're talking about events, right? We're talking about, historically, how event planners run events, get the best experiences out of their events. Then, somewhere in the marketing team mostly I think people are kind of thinking about how do I extend beyond the event itself and into the sponsorships and partnerships and all the other things?

Sometimes they make their way into the event. That's where you get the synergy. For our audience, let's take that a level deeper and think about you're the event person or you're the marketer. We'll start with the event person. What are they doing when they're thinking about those brand experiences? Is it all Cannes Lions or can we do this and bring this down a bit on a bit of a smaller scale?

[00:04:21] Shannon Jones: Absolutely, there are so many different ways to think about the creator space with respect to experiences. You can find organic opportunities to integrate them into programming. If you have creators that are in adjacent ecosystems to your brand or the topic, I could definitely see a world where they start to become panelists and thought leaders and subject matter experts that are incorporated into the programming.

I think there's a world where you could invite them to do storytelling at the event. There was an article just this week talking about that transition from the sexy sizzle video of events into more UGC and creator-led content. How are they telling the story that feels a little bit more organic and authentic for potential attendees?

Then, even the post-event amplification. Whether you're sending them your sizzle video or again encouraging them to create their own content and recaps or perhaps even having a creator create a recap that you could then send out to your attendees or potential prospects for future years or even potential sponsors. I think there's a lot of new ways to incorporate creators that probably wouldn't have been at the top of our list just even two years ago.

[00:05:42] Felicia Asiedu: I love hearing that because the event is the event. Typically, there's a lead up. It happens. It's finished and the event planners typically move on to the next, whereas the marketers are taking all the stuff you talked about, taking that content, eking it out across social media, doing the next best thing, next best offer for the journey. I guess it's the synergy. They have to work together to make that work.

[00:06:02] Shannon Jones: Absolutely, and we have talked about this notion of even seeing brand experiences as a content platform in and of themselves. Whether it's the way to create a video content series, even if it's rooted in an IRL experience, that again is really just reshaping how we think about events in a very narrow way. Instead, it really opens up the possibilities if you think about the event as a content platform.

[00:06:29] Felicia Asiedu: Absolutely, and not to live and die in the day. I remember years ago everyone was using Netflix. At the time, everybody was watching Stranger Things. I was like, "Okay, can you imagine if there was an event set up where you just went into that tent?" You watch Stranger Things in the tent, but you can never watch it again.

You can't leave the tent and find Stranger Things anywhere else. You're just like, "That was it."

"Did you hear about Stranger Things?"

"No, I don't know what are you talking about."

Because it just lived in the tent. I always use that as my analogy of that's what you're basically doing every time an event lives and dies in the day. It's like how do you even give it longevity?

[00:07:08] Shannon Jones: It's so important. Especially now that everything is so KPI and ROI focused even more than before, there's this really concerted effort to measure everything. Content can be one of the paths to reaching those KPIs and seeing ROI on the event because you have to justify the spend often beyond just the folks that are in the room.

[00:07:33] Felicia Asiedu: Absolutely, let's think about this from, I love that you went to KPIs there because I'm a B2B marketer. I've always been a B2B marketer. I've never done agency. I've never done B2C. Sometimes I think, "Should I have explored that well?" Because it looks fun and sexy, but should we be breaking that mindset that B2B is boring and can we be sexy too?

[00:07:56] Shannon Jones: Yes, yes, it's so funny because one of our very first projects when we started Verb was a B2B summit. I felt like the thing that gave us most joy is that we got them to get out of a ballroom for five seconds of just like, "Let's just reimagine what this can be." It had a very rigid format for years. Come into the hotel ballroom. Sit down. Look at the screen. Leave that hotel ballroom. Go to smaller ballrooms. Sit at the tables. Then, go. You know what I mean?

It was just like a very rigid rhythm, but even the little elements that we were able to incorporate of bringing some of that B2C sensibility into the experience got rave reviews. They had really high retention for the following year. They received really great feedback. The event also delivered on their sales numbers and goals that they needed to hit. It got the results that they needed, but I think people just had a better time. We've talked a lot lately about this notion of there's B2C and B2B, but also B to human.

I think that sometimes that part gets lost of like this is still someone's day. It doesn't have to be dry or boring just because you're talking about a product or software-focused conversation or very industry specific programming. I think that people are opening up more and more to that especially as we can also show the results. Whether it's sales meetings or it's conversion or retention, I think that because we can still prove out that part it helps give us a little more leeway in reimagining what the experience can be.

[00:09:38] Felicia Asiedu: Let me give you a toughie. Maybe it's not so tough, but let's imagine you are at the beginning of that journey. You're in a really strong B2B brand like big bank let's say and you're right at the beginning of this experiential marketing journey.

Do you feel like even that term, we're going to try something experiential and sometimes experimental, and they don't have the results yet to show. Do you think that term makes it difficult or do you think experiential marketing has proven itself as something that is this is why we win and therefore someone should be able to pitch that case internally?

[00:10:13] Shannon Jones: For sure, I think that there's probably more case studies now that people are sharing publicly in terms of the results of B2B marketing. I think that the LinkedIn summit for B2B within Cannes Lions was a great example of that. Those case studies were so good. I have to hope that everyone in the room went back thinking a little bit differently about how they were approaching things after seeing those really, really thoughtful, intentional, and exciting B2B case studies.

I do think that there are some examples to point to. Also, there's more research done on what buyers are looking for and also the evolution of the buyer in and of itself and how, especially I think at senior level, sometimes there's a preconceived notion about who a buyer is and what their expectations are or what's appropriate for the B2B space.

Having to also recognize that this millennial that is now the decision maker or even Gen Zers starting to creep up into this role of decision making or budget control has a very, very different expectation than, not to be pejorative, like a boomer sales guy that's just always been doing it this way for the last 30 years. The business has definitely evolved and folks' expectations of that engagement have evolved as well.

[00:11:38] Felicia Asiedu: As you're talking, I'm like, "That's me. I'm the millennial buyer."

[00:11:42] Shannon Jones: There you go. Same, same.

[00:11:46] Felicia Asiedu: I'm thinking about what does my day look like? How do I interact with things? How do I interact with brands? A lot of my spare time, I hate to admit it, but is on Instagram. I'm scrolling and I'm seeing what's going on and I've got ads coming at me in between content. Sometimes the content is the ad and then I'm watching adverts without recognizing I'm watching adverts these days because the algorithm is just right. It's so clever. I think we need to take a bit of that and recognize, like you said, we're people.

[00:12:15] Shannon Jones: That ties right next to the B2B creator piece. Again, if there's a CEO that's talking about this really incredible software that they use that helps power their day or power their business ecosystem, I feel like I probably got the ad for Motion on LinkedIn 100 times. I'm like, "Okay, I'll try it," and now our whole company is on it.

You know what I mean? I just think that there's definitely — and that was from UGC style content, not a sales call, not a pitch deck, not maybe the traditional funnel that it would've taken. It started with UGC content on LinkedIn and then a friend also mentioning her company uses it. I'm like, "Okay, well, let me check it out," and here we are.

[00:12:57] Felicia Asiedu: Look at that. Man, I touched a little bit on AI. I feel like experiences really matter and I'll give you an example of why. We had an amazing guy speak at one of our conferences recently and he's become a great partner to work with. In fact, I'll say it was almost two years ago now. He was talking about how many people voted last year and he said it was like half the world or something was voting in various elections across the world. He was like, "But a lot of the drivers towards what do I believe in, what do I agree with, was a lot of AI and algorithms," and stuff like that.

He said, "The only way you can know that what's happening is real is by literally seeing me and standing in front of me and having the experience for yourself in person." How do you think about that? Do you think, "Hey, no, do you know what? AI is here. It's just helping us to drive that experiential side of things." Or is the touch it, feel it, smell it, interact with your senses, meet the person, shake the hand, is that where we should be putting our eggs, do you think? What would you say?

[00:14:04] Shannon Jones: I'm biased. Let me start there with that disclaimer. No, I think that it's so important. I feel like there was a renewed appreciation for IRL post-COVID, post-digital, online-only meeting era that we were in for quite some time during COVID. I think that created that first wave of appreciation, if you will, for connecting and engaging in person. We've definitely seen that conversation start to pick up a lot of steam with the proliferation of AI.

We are a very pro AI agency and think it can be an incredible tool and certainly mindful of the environmental and societal impact, trying to navigate all of those factors as well. I think that it will be very exciting to see how we continue to use it as a tool versus a replacement for connection and enabler of connection for folks. I'm excited for upcoming experiences where we can just get a twinge more data from folks and then use that to personalize the experiences, to connect people to one another in a way that previously would have maybe not even been possible.

I do think that the experience conversation is going to continue to reach this fever pitch as people almost want to almost repel from AI like, "I need to feel something real." They will gravitate even more toward experience. I think there's an opportunity for all types of brands, maybe brands that didn't traditionally see themselves in the experience space, how it's more a matter of finding where you fit in. Everything doesn't have to be a proprietary event.

Everyone doesn't have to be a sponsor of Coachella, but there may be existing events that you can plug into and be a sponsor of and create a compelling experience within or there might be a standalone event, something more intimate for your target customers or your best customers. I think there's such a wide spectrum and the other thing I would add is brand experience is also such a huge spectrum.

I think sometimes we think event only, but there are still many other opportunities. Whether it is a content series, a podcast to engage people with your brand in a different way. I think that that's what I'm also excited about as well as the term brand experience continues to evolve in our industry and we just think more expansively about what that looks like for someone to experience your brand beyond just walking into an event or just seeing an ad on TV.

[00:16:45] Felicia Asiedu: It's so funny because we've just developed. I mean we've been developing AI at Cvent for ages and we just launched CventIQ. It's a wrapper for all of our AI tools, but one of the things that I found the most impactful was actually covered by Forbes in an article. It's that our AI is developed for the attendee as well. A lot of tools are developed for the planner and the marketer and the hotelier, but we put it into the hands of the attendees where let's say they attend a session.

The AI will give snippets of like, "Here were the most pertinent points and here's some screenshots you might like," right? The person isn't sat there having to like, "What did you say? I missed it. Oh, no, I missed the slide." It's just enjoy the event and hopefully you'll get the wrap up that suits you at the end of the day. I like this idea. I mean I'm kind of biased.

Even when I ask the question, I'm slightly biased because I work in a tech company, but on the flip side of that away from the attendee let's make their lives easier. People are using it, using Noteworthy, LM, and coming up with podcasts that no one's really on. You just mentioned extend it with podcasts, but I'm listening to AI sometimes. I don't even know. Is that bad or is that okay? It's just part of my experience.

[00:17:59] Shannon Jones: I don't think it's bad. I don't think it's bad. If you think about that type of podcast where maybe you had every intention to read that white paper, but now you listen to the 10 minute podcast and you've got the information, I don't think it's bad. I think that it's probably so extreme on the spectrum where everything is AI-only. I don't know how long we have to go, but you know what I mean? I just think that there's such a wide spectrum and I think of it more as a supplement to everything else that we have going on versus a replacement or one versus the other.

[00:18:37] Felicia Asiedu: No, makes sense. We're coming close to the end. What do you think is the future of this in terms of that B2B creativity, in terms of experiential marketing? We've used this word a lot today, experience, experiential. Maybe in your vision of the future it's like give us some real, "It's like this. It looks like this." Maybe if you have it.

[00:18:57] Shannon Jones: What I would love to see is this more authentic evolution of how we show up. I think that B2B for a long time felt very rigid and performative. I feel like COVID was the first time you saw like, "Oh, you have kids." Because they were busting in on the Zooms and crawling under the desk. It was just such a separation from our humanity. I think what I'm excited about is how that continues to evolve.

I know that sometimes people feel that LinkedIn has become a little Facebooky and a little too personal, but I do think that there is this good balance of people being more genuine and sharing more and how that authenticity can then inform what we expect from experiences and how we expect to engage with brands and with each other. I think that's what I'm most excited about where we're even having really organic connections with people over shared interests beyond work for two seconds.

All day you're doing the networking and panel, panel, panel... meeting, meeting, meeting, but then you kind of can let your hair down. It's like sometimes at those happy hours you happen to talk to someone and you find out you both love Love Island. Then, that becomes the most genuine connection of the week and then that's the follow-up meeting that's happening. That's the scope that's getting scanned later. How can we have more genuine connections and shared experiences with people around shared interests beyond just work, work, work, software, software?

[00:20:26] Felicia Asiedu: I love that. Do you know I've only ever watched one series of Love Island, but I can relate?

[00:20:31] Shannon Jones: I'm not a Love Island girlie, but my co-founder Yadira absolutely is and you would be surprised how many CMOs are also closeted Love Island fans. She has the best kikis with folks over who did this, who's connected with who. It's a whole thing.

[00:20:50] Felicia Asiedu: I love that. Everybody listen. If you didn't hear that, she said, "CMOs," not like, "Yes, my same equal level." She's like, "No, all CMOs in every business across, they like it too."

[00:21:02] Shannon Jones: They do.

[00:21:03] Felicia Asiedu: I love that and I like that you kind of landed us back at Cannes where we met or our origin. I really do hope there's a way that we can find ways to connect more over this coming year. I'll say this. A lot of the people that won Cannes awards this year were B2B brands. ServiceNow telling us what they did that was just new. Amazing, right? Let's just not feel so embarrassed to be like, "Oh, I want to do something experiential." Let's just go for it. Let's do it. You agree?

[00:21:29] Shannon Jones: Absolutely, it's like, look, this is our first year winning Cannes Lions too. We've been going since 2018, but this is our first year also winning Lions. It felt like a huge full circle moment and I would absolutely recommend it for folks. Whether you're winning awards, having business meetings, or just experiencing, getting inspiration, it really has so much to offer and I definitely recommend it for sure.

[00:21:52] Felicia Asiedu: Phenomenal, to keep our listeners going a bit, where can they find you? How can they get in touch with you?

[00:21:58] Shannon Jones: Our website is verb.agency, but also LinkedIn. Our team is definitely active on LinkedIn. That's the best place to reach us. We're verb.agency over there as well.

[00:22:06] Felicia Asiedu: Brilliant, thank you so, so much for joining me today. I really appreciate it.

[00:22:09] Shannon Jones: Yes, thanks for having me.

[00:22:11] Felicia Asiedu: All good. Bye, everyone.

[00:22:16] Alyssa Peltier: Thanks for hanging out with us on Great Events, a podcast by Cvent. If you've been enjoying our podcast, make sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode.

[00:22:26] Rachel Andrews: You can help fellow event professionals and marketers just like you discover Great Events by leaving us a rating on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform.

[00:22:36] Felicia Asiedu: Stay connected with us on social media for behind the scenes content, updates, and some extra doses of inspiration.

[00:22:43] Rachel Andrews: Got a great story or an event to share? We want to hear from you. Find us on LinkedIn, send us a DM, or drop us a note at greatevents@cvent.com.

[00:22:53] Felicia Asiedu: Big thanks to our amazing listeners, our guest speakers, and the incredible team behind the scenes. Remember every great event begins with great people.

[00:23:02] Alyssa Peltier: That's a wrap. Keep creating, keep innovating, and keep joining us as we redefine how to make events great.