A short overview of B2B marketing cases that build B2B brands through emotional storytelling.

1. Prickley Issues 01
Who decided that
B2B campaigns
had to be so boring,
anyway?
Time for change!
+10
Easy ste
ps to suc
ceed
on the N
ew B2P
Frontier

2. It’s been one of the most consistent conversation pieces
over the past year: tuned-in MDs commenting on the
somewhat confused state of B2B communication. It’s
changing, everyone feels it, but how? And why such a
Grand Canyon sized gap between enticing ‘pull’ B2C
campaigns and the somewhat dull hard-sell ‘push’
tactics oft-used for B2B?

3. A
middle ground has emerged in the boardrooms, namely B2P –
Business to People. In the past year a wide array of vastly
different clients came through our agency doors with highly
specific B2P briefings. Brands like California shoe company K-Swiss,
global printer make Océ, Swedish Tourism Board VisitSweden, Schiphol,
Amsterdam RAI, to name just a few. Their briefs were tellingly similar:
give us B2B, but make it feel B2C. In trying to meet their expectations
we spent much time seeking out the right balance between hard and soft
selling, rational and emotional, cash and cuddly. Along the way we’ve
made a few key discoveries. And we’ve packaged them for you here
in this Prickly Issues whitepaper. And when all is said and done, we
offer up a B2P Survival Guide for all those marketers looking for
inspiring B2B campaigns.

4. Case 1
K-Swiss
K-Swiss’s
classic woos
shoes into stock
What to do when high-end European retailers are no longer
stocking your most iconic shoe? This was the challenge
facing California sports company K-Swiss in the Spring of
2010. The result was an award-winning campaign (D&AD
‘In Book June 2011) that not only activated retailers to stock
more shoes, but ignited positive conversations about the
K-Swiss brand across the globe.

5. Case 1
K-Swiss
Insight
Campaign
Results
Media Mix
While the Classic shoe itself is just
The challenge was to tell the long story
The results resonated far beyond
Print, brand story, DM,
a pretty nifty heritage sneaker, it’s
of the Classic in a way that would help
retailers. Because we packaged the hard-
PR: plugging & seeding
story is extraordinary in these times of
retailers sell more shoes. So we broke the
sell story of the shoe in an emotionally
fast-moving goods. The problem was,
story up into 8 non-linear chapters and
relevant way (i.e. respected designers),
K-Swiss didn’t communicate the story
asked 8 respected underground designers
major sneakerfreak communities picked
of its shoe to its retail partners, namely across the globe to design posters around
the story up and helped us create the
because the company didn’t know
them. We sent the resulting double-sided
demand for retailers to stock more
the whole story itself. We immediate
limited-edition posters to key retailers to
Classic shoes. The campaign and social
set about piecing one together out
hang in their shops and hand out to their
media strategy it entailed resulted in a
of the fragments of information and
most exclusive clients, creating goodwill
63% increase in brand awareness and a
communication lying dormant in the
and making them part of the campaign’s
36% jump in positive conversations about
company archives.
success.
K-Swiss.
The lowdown
The D&AD award was
certainly unexpected, but
it just goes to show that
even B2B campaigns can
create positive B2C buzz on
a global scale if that’s what
you set out to do from day 1.

6. Case 2
Océ
Kick-starting conversations and creating
quality leads for Océ’s global sales force
Océ is a global market leader in large-format printers and
thought it was time to drive that point home through a global
B2B campaign around its new PosterPrinter. The brief: create
a powerful conversation starter for the brand’s global sales
force that helps them create genuine leads and ultimately
sell more printers.
The catch? Needs to be adaptable across all Océ’s OPCOs
and succeed with no media budget. The result was an online
mockumentary that drove home a hard B2B message;
namely, that the Océ Poster Printer is the fastest and
easiest poster printer on the planet.
“We wanted a campaign that would tell the story of the PosterPrinter in
a way that would inspire our sales force and function as a conversation
starter. A B2B story that didn’t feel B2B.”
-Ed Lensen, International Business Development
Manager, Océ Display Graphics Systems

7. Case 2
Océ
Insight
The decisionmakers in the large-
The entire campaign was
format printing business (the guys
complemented by an activation
who place the orders) are the last link
microsite, where an online Poster-
in a very creative chain, but they are
Printer turned uploaded images into
still part of the creative chain. We
virtual posters. The Instant Poster
played into their creative instincts by
Power also translated to on-site and
capturing every creative individual’s
trade fairs where clients could turn
dream: to escape the monotony of the
images from their telephones into
office!
instant posters in 30 seconds.
Campaign
Results
We scripted a story around two very
In the first few months after launch
likeable young guys who launch a
some 30,000 video views and the
pop-up printer business called ‘Instant
microsite hundreds of community
Poster Power’ from the back of their
uploaded images. Every Océ Opco
customized van. The mockumentary
picked up the campaign and adapted
follows these two micropreneurs as
both the film and microsite into local
they service small businesses, pull
languages. The campaign also sparked
pranks, do some social good and
local activation campaigns around
transform the urban landscape, all
the Instant Poster Power theme. The
with the help of the PosterPrinter. In
campaign was included in prestigious
short, they capture the emotion of the
international marketing magazine
poster business and the importance of
Contagious as a Best Practices for
posters in communication today. All
B2B campaigns.
the printer’s USPs were worked into
the script, but we avoid typical B2B
corporatetalk through unscripted,
spontaneous dialogue to help the
message sound heartfelt and real.
Media Mix
Online film, print, DM, web platform,
trade shows, PR: plugging & seeding
The lowdown
B2B campaigns
are so caught up in
corporatespeak that they
often forget WHY their
products and services are
so interesting and unique.
By giving the PosterPrinter
a human, ‘outside-in’
context (instead of purely
inside-out), the Océ sales
team enthusiastically
picked up on the campaign
and used it as a serious
tool to service current
clients and to create new
leads – each salesman was
encouraged to plug&seed
the film into his own
networks.

8. Case 3
VisitSweden
How Swedish
tourism got
Dutch travel
agents on
their side
The Swedish tourism board, VisitSweden, had one business
goal: get more Dutch to give up the Austrian and French
Alps for Swedish ski sojourns. An integral part of the
challenge was thus to convince travel agents to take
Swedish skiing seriously. What they got was the B2C/B2B
‘Fit for the Winter Games’ campaign that travelled well
beyond the agents’ offices and ended up a global cult hit.
Oh, and the first direct charter flights to Sweden.

9. Case 3
VisitSweden
Insight
To challenge the Dutch annual Alps
agents – in return they could win a
routine, Sweden needed a serious
limited-edition ‘Fit for the Winter
edge, and we quickly pinpointed one,
Games’ bag.
an insight the Swedes themselves
weren’t particularly proud of. Namely,
that since 1986 the Swedish winter
sport towns of Are and Ostersund
had bid for the Olympic Games three
times – and lost. We didn’t see losing
bids however, we simply saw proof
that Sweden had world-class facilities.
Results
By activating Dutch travel agents
via DM, the bag and a special page
on the website, the number of Dutch
winter hotel stays after the campaign
doubled and the first winter charter
flight to Are took off from Schiphol.
B2C results were also impressive: over
Campaign
800,000 video views, a 200% increase
The ‘Fit for the Olympic Games’
in web visits and a campaign that
campaign was created around two
completely dominated all Google
amusing online films highlighting
search results for ‘Swedish winter
Sweden’s Olympic ambitions and its
sport’.
The lowdown
key USPs. We told the story through
two fanatical Swedes who dream of
the Olympics so they can display
Media Mix
their talents as, respectively, a mascot
Film, Web platform, Print,
and a streaker. In addition to DM, a
DM, Events, PR: plugging & seeding
flyer team, web and taking the films
consumer direct via YouTube, we sent
agents a special package with DVD
and brochures and encouraged them
to send the film to at least three other
Your B2B partners are
also consumers, and in
some situations you need
to activate them like
consumers. If they like
something they’ll actively
share and sell it. And if
they don’t, encourage them
other ways like giving
them free give-aways.

10. B2P
Shorts
B2B short 1
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
Schiphol’s
‘Magic in function’ film
It’s not just enough to be Europe’s 5th largest hub and one
“Lemon managed to reinvent our
corporate message and create a
brand story that makes us appealing
to virtually everyone. Never before did
we get so many thumbs up!”
Chella Busch, Brand Manager Schiphol Group
high-quality partners. More specifically, the short film
of the most innovative airports in the world. Sometimes,
combines the Schiphol elements people know with behind-
you have to remind people that behind the business there’s
the-scene action they don’t – the functional and the magic
a clearly defined mission §and vision. Our ‘A day in the
of an airport.
Life’ B2P campaign for Schiphol was designed specifically
to spark positive conversations internally and with new
Media Mix Brand story, Film

11. B2B short 2
Amsterdam RAI
B2B short 3
WYSTC
AmsterdamINTENSER DE ERVARING WYSTC 2011’s
RAI’s
HOE
inspiring ‘experience
HOE KOSTBAARDER DE HERINNERING fake travel trend
angel’
challenge
Waar je het ziet, is hoe je het ziet. Hier zie je alles op zijn mooist, beleef je het intens.
Een galadiner, feest, beurs, congres, vergadering of training... RAI Elicium staat voor
ongekende allure en elegantie. Wil je meer weten? Ik kan je nog veel meer laten zien!
Graag leid ik je rond op
www.rai-elicium.nl
In its effort to further reinforce its status as a business
We’re starting to really like B2B campaigns here at Lemon.
and innovation hub that connects people, the
The latest in our string is The Fake Travel Trend Challenge
Amsterdam RAI built a new congress building called
for The World and Student Travel Conference (WYSTC)
Elicium. Once built, they needed a campaign that would
2011, a conversion campaign and identity rolled into one. The
inform its national and international business network
conference organizers asked us to work with them to create a
– large corporations, CEOs, organizers – of the Elicium’s
quick-hit B2B campaign that would stimulate key delegates
cutting edge facilities and, quite simply, fill their halls.
to book booth space and attend the fair. The Challenge
With ‘Elise’, we didn’t change the RAI’s messaging, we
invites key travel industry delegates to tweet their best fake
just changed who was saying it by wrapping all those
travel trend to win prizes. With this cheeky Challenge we’ve
USPs into an emotionally relevant story. Elise turned
positioned WYSTC’s authoritative insights against all those
all the RAI’s B2B communication into fun testimonials.
sketchy online travel trends people are so eager to believe
Next to posters, DM and web, we also turned Elise into
these days. We already have a favorite fake trend: “Holy Land
a teddy bear that businessmen could take home to their
tours spike as European youth rediscover religion.” Yeah,
children.
right. Sorry, open exclusively to travel industry delegates only.
Media Mix Print, web platform, DM, events, brand story,
Media Mix Web, Twitter, identity, Facebook, brochures, DM
merchandize, PR: plugging & seeding
B2P
Shorts

12. The B2P
survival
guide
10 easy steps to
succeed on the
New B2B Frontier
No more split personality
companies
From push to pull
Think (more) like a
publisher
Transparency of the web means that
Wrap your hard sell in a soft shell.
Content marketing is on the rise.
B2B and B2C are no longer mutually
Rational information works, but
With all those daily clicks going to
exclusive. Google doesn’t differentiate
repackage those facts enticingly (i.e.
Facebook and Twitter, content for
between the two.
infographics) and recycle your content social platforms is rapidly replacing
in an emotionally relevant way.
expensive and flashy microsites – yes,
even for B2B.
Telling enables selling
Work in your WHY
Few things enable sales teams and
You can never drive home your vision,
help generate leads as well as a simple
mission and company culture enough.
opening story about your company
However, one caveat: the more you
and your product.
talk about things, the higher the
expectations that you make good
Flip page for
on them.
next 5 steps.

13. Can’t share? Despair!
Embrace employee
advocacy
Synchronize your voice
Even B2B initiatives should link to
If it doesn’t inspire Jane in accounting, Create a clear and consistent tone
YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Flickr,
it won’t inspire anyone else either.
of voice across all your platforms
slideshare, pdfs, etc. You may have
that mirrors the culture of your
30 white papers lying around, but if
company. B2B too often captures the
people can’t share them they aren’t
most boring part of your corporate
going to get around.
personality.
Content is key, but only
Post-purchase
when you do it consistently ambassadors
Producing content is not enough,
Perhaps the biggest opportunity
you’ve got to produce unique and
for B2B credibility is turning
compelling content – and consistently! happy clients into post-purchase
And then complement it with the
ambassadors simply by making their
right marketing mix (blogs, videos,
comments visible on the platforms
microsites, newsletters, social media).
people like to visit (i.e. Amazon,
Yes, another tip from the
retweets)
B2C playbook.
The B2P
survival
guide
10 easy steps to
succeed on the
New B2B Frontier

14. While we truly believe in universal sharing of ideas and content, our prickly
issues are not cut-and-paste affairs summarizing other people’s hard-thought
insights. We read a lot, we talk to a lot of people, we tweet and retweet and
keep our ears close to the ground, and our reports are born from all that.
If we appropriate original thinking, we give them credit. The rest is lemon
being, Well, lemon. We just thought you should know.
www.lemonscentedtea.com