B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth

alan.
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Marketing
  • Updated Weekly

B2B has the potential to be electrifying. But… The industry is paralysed by a culture of conservatism. Scared stiff in a straitjacket of rational ideas. It’s time for change. It’s time to make B2B marketing visceral. Join Benedict of alan. agency as he uncovers and explores the truth with leading B2B marketers. Ready to provoke the truth? Get in touch at alan-agency.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 1d ago

    AI isn’t killing B2B agencies – it’s exposing what clients really value with Annabel Atchison of IONOS Group

    A few months ago, Annabelle Atchison posted something many agencies would probably rather not confront. The Head of Communications and Product Marketing at IONOS Group had just built her own media-radar tool – covering markets, journalists and potential pitch angles – in around ten minutes, for pennies. So she called on agencies, and any others willing to listen, to tell their clients honestly how AI was already changing the work their retainers paid for. Not eventually. Now. When Benedict asks how many of her own agencies contacted her afterwards, the answer is none. That post became the starting point for this episode of The Provocative Truth. It is not an entirely comfortable conversation for agencies, alan. included. But Annabelle is not arguing that every retainer should automatically become cheaper. She is arguing that clients should be able to see what has changed: what is now faster, where the time saved is going, whether more experienced people are getting closer to the work and whether AI is producing better outcomes rather than simply protecting agency margins. AI can already accelerate research, drafting, reporting and production. What it still cannot do is read a room, hold a project together when priorities shift, manage the relationships that make work land or recognise when an efficient-looking answer is quietly the wrong one. Organisations are still messy, political and human. They still need people who can interpret context, align stakeholders, exercise judgement and lead work through to completion. Ultimately, this is a conversation about what clients should expect when AI strips time and cost out of agency work – and why the answer is not simply cheaper output. It is greater transparency, more ambitious experimentation and more investment in the strategic judgement, creative thinking, leadership and relationships that make the work worth paying for. 00:02:54 – The LinkedIn post that put agencies “on notice” 00:03:36 – What happened when Annabelle’s agencies were asked about AI 00:05:02 – The ten-minute media tool that changed her view of agency work 00:07:05 – Why traditional agency billing models are under pressure 00:09:59 – Why clients expect agencies to be ahead of the technology 00:12:14 – Is anxiety preventing agencies from making bigger changes? 00:13:02 – How IONOS approached AI adoption internally 00:16:01 – Which marketing tasks AI can already accelerate 00:16:51 – What clients still need from agency partners 00:17:41 – Why project leadership still matters in an AI-enabled world 00:22:53 – Why agency relationships need to become more embedded 00:26:00 – How AI could increase the value of senior client service roles 00:28:07 – Where clients may be overestimating what AI can do 00:29:47 – Why AI hype still needs to become craft B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth is a podcast by alan. agency. MD Benedict Buckland speaks to CMOs and marketing leaders to uncover the most uncomfortable truths in the world of B2B. Subscribe here and be the first to know when new episodes drop. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    AI isn’t killing B2B agencies – it’s exposing what clients really value with Annabel Atchison of IONOS Group

  2. Jun 22

    Why reputation alone is no longer enough in legal marketing with Tricia Weener, Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer at Linklaters

    For decades, the legal sector has been built around deep partner relationships, reputation and specialist expertise. But buying behaviour is changing – and the traditional model is under pressure. This week, Benedict speaks to Tricia Weener, Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer at Linklaters, about how law firms are adapting to a more complex, competitive and procurement-led market. As clients become more global, more formal in how they buy and more demanding in what they expect from their advisers, reputation alone is no longer enough. Law firms now need to show the breadth of the whole firm, build multi-level client relationships and demonstrate expertise across sectors, practices and jurisdictions. The conversation explores how business development and marketing are moving from reactive support functions to more proactive strategic partners inside law firms. Tricia explains why clear client strategy, segmentation, governance and data are becoming more important, and how marketing and business development teams can help partners focus resources where they will have the greatest impact. This is a practical conversation about growth, relationships and the changing role of marketing in professional services – and why the future of legal marketing will depend on becoming more connected, more strategic and more aligned to the business. 00:01:30 – How legal buying behaviour is changing 00:05:30 – Why reputation alone is no longer enough 00:08:20 – Moving from single partner relationships to wider client coverage 00:12:15 – Why client strategy matters in law firm growth 00:17:30 – Balancing entrepreneurial partner relationships with firm-wide priorities 00:22:20 – The role of governance in deciding which opportunities to pursue 00:26:00 – How marketing and business development are becoming more proactive inside law firms 00:31:40 – Why data and talent both matter in earning credibility 00:36:10 – Changing the perception of marketing from service centre to business partner 00:42:00 – Why marketing can act as the glue across the firm 00:46:30 – What the future of legal marketing could look like B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth is a podcast by alan. agency. MD Benedict Buckland speaks to CMOs and marketing leaders to uncover the most uncomfortable truths in the world of B2B. Subscribe here and be the first to know when new episodes drop. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Why reputation alone is no longer enough in legal marketing with Tricia Weener, Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer at Linklaters

  3. Mar 18

    What it takes to align brand, people and strategy in professional services with Paola Garbini, Head of Marketing Europe at Oliver Wyman

    In B2B organisations, "one brand voice" often sounds straightforward. In practice, it is far more complex - especially in firms where reputation is carried by people, expertise and relationships. This week, Benedict speaks to Paola Garbini, Head of Marketing Europe at Oliver Wyman, about the realities of building brand coherence inside a global consulting business. As Oliver Wyman strengthens its alignment within the wider Marsh ecosystem, Paola explains how the firm is navigating the balance between consistency and independence. Rather than enforcing rigid brand rules, the discussion explores a more pragmatic idea - convergence instead of consensus. The episode looks at how organisations can create shared direction without suppressing the individuality that makes professional services valuable to clients. Along the way, Paola reflects on the role of personal brands in consulting firms, why marketing needs to move upstream in business conversations, and how teams can measure the commercial impact of brand work more effectively. This is a grounded conversation about brand as an organisational capability - not just a communications exercise. Why "one brand voice" is harder in professional servicesThe logic behind Oliver Wyman’s expanded brand modelWhy independence still matters inside a larger brand ecosystemConvergence vs consensus in brand transformationBalancing consistency with individuality in consulting firmsThe role of personal brands in professional servicesMeasuring marketing impact and return on marketing investmentWhy marketing needs to be involved earlier in business strategy B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth is a podcast by alan. agency. MD Benedict Buckland speaks to CMOs and marketing leaders to uncover the most uncomfortable truths in the world of B2B. Subscribe here and be the first to know when new episodes drop. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    What it takes to align brand, people and strategy in professional services with Paola Garbini, Head of Marketing Europe at Oliver Wyman

  4. Mar 12

    How brand drives growth in reputation-led legal markets with Lee Grunnell, CMO at Womble Bond Dickinson [Special Edition: Law Firms]

    Welcome to the first episode of the Special Edition: Law Firms podcast, where we speak with CMOs and senior marketers at leading law firms about how brand actually drives growth in legal services. Law firm marketers speak about differentiation, but most still communicate trust, expertise and experience in near identical ways. The underlying buying behaviour has not dramatically changed. Legal services remain a repertoire market – clients default to firms they already know, then ask for recommendations. That reality makes memory, awareness and perception commercially decisive. Yet many firms still behave as if reputation alone will do the work. In this conversation, Benedict speaks with Lee Grunnell, CMO at Womble Bond Dickinson, about what actually moves the dial. Drawing on brand tracking data and two decades inside professional services, Lee explains why homogeneity persists, why culture is both the truth and the trap, and why research – not internal consensus – is the only credible route to a defensible position. They also explore why law may have more permission to be bold than it assumes, and how firms such as Hill Dickinson and Mishcon de Reya are resetting expectations for the category. This is a conversation about brand as commercial infrastructure in a high trust, low frequency market where standing still is not neutral. The inherited risk aversion of legal marketingHow legal buying actually works in practiceWhy awareness matters in a repertoire marketTrust is table stakes – what sits on top?The culture paradox – true but impossible to defineUsing research to force clarityWomble Bond Dickinson’s “point of view”Are law firms finally prepared to be braver? B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth is a podcast by alan. agency. MD Benedict Buckland speaks to CMOs and marketing leaders to uncover the most uncomfortable truths in the world of B2B. Subscribe here and be the first to know when new episodes drop. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    How brand drives growth in reputation-led legal markets with Lee Grunnell, CMO at Womble Bond Dickinson [Special Edition: Law Firms]

  5. Mar 5

    Navigating B2B brand
architecture: house of
brands vs. branded house with Ifeoma Jibunoh, Group CMO of Cassava Technologies

    Brand architecture is often treated as a structural or design choice. In reality, it is a leadership decision with emotional, political and commercial consequences. Benedict Buckland hosts Ify Jibunoh, Group CMO of Cassava Technologies, to discuss house of brands versus branded house through a human and change-management lens. Jibunoh explains that Cassava’s brand architecture decision was a leadership stewardship choice, balancing future ambition with decades of equity in established brands across 30+ African markets. Although internal sentiment leaned toward a branded house to signal modernity, research on awareness, trust and customer relationships supported maintaining a house of brands, with Cassava as the ‘endorser brand’ to share portfolio equity. She describes mixed board reactions, underestimated emotional resistance and lessons on earlier stakeholder engagement. Post-decision challenges included governance, brand roles, internal storytelling, go-to-market redesign, training and behaviour change, emphasising that brand architecture is business transformation, not just marketing. 00:00 Welcome 00:37 Why brand architecture matters 02:24 Cassava context 05:45 Why ‘branded house’ was a temptation 08:03 Choosing a ‘house of brands’ 12:28 Boardroom resistance 14:49 Managing emotions and buy-in 16:40 The change management playbook 24:28 Breaking silos across teams alan. MD Benedict Buckland speaks to CMOs and marketing leaders to uncover the most uncomfortable truths in the world of B2B. Listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe here and be the first to know when new episodes drop. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Navigating B2B brand
architecture: house of
brands vs. branded house with Ifeoma Jibunoh, Group CMO of Cassava Technologies

  6. Jan 15

    ABM isn’t broken. Expectations are. with Lauren Daly and Andrew Shepherd, Palo Alto Networks

    ABM is still spoken about as a silver bullet. A way to open doors, personalise at scale and finally align sales and marketing. The problem is that most organisations expect it to behave like magic rather than work. In this conversation, Benedict speaks with Lauren Daly and Andrew Shepherd from Palo Alto Networks about where ABM breaks down in reality. Drawing on experience running ABM in a large, complex organisation, they unpack the gap between how ABM is sold internally and what it actually demands operationally, culturally and commercially. Rather than treating ABM as a tactic, the discussion reframes it as a privilege that requires clarity on account selection, shared ownership of outcomes and a willingness to confront uncomfortable trade-offs. From data fragmentation and misaligned incentives to the limits of personalisation at scale, the episode is clear-eyed about what works and what does not. This is not a conversation about tooling or frameworks. It is about discipline, expectation-setting and why good ABM often looks a lot like good marketing done properly. 00:01:20 Why ABM is sold as a silver bullet 00:03:50 The biggest misconceptions sales teams have about ABM 00:06:55 Why ‘account’ thinking misses buying groups 00:11:00 Account selection as the real point of alignment 00:17:45 The data problem no martech stack fully solves 00:24:50 When ABM just becomes good marketing 00:33:10 Personalisation, AI and cultural readiness 00:41:10 Why incentives, not intent, cause misalignment Learn more about alan. here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    ABM isn’t broken. Expectations are. with Lauren Daly and Andrew Shepherd, Palo Alto Networks

  7. 10/01/2025

    Why B2B brands fail without trust (and how to build one that lasts) with Jigsaw’s Head of Marketing, Jason Miller

    In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict talks with Jigsaw's Head of Marketing, Jason Miller about the renewed importance of brand in B2B marketing. Once seen as “fluffy” or reserved for consumer giants, brand is now the foundation for differentiation, trust and long-term growth. Jason argues that lead gen and performance marketing alone can’t cut it, and explains how clarity of message, consistency and community are what really drive results. From defining a singular brand story to challenging the over-reliance on AI-generated messaging, Jason shares how B2B marketers can build lasting trust – and why those who ignore brand risk being left behind. Highlights: 02:11 – Why the traditional B2B playbook is broken 05:20 – Brand as more than just awareness 07:23 – How to measure brand impact creatively 09:32 – Crafting a simple, powerful brand story 15:30 – Why events and community matter more than ever 21:13 – Persuading sceptics to invest in brand 23:21 – The future of demand gen vs brand 33:04 – Why protecting the core from AI is essential 🎙️ Tune in to hear why brand isn’t just a marketing exercise, but the key to surviving and thriving in B2B today. Subscribe now and never miss an episode that challenges the status quo of B2B marketing. Listen to more episodes at www.alan-agency.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Why B2B brands fail without trust (and how to build one that lasts) with Jigsaw’s Head of Marketing, Jason Miller

  8. 09/10/2025

    Client Centricity in B2B: Moving beyond data and understanding signals with Nicole German, Global CMO HSBC, CIB

    In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict explores a striking paradox with Nicole German, Global Chief Marketing Officer for Corporate and Institutional Banking at HSBC. His challenge is that despite having unprecedented amounts of customer data, many B2B organisations seem further away from truly understanding their clients than ever before. Nicole refutes this assumption, articulating that the real opportunity lies in moving beyond raw data to decode the signals it creates. She reveals how HSBC transforms the complexity of multiple personas across multiple regions into meaningful client insights, turning data into actionable insights that drive trust and deepen relationships. They discuss the evolution from campaign-driven marketing to always-on client engagement, why understanding business context matters in addition to having brilliant creative ideas, and how a global financial services giant moved the needle on share of voice from market insight to a podium position in just eight weeks during a period of trade uncertainty. Highlights: 02:03 – With data comes signals and opportunity 05:40 – Managing personas across multiple regions and cultures 07:03 – Moving from campaign mentality to always-on optimisation 09:59 – The trade report that moved HSBC from 8th to 3rd in share of voice 14:16 – Know me, value me, service me: the client centricity framework 18:16 – Why great marketing ideas mean nothing without business sponsorship 21:46 – Balancing brand consistency with personalised relevance 26:22 – How global brands avoid tension between local and global messaging   Tune in to discover why signals matter more than data, and how speed can be your competitive advantage in client centricity.   Subscribe now and never miss an episode that challenges the status quo of B2B marketing. Listen to more episodes at www.alan-agency.com/podcast   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Client Centricity in B2B: Moving beyond data and understanding signals with Nicole German, Global CMO HSBC, CIB
See All (102)

About

B2B has the potential to be electrifying. But… The industry is paralysed by a culture of conservatism. Scared stiff in a straitjacket of rational ideas. It’s time for change. It’s time to make B2B marketing visceral. Join Benedict of alan. agency as he uncovers and explores the truth with leading B2B marketers. Ready to provoke the truth? Get in touch at alan-agency.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information