BY John Rudaizky, EY Global Chief Brand and Marketing Officer
This article was originally published in the Brand Finance Global Most Valuable B2B Brands Index 2025
Picture the last marketing campaign that truly moved you. Maybe it was a short film that gave you goosebumps, a tagline that stuck in your mind for days or an influencer’s social media post that nudged your purchase.
Chances are, it was from a consumer brand – perhaps a travel company, a sneaker or even a smartphone maker.
That emotional spark is what B2B marketing traditionally lacks. While in business, buying decisions may be rational, the people making them are anything but. In fact, in B2B, the stakes are higher because the purchases and the risks – both financial and personal – are bigger. When your career is on the line, emotion counts.
For decision-makers, a major B2B purchase can be career-defining. Get it right, and you drive growth, streamline operations or leap ahead of the competition. Get it wrong, and you risk damaging the organisation’s reputation – and your own.
In many ways, you are selling confidence. B2B decision-makers aren’t just evaluating sales pitches or price points. They’re asking: Can I trust this brand? Do they understand our challenges? Will they make me look smart for choosing them? And it’s rarely a solo decision. In B2B, you’re not marketing one-to-one, you’re influencing one-to-many – including the C-suite and their teams.
That’s where emotion can be a force multiplier. While B2B tactics like events, thought leadership, and webinars follow a logical playbook, true engagement demands emotional connection.
At EY, we’ve doubled down on creative campaigns, hero films and tactics that evoke emotion to stand out from traditional, bland feature or service-led marketing – and it's paying off.
Over the last 10 years, our brand has accelerated and expanded as a direct result.
For us, it started with our first global #BetterQuestions campaign which set the tone for what came next. Momentum intensified with the recent launch of our “All in” strategy – which has become an attitude running through our organisation.
We took a hard look at the global landscape – where business leaders are navigating unprecedented pressures from geopolitical shifts and technological disruption to rising social expectations. These dynamics inspired our new tagline: a reflection of what today’s leaders truly seek – the ability to shape the world with confidence.
And that’s where emotion became central to our strategy. Because underneath every macro trend is a human response. We realised that if we wanted to connect meaningfully with the C-suite and leaders, we couldn’t just speak to their business goals. We had to speak to their mindsets, aspirations and desires.
Our approach centres on three core pillars:
1. Speak to the human, not the title
Even in a room full of CIOs and procurement heads, you’re still speaking to people. People with ambitions, anxieties and values. That’s why we tap into the emotional triggers that drive any high-stakes choice.
For example, our Transformation campaign showcased real-world moments where businesses face complexity and uncertainty, yet must commit to bold, long-term choices. By evoking the emotion of partnership – the feeling of being supported, not sold to – we highlighted why trust is the most valuable service we offer.
2. Win hearts to win deals
In the B2B space, buyers don’t just remember what you said, they remember how you made them feel. That concept shaped our latest Generations campaign, which used the unexpected, powerful voices of children of various ages, genders, ethnicities, and abilities – the next generation – to evoke a powerful, emotive connection to urge business leaders to consider the lasting impact of their decisions on people, society and planet. The campaign drove a seven-point lift in brand favourability among global C-suite audiences (IPSOS) – clear evidence that emotion drives impact.
3. Let purpose guide the brand
While purpose has faded from the headlines, its power endures. Talent – the very heart of EY services – are motivated by it. Inclusivity, climate and other issues aren’t going away. Nor is the need to find meaning in our work.
Our campaigns are rooted in our values and what we do – from our purpose of building a better working world to our belief in shaping the future with confidence. This clarity helps our audiences – clients, people and society – see themselves in our stories. It’s what turns a “vendor” into a “partner.”
In B2B, the mechanics of reaching your audience are well established – but the real differentiator is the emotion you deliver through creativity.
It's time we stop treating B2B buyers as logic machines and start seeing them as people making high-stakes decisions under pressure. Behind every deal is a human being.
And long after the pitch is forgotten, what sticks is how your brand makes them feel.
