A dark green logo.
A fresh gradient behind it.
A photo of three people looking just a little too excitedly at a laptop.
And underneath it, of course:
Innovative solutions for a changing world.
Welcome to B2B.
Business doesn’t have to be boring
Somewhere along the way, we started believing that a company looks more serious when it also looks serious.
So the moment you start selling services to other businesses, colour, humour and personality slowly disappear from view. We play it safe. Solid. Professional. And above all: something no one in the boardroom can really object to.
The result?
A sea of brands all neatly colouring inside the lines. And, as a result, becoming almost impossible to tell apart.
Which is pretty remarkable. Because the companies behind those brands are often anything but boring.
They’re full of strong-minded people. Multi-million-euro projects are being delivered. Complex problems are being solved, machines built, organisations transformed and ideas created that keep competitors awake at night.
But on the outside?
Green or blue logo. White background. Man in a hard hat. Building tomorrow together.
B2B is ultimately just H2H
Business to business makes it sound as if two companies are sitting across the table from each other.
But of course, they aren’t.
People are sitting across from people.
A technical director has a sense of humour too. A buyer remembers striking packaging. A CEO can fall in love with a brilliant brand. And the person reviewing your proposal probably bought a pair of sneakers on Instagram that very morning because the brand spoke to them.
So why do we suddenly treat that same person at 2 p.m. as if they only respond to dark blue and bullet points?
Professionalism and personality are not opposites.
You can be reliable and outspoken.
Expert and funny.
Technical and attractive.
Businesslike and surprising.
In fact, in a market where everyone communicates safely, a little character can take up an enormous amount of space.
Look beyond your own industry
One of the most dangerous questions during a branding process is:
“What are our competitors doing?”
Of course we want to know.
But if you then start speaking exactly the same visual language, all you’ve really done is research the best way to disappear among them.
A construction company doesn’t have to look only at other construction companies. An IT company doesn’t have to take inspiration exclusively from other IT companies. And a consultancy doesn’t automatically have to end up with corporate photography of people pointing at Post-its.
Look at hospitality. Fashion. Food. Music. Architecture. Editorial design.
That’s often where things get more interesting.
Why can a can of kombucha burst with personality, while a company with 300 employees and millions in revenue communicates as if colour has been outlawed?
But our market is different
True.
Every market is different.
And of course, branding needs to fit your audience, positioning and ambitions. We’re not going to give an accountancy firm a fluorescent mascot just because it gets attention.
But “our market is conservative” is sometimes used a little too easily as an argument for communicating conservatively yourself.
Maybe that’s exactly the opportunity.
Because distinction doesn’t come from shouting louder about the same things everyone else is shouting about. It comes from being recognisably yourself in a category where many companies look alike.
Not different for the sake of being different.
Different because you have something of your own to say.
Give B2B some personality again
A strong B2B brand doesn’t have to be loud.
It doesn’t have to be hip, funny or colourful either.
Above all, it needs character.
Its own voice. A recognisable visual language. An idea that goes beyond a logo in the top-left corner. Something that lets you recognise the brand after just three pieces of communication, before you’ve even seen the logo.
Because ultimately, you’re not only competing on price, expertise or service.
You’re competing for attention too.
And attention is rarely won by looking like everyone else.
So maybe we can stop asking:
“Is this B2B enough?”
And start asking more often:
“Is this us enough?”
