The best viral marketing campaigns for B2B companies
Some B2B companies think that their marketing campaigns cannot be as attractive as those of B2C businesses. And that's not true. B2B marketing can also be sexy and inspiring, and in this article you’ll find several viral campaigns that prove it.
Let's take a look at the basic strategies they use.
5 great viral campaigns from B2B companies
Jean Claude Van Damme's split between two Volvo trucks
This is the best example that a B2B campaign can go viral just like any other content. Because chances are you've already seen this commercial in which actor Jean Claude Van Damme does an epic split between two moving Volvo trucks. Not for nothing this is one of the most watched commercials of all time, with more than 100 million views on YouTube alone.
This is proof that campaigns for industrial companies can and even should aspire to be just as attractive as B2C campaigns. In this case, the almost circus-like exercise of a well-known superstar like Van Damme explains the precision of Volvo commercial vehicles in the best possible way.
Zendesk: Marriage scenes
Humour is always one of the most effective ways to convey a message. At the end of the day, even in the biggest companies, purchasing decisions are made by human beings. And the best way to produce a spark is a good hook and emotions.
In this video, the sales and customer service CRM Zendesk depicts the complicated relationship between a company and its customer, here characterised as a marriage between an astronaut and a diver immersed in their communication problems.
Adobe as a B2B company: Click, baby, click!
Another humorous campaign, this time set in a business environment. This Adobe commercial completely turns on its head a demand many companies have in their marketing actions: "we need more clicks". The final surprise gives full meaning to the service offered by Adobe: an analysis of digital marketing data that gives it a real meaning. Because sometimes it's difficult to understand all the processes of a business: supply chain, distribution, etc. And this spot demonstrates how a small misinterpretation can lead to decisions that cause a big financial problem.
QuickBooks and the power of GIFs
Intuit QuickBooks is an accounting software for SMBs that has turned to GIFS and comedy sketches to explain the ways in which it can help small business owners to save time and money. The campaign consists of a 30-second video plus several 15-second clips in which Danny Devito demonstrates the simplicity of the QuickBooks platform.
In parallel, QuickBooks created a gallery of humorous GIFs on Giphy aimed at its target audience and their daily struggles: small business owners. The goal was to take the campaign further, into the conversations of people who were already talking about small and midsize business solutions. In total, the collection of GIFs has surpassed 500 million views.
Upwork and its one-person campaigns
Upwork is a platform that connects companies in need of professionals with freelancers of all kinds (designers, photographers, copywriters...). Its Hey World campaign has obtained a great diffusion thanks to its intelligent strategy of creating a hyper-limited target of real celebrities.
For example, Upwork offered to help actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson when he decided to run for president in 2020. It also offered Elon Musk the search for a personal assistant, and Donald Trump for a Social Media Strategist. Even NASA has been the target of his campaigns.
In this case, the campaign was disseminated on social media as well as on television, billboards and other physical media. The result was a 10% increase in the number of Fortune 500 companies using Upwork.
Conclusions
After analysing these campaigns, we can conclude that industrial and B2B products don’t have to be less ambitious than B2C when it comes to creating a campaign that is likely to go viral.
Humour, video content, celebrity appearances and the use of new communication formats such as GIFs can also play a key role in a B2B marketing campaign.
