Out of office

B2B marketers need to reconnect with their emotions.

📸 Flashback to last week when I told you Microsoft was thinking about integrating ChatGPT into its search engine. This week, it transpired that the Redmond-based firm is is in talks to commit as much as $10 billion into OpenAI.

👉🏻 Now, read on to learn why:

① All marketing is human to human.

② Your marketing should have personality and appeal to emotions, not rationale.

③ Banks continue to be impatient and absolutely terrible at due diligence.

④ The future of finance lies in digital assets.

⑤ Everyone who's anyone has a newsletter these days.

⑥ The ‘working remotely’ backlash has begun.

⑦ London will have to be entrepreneurial to retain its place in capital markets.

What's new

The outdoor version of British Airways’ ‘Take your holiday seriously’ campaign hit the headlines this week. More About Advertising reports.

Source: More About Advertising, 11 January 2023

In short:

“New posters feature those out of office auto replies that we all wish we could write when we go on holiday. Politeness doesn’t feature in messages such as ‘no’ and ‘0% chance of work’.”
“According to Uncommon, the idea that we need to take holidays seriously is all about a focus on ‘wellness.’ A survey showed that 50% of people don’t take their full annual leave allocation and 48% have checked emails while away. Only 48%?”
“Uncommon has consistently shown that it takes its outdoor campaigns seriously, and this is another example of the power of the medium.”

Why it matters

I love this campaign. It matters because it has a slew of things to teach us about B2B in financial services and technology. What’s that you say? This is a B2C campaign in a completely different to sector to ours? True. But that’s exactly why we can learn from it.

① Let’s begin by dispensing with the antiquated notion that B2B is somehow intrinsically different to B2C. It’s not. All marketing, all communication is human to human. And when it works, it works because it has succeeded in making an emotional connection, it has appealed to something in us that’s beyond the rational. That's the fist thing we can take from BA’s campaign.

The other lessons all stem from remembering that we’re marketing to fellow human beings. Not only do they have emotions but they have preoccupations that go beyond their job. They’re imperfect. They don’t slavishly follow a rule book. Act accordingly.

What to do about it

Take action

② What does all of this mean in practice? I think we can draw four tangible actions for you to discuss with your marketing team this week. Are your campaigns:

Appealing to emotions?
Clients (and colleagues for that matter) don’t leave their emotions at home when they get to the office. So our marketing needs to stop assuming that everyone is rational and appeal to the emotional side too.
Appearing where your clients are?
BA’s campaign was out-of-home, which is fancy ad speak for billboards. Old-fashioned? Not digital and cool? Perhaps. But people see them and that’s all that matters. Ignore the allure of the shiny new channel; go where your clients already are.
Focused on them?
Clients care not one jot about your purpose, your mission or your vision. They’re not much interested in how innovative you are or the years of experience your leadership team has. You know what they care about? Themselves. Make them the centre of your marketing message.
Revealing of your personality?
Most financial and big tech firms are so concerned about alienating their audience that they’re unable to show the slightest personality. BA took something of a chance with the humour in this campaign and it paid off in spades. A little personality goes a long way. And remember that the only thing worse than alienating your audience is not being noticed at all.

Get help

Visit InMarketing, my resource library for leaders in finance or technology who want to innovate, interact and influence.
Join the InMarketing community, either on Twitter or on Substack (you’ll need to download the Substack app and head to the chat tab). Either way, you can ask questions of me and fellow senior marketing practitioners.

Help me

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Top stories

The other articles that are worthy of your time.

FINANCE

JP Morgan says startup founder used millions of fake customers to dupe it into an acquisition

③ Banks continue to be impatient and absolutely terrible at due diligence.

Charlie Javice. Source: Forbes, 11 January 2023

“JPMorgan Chase is suing the 30-year-old founder of Frank, a buzzy fintech startup it acquired for $175 million, for allegedly lying about its scale and success by creating an enormous list of fake users to entice the financial giant to buy it. Frank, founded by former CEO Charlie Javice in 2016, offers software aimed at improving the student loan application process for young Americans seeking financial aid.”
“The lawsuit claims that Javice pitched JP Morgan in 2021 on the ‘lie’ that more than 4 million users had signed up to use Frank’s tools to apply for federal aid. When JP Morgan asked for proof during due diligence, Javice allegedly created an enormous roster of ‘fake customers – a list of names, addresses, dates of birth, and other personal information for 4.265 million students who did not actually exist.’ In reality, according to the suit, Frank had fewer than 300,000 customer accounts at that time.”
“The same week JP Morgan filed its suit against Javice, Javice filed a suit against JP Morgan. The former Frank CEO’s complaint claimed that the bank last spring ‘commenced a series of groundless investigations into Ms. Javice’s conduct,’ and later ‘manufactured a for-cause termination in bad faith’ and ‘worked to force Ms. Javice out of the [JP Morgan] organization,’ to deny her millions in compensation that she was owed. As part of those investigations, the complaint said, JP Morgan ‘falsely accused Ms. Javice of misconduct’ during and after the Frank acquisition. ‘After JPMC rushed to acquire Charlie's rocketship business, JPMC realized they couldn't work around existing student privacy laws, committed misconduct and then tried to retrade the deal,’ Javice’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, said in a statement emailed to Forbes. ‘Charlie blew the whistle and then sued. JPMC’s newest suit is nothing but a cover’.”

TECHNOLOGY

Bob Diamond says digital currencies to have ‘very important place’ in finance

④ The future of finance lies in digital assets.

Bob Diamond. Source: The Financial Times, 10 January 2023

“Digital currencies will have a ‘very important place’ in finance, according to veteran banker Bob Diamond, even as last year’s market carnage thwarted his plan to take stablecoin group Circle public. The former Barclays chief executive said that ‘there’s going to be a lot of good things’ that survive last year’s crypto crash.”
“‘I don’t think as an industry we’re going to throw the baby out with the bathwater,’ said Diamond, co-founder and chief executive of Atlas Merchant Capital. ‘In my mind there is a place for a digital currency, a very important place. Crypto is such a broad word,’ he added. ‘I get frustrated by people saying crypto winter. It’s all good, it’s all bad. We need to do a better job [of explaining]. There are unquestionably sectors, like the technology being developed for stablecoins, that have a very strong future’.”
“‘I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t believe that in the future a digital version of the dollar for institutional and corporate use isn’t going to happen and be far more efficient,’ Diamond said of stablecoins’ staying power. He said that while a government stablecoin might be the solution for China, in western markets the ‘optimal solution’ would come from the private sector, operating under strong regulatory oversight, as it did for existing payments systems such as Fedwire.”

MEDIA & MARKETING

SBF thought it was a good idea to start a Substack

⑤ Everyone who's anyone has a newsletter these days.

Sam Bankman-Fried. Source: Engadget, 12 January 2023

“Sam Bankman-Fried is in a world of trouble. He’s facing up to 115 years in prison if he’s convicted of federal fraud and conspiracy charges. And yet the embattled founder of collapsed crypto exchange FTX — who has pleaded not guilty and is out on a $250 million bond while awaiting trial — figured it’d be a great idea to write about his perspective on the saga in a Substack newsletter.”
“In his first post, which is ostensibly about the collapse of FTX International, Bankman-Fried claims that ‘I didn’t steal funds, and I certainly didn’t stash billions away.’ SBF notes that FTX US (which serves customers in America) ‘remains fully solvent and should be able to return all customers’ funds.’ He added that FTX International still has billions of dollars in assets and that he is ‘dedicating nearly all of my personal assets to customers’.”
“What's more interesting is what SBF doesn't address. He does not mention the fact that FTX co-founder Zixiao ‘Gary’ Wang and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison pleaded guilty to fraud charges and are cooperating with prosecutors.”

WILDCARD

Bob Iger orders Disney employees back to the office four days a week

⑥ The ‘working remotely’ backlash has begun.

Bob Iger. Source: Los Angeles Times, 9 January 2023

“Chief Executive Bob Iger has ordered Disney employees to return to the office four days a week — Monday through Thursday — starting March 1.”
“Iger, who returned to the CEO role less than two months ago, explained the change as a way to encourage in-person collaboration in service of creativity at the Burbank-based company.”
“Companies have adopted widely varying policies during the last three years in order to balance their own needs with employee demand for flexibility as hybrid schedules became more firmly accepted. Peloton Interactive called employees back Tuesday through Thursday, while Apple brought staffers back in on Tuesdays, Thursdays and an additional day determined by individual teams.”

Off cuts

The stories that almost made this week’s newsletter.

The last word

⑦ Julia Hoggett, CEO, London Stock Exchange, on safeguarding London’s position as a capital in equity raising:

Julia Hoggett. Source: The Financial Times, 13 January 2023

“We have to be young, scrappy and hungry.”

Don’t settle for marketing.

Strive for InMarketing: innovate, interact, influence.

Wishing you a productive week,

P.S. Staying on top of things can feel overwhelming. Aspire to being this dog.