The PaperplaneCo
Inflight Magazine

For me, storytelling is pure alchemy. It has been a powerful medium of human expression for millennia, imparting meaning and passing down wisdom and knowledge. Storytelling has played a vital role in human evolution. It facilitated the transmission of critical information needed for survival, such as food sources, water locations, and dangers like predators and...

Welcome to the podcast blog for B2B decision-makers. We’ll dive deep into the podcast world and bring you insider secrets on how podcasts can boost business and elevate your brand. Get expert tips on podcast strategies, right here, right now. Let’s kickstart this blog with your host, sorry…writer, Laura Ansdell. From niche entertainment to a...

Why does a good sale bring out the crazy in so many of us? Perhaps because it’s an innate human drive, and Black Friday discounts and competing for limited stock is the closest most of us get to hunting in the modern era. Black Friday has long been a source of chaos and, as an...

As a speaker at an event—virtual, live or hybrid, you will be competing for your audience’s attention. From smart devices and laptops to pastries and coffees, your audience will face any number of distractions. If you do manage to win your audience’s undivided attention, well done. Though you are unlikely to keep it for long....

Content pollution. Urgh! We all experience it. It’s an endless barrage of content and clickbait snapping at our virtual heels. Generative AI has the potential to improve many aspects of life and work. But it’s also a digital steroid, fuelling mass content production on an industrial scale. B2B buyers are not immune. Bombarded with information,...

On 19 July 2024, cybersecurity company CrowdStrike distributed a faulty update to its Falcon Sensor security software for Microsoft Windows. As a result, roughly 8.5 million systems crashed and would not restart in what has been called the largest outage in the history by cybersecurity commentator Troy Hunt. CrowdStrike, once the gold standard in cybersecurity, is…

In recent weeks, painters, photographers and other artists have fled Instagram to prevent parent company Meta from using their art to train AI models. Artists and illustrators in the US are using the hashtag #artbyhumans as a silent protest and rallying cry against the proliferation of AI-generated images and art. But do consumers really favour...

What do the colour of Google’s toolbar, Obama's 2008 Presidential campaign and Airbnb’s referral programme have in common? They are all examples of marketing experimentation success – and generative AI is proving to be an innovation game-changer.  Recent research from digital experience platform provider, Optimizely, 'Tested to Perfection' found 75% of marketers believe experimentation is essential...

Recent research from Google and management consultant firm Bain, ‘The ingredients of strong revenue growth in B2B software’, identified the attributes that differentiate winning B2B software businesses from their peers. The study found best-in-class B2B tech companies are inveterate innovators that embrace the power of AI to supercharge their marketing experiments. They are also decisively…

After four years of deliberation and consultation with UK regulators and industry, in a dramatic about-face, Google has scrapped plans to ban third-party cookies on its Chrome browser. Named ‘Privacy Sandbox’, the global initiative has not been abandoned completely according to Google. Instead, there will be a new approach that “lets people make an informed...

Stepping up to the podium with all eyes on you, the pressure is palpable. You're not just at the conference or event to inform; you're there to inspire, to spark new thoughts and, most importantly, to be remembered long after the event ends. The real challenge for anyone delivering a keynote isn't about battling stage...

We’re a little over halfway through the year, which makes it a great time to examine the year’s top consumer trends! GWI released some trends that are shaping our world in 2024. Here are a few that caught our eye: Growing concerns with AI: Consumers love using tools such as ChatGPT to find information, improve...

For over a decade, influencer marketing has ruled the internet. Brands traditionally sought influencers based on their follower count, engagement rates, and brand alignment. Then micro-influencers came onto the scene, giving brands new ways to reach consumers through personalities with a smaller following. The B2B space has not been immune to the trend, and major...

A New Era of Insight Discovery Generative AI is revolutionising the way we understand and interact with consumer data. Let’s talk about how AI has evolved in marketing and how you can harness its full potential in the world of data … and day-to-day efficiency and creativity, too. From Social Listening to AI-Driven Insights Before...

The Great Content Marketing Reframe Welcome to "The Great Content Marketing Reframe" - a comprehensive report by PaperplaneCo that transcends surface-level tech trends and delves into the fundamental shifts reshaping B2B marketing in 2024. In our report, we propose that true innovation in B2B marketing lies in nurturing a new mindset. This report guides you...

It’s World Storytelling Day, and today we’re celebrating by sharing a story we recently helped bring to life on the big stage. As a creative team, one of our greatest joys is seeing our clients bring our visual designs to life on the big stage. We love to create standalone assets that tell stories, like...

WGSN, the consumer trend forecasting company, has recently announced 13 trends that will define 2024 and beyond, covering fashion, interiors, beauty, tech and food and drink. AI Collaboration in Design Design professionals are increasingly partnering with generative AI, boosting both their creative exploration and efficiency. The swift advancement of generative AI technologies is reshaping the…

Advancements in technology and organizational methods have changed the way B2B sales and marketing teams engage with potential customers. Innovations like account-based marketing, buyer intent signals, and AI provide exceptional insights into buyer behavior. However, these tools still cannot fully penetrate the intricacies of the B2B buying experience. The latter involves buying teams making often…

Every year, Accenture Song develops ‘Life Trends’ to provide insight into the relationship between individuals and their behaviors and attitudes towards their surroundings, encompassing aspects of business, technology, and various societal changes. The Customer Connection Conundrum Essential reductions within companies have led to a decreased focus on customer-centricity, a change that consumers are starting to…

The latest predictions by Forrester highlight the rising expectations of business buyers, the disruption of digital buying, and evolving partner ecosystems, all contributing to increased costs in winning and protecting revenue. B2B organizations will need to align their marketing, sales, and product teams around customer-obsessed strategies to deliver value to buyers.   Generative AI’s Role…

GWI, the global consumer research company, published its 2024 “Connecting the dots” report about the biggest consumer trends for the upcoming year. In the report, GWI revealed a notable consumer trend termed “Social boomers,” emphasizing the growing engagement of older consumers, particularly baby boomers, with social media and e-commerce platforms. This demographic has seen a…

Video marketing has become a significant tool for B2B marketers, as indicated in recent research by the Content Marketing Institute. The medium’s storytelling and emotional resonance capabilities are the primary reasons for its widespread use. In the past year, 67% of marketers have found video increasingly crucial for their business, with 32% maintaining its consistent…

As we approach 2024, the consumer market is characterized by significant uncertainty. While overall inflation is expected to decrease, core inflation, which excludes volatile elements like food and energy, is predicted to remain high. This situation could lead central banks to maintain elevated interest rates for an extended period, impacting both businesses and consumers negatively….

In B2B marketing, a hidden issue is causing significant problems – the overuse of industry jargon. This overreliance on specialized language is leading to unclear messaging, negatively impacting customer relationships and financial outcomes. Marketers are known for transforming ordinary concepts into compelling stories. However, their dependence on jargon is creating communication barriers, alienating potential customers….

LinkedIn, once a niche platform dedicated to professional networking, has witnessed a remarkable transformation in its user behaviour and content. With users spending more time on the platform and the nature of posts diversifying, the boundaries of professional and personal are becoming increasingly blurred. LinkedIn has steadily risen as a preferred social media site. As…

Trust in B2B marketers is pivotal, yet there’s potential for growth, as highlighted by the Informa Tech 2023 Trust in Marketing Index. A critical area identified for improvement is the value derived from gated content. A significant 71% of decision-makers express disappointment in the value of such content, with 23% often and 48% sometimes feeling…

The digital revolution in marketing brought about unparalleled growth in both its reach and financial power. With the introduction of new channels and technologies, investments surged. However, the pandemic introduced a phase of budgetary stagnation, compelling CMOs to reconsider spending on once-indispensable areas like marketing technology. Gartner’s annual CMO Spend and Strategy Survey, which encompasses…

One individual’s view on the collision of content, technology, design, and human thinking at Web Summit. As I reflect on my experience at Web Summit, one of the world’s largest technology conferences, it’s difficult not to think about the convergence of creativity and technology. The event was a vibrant amalgamation of startup founders sharing bright…

The evolving shopping behaviours of today’s consumers, especially in Asia, challenge traditional retail norms. Enter the ‘zero consumer’, a segment characterised by their omnichannel shopping habits, fluctuating brand loyalty, and a keen interest in health and sustainability. While prevalent in Asia, this trend is global, and businesses that overlook it risk obsolescence. Understanding the Zero…

We’re thrilled to share some exciting news from one of our esteemed clients, Xactly. As a leader in intelligent revenue solutions, Xactly continues to make strategic moves that underscore its commitment to growth and innovation. The latest in these developments is the appointment of Jennifer McAdams as their Chief Marketing Officer. Jennifer is no stranger…

In B2B marketing, it often feels like digital channels dominate. Just a couple of years ago, we were all debating whether in-person events would ever fully recover after the pandemic. However, in 2023, it's increasingly clear that in-person events are not only relevant again—they’re indispensable for making connections and elevating B2B conversations. Let’s explore where...

In the fast-moving business world, thought leadership has become a guiding light, keeping brands in the spotlight, building credibility and leading the way through the sales funnel. And thought leadership is exciting! It’s where insights, expertise, and new ideas come together to create content that resonates, helps others, and sparks innovation. In the B2B landscape,...

The rise of AI needs no introduction. We’ve all watched AI slowly infiltrate every aspect of the business world, especially with big data's rise. Then, suddenly, we witnessed ChatGPT become a household name in record time, and every other organisation is rushing to compete. It feels like we’ve watched history in the making, but no...

Two of our clients, Adobe (#1) and Xactly (#77), have been ranked among the Power 500 Software Companies in 2023 by The Software Report. The recognition features the most influential companies that are most relevant to how businesses and individuals work, play, and interact with the rest of the world. Awardees are selected based on...

Just like in 2022, this year Adobe has been once again named one of Fortune’s “World’s Most Admired Companies,” coming in at no. 53 on the top 100 list. In the software category, Adobe ranked no. 2. The selection process focuses on attributes such as innovation, business and financial performance, operations, social responsibility, and talent...

Consumers continue to navigate a world in upheaval as a result of the increasing cost of living, political unrest, and climate challenge. In addition to the pandemic's continuing social and economic effects, in 2022 consumers worldwide saw even greater instability as a result of the military aggression in Ukraine, regional elections, climate problems, and the...

The 2023 State of Marketing to Engineers Report was designed to help companies better understand the information needs of technical buyers and provide insights on how marketing to them should be done. Engineers scan through at least five pages of search engine results before finding what they need, with just 4% of them staying on...

Marketers must make wise choices in adverse times, but doing so involves careful analysis of past data and the use of tactics that have proven successful over time. Let’s delve into some options that marketers have at their disposal to go through the looming recession and come out stronger. The 95:5 rule of B2B marketing,...

GWI has been asking consumers about their New Year’s resolutions since 2020 to understand how their priorities change and how they might think and act in the coming year. The results can be counterintuitive. Even though it’s common to mock New Year’s resolutions, marketers should pay attention because they are certainly a significant tradition and...

Looking back at 2022 and the topics we wrote about made us wonder: What is there that is still relevant as the year ends and is worth re-emphasising? In this post, we once again bring to the surface the ideas that are both important and likely to stand the test of time. Gather 'round the...

In order to make attendees’ experience satisfactory, virtual events should enable participants to gain the knowledge they are looking for and connect with other attendees. As the world has shifted to virtual events, attendees have developed a personal taste and now have several expectations from their virtual experience, which creates new challenges for event planners....

Although in-person events are slowly making a comeback, virtual events are here to stay. Marketers should focus on making their virtual events more engaging and immersive to keep participants engaged. For hybrid events, marketers should weigh the potential benefits against the risks to avoid costly mistakes. Source: WebEx Report We still live in the aftermath...

The Metaverse will have a profound impact on marketing, with vast potential implications for how companies reach and engage customers. B2B marketers who now start to experiment with immersive virtual events will be well-versed in the opportunities the Metaverse presents as it evolves. By 2026, one-quarter of humankind will be spending a minimum of one...

Adobe announced the acquisition of one of its competitors, collaborative design platform Figma, for a whopping sum of $20 billion. Source: Technext Figma allows its users to collaborate on designing interactive mobile and web applications. It also touts a rich, extensible developer ecosystem. The product has garnered 4 million users and boasts serving companies like...

Explore how eight different consumer personas represent broader shifts happening in the broad Asian consumer landscape. WGSN's flagship Asia Shopper Forecast 2022 study delves into Asian consumer profiles to provide brands better insight into emerging trends. Asian countries, although constituting a very diverse group, have displayed a good deal of optimism, regardless of the hardships...

Thais have a strong tendency to use the Internet for commercial purposes. They are also increasingly interested in creating online content. In Thailand, a recent government survey of Internet user behaviours unveiled a few insights about Thai digital lifestyles. Source: The Nation Millennials top daily Internet usage with 8 hours and 55 minutes, overtaking Gen...

The average B2B customer journey takes 192 days, dropping to 70 days when the first contact point is a review site. Social media is used primarily by customers who are not in-market and who need more time to close a deal. A new report by the revenue-attribution software provider Dreamdata shares several B2B go-to-market benchmarks...

The growing need for self-service features highlights the main disconnect between what buyers want and how sellers sell. Every technology vendor must adapt to the attitudes of today’s B2B customers. Their consumer expectations follow them to the workplace—they value their personal time and don’t have patience for redundant inconveniences. A recent report by the software...

Promoting an environmental cause became the platform on which a unique marketing project was built, bringing long-gone animals back to life. Source: gettyimages.com Getty Images, the online stock photography library, has amassed 496 million assets. With a vast archive like this, you would think it contains pictures of everything you could imagine. Well, you can’t...

A genuine ‘charm offensive’ employing humorous storytelling succeeds to paint a financial service company as supportive and friendly to SMBs. American Express, in July 2021, debuted a series of video ads dubbed the “Business Card Chronicles”. The company promoted a line of credit cards that offer various benefits such as membership rewards, a cashback program,...

New research explains Asia-Pacific consumers’ new embrace of sustainability in both global and regional contexts. According to Bain & Company, the world’s awareness of a broadening range of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) challenges is rising rapidly. Nowhere is it growing faster or more dramatically than in the Asia-Pacific region. For example, in Asia-Pacific,...

APAC consumers are now interested in spending more on health than pre-pandemic. Even though health and wellness products were already a major trend in the APAC region, the pandemic has undoubtedly accelerated this shift. NielsenIQ’s analysis shows that 54% of consumers in Asia-Pacific are proactively researching these products. Source: Nielseniq Below are the reasons why...

A report shines some light on the type of, and way in which, video is used and created depending on one’s role within a company. Source: 2022 Vidyard State of Video Report Below are a few interesting insights from a new report by Vidyard and Demand Metric. We believe they are important for our readers...

 B2B marketing channels are ranked from top earners to worst performing. The Best B2B Marketing Channels of 2022, Ranked One study compares the customer acquisition costs (CAC) and the return on investment (ROI) of 11 B2B marketing channels, based on data from 150+ B2B marketing projects spanning 30+ industries between 2017 and 2022. Speaking engagements...

Jim Carrey’s “Yes Man” portrayal has finally got its anti-hero in this negativity-rich marketing campaign. The cloud-based commerce platform Commercetools launched its first major campaign. The company hired Arrested Development actor Will Arnett for a series of videos in which he appears to embody an outdated commerce platform unwilling to adapt to modern requirements. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC0rBSgeRxs...

A new marketing opportunity is opening up as female representation in eSports grows Out of 3.2M gamers worldwide, 55% live in APAC. Esports will be an official medal event at the 2022 Asian Games and has already been featured as such at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. Source: Newzoo Around 46% of gamers are female,...

A lavishly produced spot features horrors of the past to show what it takes to be a true leader today. Evonik launched an international marketing campaign centering around present-day company culture. Old management styles are humorously confronted by new ones in the main campaign spot, "True Leadership", which is full of ostentatiously-rich imagery.  Source: adsoftheworld.com/campaigns/true-leaderhip...

Consumer buying behaviour is evolving in APAC. What they purchase Buying volume of premium and luxury items online is growing. Search interest in “luxury goods” increased by 20% YOY in Singapore during the peak shopping season in 2021. Also, search interest in phrases containing “quality goods” increased by over 165% in Vietnam and 125 %...

CMOs’ budget allocations for 2022 show a big return to offline channels. Even though marketing budgets grew from 6.4% of company revenue in 2021 to 9.5% in 2022, they still haven’t gone back up to pre-pandemic levels (around 11%). Source: Gartner Research CMOs estimate that in 2022 their budgets will allocate 56% to online channels...

A new study reveals which issues create internal friction between sales and marketing. 82% of sales and marketing professionals working in the B2B space find the experience provided to their customers to be worse than excellent. The main drivers behind this are communication issues like differing or misaligned goals (41%), complex processes or workflows (36%),...

Spotify’s ‘A Song For Every CMO’ campaign resulted in literal song creations dedicated to several marketing professionals and attracted a lot of eyeballs within this customer persona. Music is in Spotify’s DNA, so at some point in 2021, it became the obvious focus for a marketing campaign. The company wanted to celebrate some of its...

A colour coating manufacturer allowed colour to be brought into existence with plain speech—something that’s never been done before. Designers are often in need of finding the perfect colour to match their vision. If they wanted to create something that matched the colour of, for example, a New York City summer sunset, they’d have to...

Current online shopping behaviours of Southeast Asian consumers are driven by low prices, affordable shipping, convenience, and search. Shopping online has now become for Southeast Asians an integral part of their daily life as the last two pandemic years accelerated the shift towards online retail. Lazada has recently conducted a consumer survey and here are...

Gen Z’s video consumption habits are revealed in a survey commissioned by music video platform Vevo and media agency Publicis Media. According to new research, Gen Z watches an average of 7.2 hours of video a day. This is almost one hour more than Gen X. Gen Zers spend nearly half of their day watching...

Various patterns emerge at the intersection between B2B content consumption and the buying journey. NetLine’s new report analysed how B2B buyers opted to share their first-party data as they registered for different content types at various stages of their purchase timeline (up to 3 months, 3-6 months, 6-12 months, or more than 1 year). The...

 A new report looks at what B2B buyers pay attention to when it comes to content. According to Demand Gen Report’s Content Preferences Survey Report, the majority of B2B buyers typically consume 3–5 pieces of content before engaging with a salesperson when making a purchase decision. The most valuable content format for researching a B2B...

Scandal-hit company attempts recovery by rebranding as customer centric After a series of various scandals, like this one, that tainted the largest UK-based parcel delivery service Hermes’ reputation, the company decided to rebrand itself. With ‘Evri’ as its new name, a new commercial was released. Source: The Times UK The 60" ad features a delivery...

A real-life trashcan was created to make people aware of the climate impact their inboxes have. Apparently, digital pollution has a big climate challenge. It’s responsible for 4% of global greenhouse emissions which is as much as civil aviation. Its impact is monumental and yet it is little known by the general public The main...

Adobe launched a new web portal for online inflation data. Powered by the Adobe Digital Price Index (DPI), it provides a comprehensive view into what consumers pay for goods online. As a complement to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the DPI provides a more complete view of the overall cost-of-living picture. Adobe’s analysis covers over...

Source: Adobe Bizible is Adobe’s tool that helps marketers attribute pipeline, revenue, and ROI to relevant channels, content, and campaigns. Since it is deeply integrated with Marketo, which has been renamed Adobe Marketo Engage, it was time to give Bizible a fresh new name too — Adobe Marketo Measure. Now, engagement and measurement form the...

Criteo published its data-backed analysis of how online consumers’ behaviours are changing. Criteo, the online display advertisements company, published a new report “Shopper Story 2022: Consumer Trends & the Future of Commerce”. The company analysed survey results across more than 17,000 respondents globally, and data from its 22,000 advertiser clients worldwide, to understand the now...

Twitter published a report that explains where the world is going according to the conversations happening on the social platform. Twitter revealed three big trends 1: The Great Restoration. The climate conversation continues. But now, corporate call-out culture is in full swing. People on Twitter are talking about decarbonisation, emissions, and other big issues that...

LinkedIn’s new think tank, The B2B Institute, published a large study to analyse the creativity and effectiveness of B2B marketing campaigns during the period between 2010 and 2021. “The B2B Effectiveness Code” is a white paper to help B2B brands create more effective marketing by better understanding the types of effects their advertising generates, and...

McKinsey’s most recent global B2B Pulse reveals that B2B companies have reached equilibrium in their omnichannel capabilities—just in time for customers to disrupt that balance again. New research by McKinsey found that customers expect omnichannel to offer more channels, more convenience, and a more personalised experience. And if they don’t get what they’re looking for,...

Carefully executed SEO and content marketing strategy helped Zapier reach $140 million in annual recurring revenue. Zapier, a tool for creating automated workflows and processes, is using their blog to position themselves as an authority in the conversation about software-as-a-service and productivity tools and apps. Being in that conversation allows decision-makers to discover how Zapier...

Graphic design platform Canva launched its first global brand campaign that highlights the creative success stories of its clients, large and small. Canva’s new “What Will You Design Today?” campaign takes the viewer on a trip across the globe, from Bali to Paris and Sydney, following people who use Canva for all kinds of designs...

A content marketing titan launches its first global campaign — should you do it too? Hubspot has pioneered and led in content marketing. This time,  however, the company launched an ad campaign, which in itself is newsworthy.  The campaign is a series of videos showcasing a pirate ship’ crew determined to set sail on a...

Adobe has been recognised as one of the “World’s Most Admired Companies” according to Fortune, coming in at position 43 among the top 50. Source: Adobe blog The recognition is awarded to companies that perform well in the following nine attributes: Ability to attract and retain talented people Quality of management Social responsibility to the...

A survey found that 50% of Gen Zers leave an online shop if they forget their passwords. Source: Gen Z passwordless survey transmit security eBook According to a new survey by Transmit Security of over 600 representatives of the generation, 50% of them abandon their online shopping carts if they forget their passwords, compared to...

‘Culture Rising: 2022 Trends Report’ by Facebook explores major global themes and related trends that represent some of the most significant cultural changes around the world in the past year. Source: Facebook IQ - Culture Rising Report Below are the themes and trends that the Facebook team identified: Diversifying identities Genderevolution Historical reckoning Celebratory activism...

The advisory firm Convince & Convert partnered with B2B influencer marketplace MyOnalytica to publish a report on B2B influencer rates. Source: Onalytica Over the last 5+ years, the number of B2B Influencers has grown exponentially across sectors such as Tech, Financial Services, and Healthcare. The first-ever B2B Influencer Compensation Report Guide, reveals the current rates...

Adobe published its ‘2022 Digital Trends – B2B In Focus’ report based on a survey of 814 B2B executives working in the Technology and Manufacturing industries. Survey respondents agree that customer journeys have changed, and the move to digital has been very significant. They think this pace will persist for the foreseeable future.   This...

Squarespace repurposed a century-old legend for its Super Bowl ad which starred Zendaya as Sally, an entrepreneur selling seashells. The legend of Mary Anning inspired Terry Sullivan's lyrics to the 1908 song, “She Sells Seashells”, which became a popular tongue twister. This year, Squarespace, the service for website building and hosting, hired the star of...

As community building and customer advocacy are things that companies often struggle with, this example by Trimble Viewpoint shows some extraordinary results. Trimble Viewpoint is a provider of ERP and project management software for the construction industry. In 2016, the company launched The Viewpoint Network with a goal to build trust with their customers and...

Netconnect 2021 was a virtual event with a clever, space-themed ambiance, designed to engage attendees and emphasise the organiser’s brand. Source: Netchex Netchex is an HR and payroll management software provider. The company organizes an annual conference, Netconnect. Last year, to reinforce its industry leadership and its brand identity built around being user-friendly and providing...

Source: Axios Nowadays, it's increasingly easy to create a video or image that looks legitimate but has been altered to completely change its meaning. As part of its effort to fight deepfakes, a coalition of tech companies co-led by Adobe has finalized the details for a standard way to verify how a photo or video...

Antiques find new appeal with young, tech-savvy collectors thanks to NFTs A growing number of art galleries and dealers are using the blockchain to mint non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for ancient artefacts, ushering in a group of younger, tech-savvy clients. This has been done, for example, by art galleries regarding antique Chinese weapons—because weapons share a...

Pinterest has a window into the future, as it’s the place where consumers go to plan it. 8 out of 10 of the company’s predictions for 2021 came true. So it only makes sense to see what 2022 will bring. Rebel cuts: hard-to-miss hair—from mullets to octopus hair to bob cut wigs—will be the most-requested...

Below are the key takeaways from the “12th Annual B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: Insights 2022” report produced by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs. Source: Content marketing institute | B2B 2022 Research eBoook The pandemic prompted new strategies to capture audience attention. Many marketers shifted to digital marketing and online selling. In addition,...

B2B marketers suffer all too often from product delusion, whereas they should focus on what is much more important than the product—the brand. 77% of B2B ads score 1 on a 1-5 scale of creative effectiveness, according to the B2B Institute’s research with System1. For B2C, that number is 53%. That’s substantially better. Why are...

A both analogue and digital campaign showcases how photography and illustration can leap off the page on premium uncoated design paper. Source: Designandpaper.com Featuring contributors from the Adobe Stock Premium Collection, Catching Feels takes us on a sensory journey through six feelings, as emotive visuals are enhanced through different printing techniques and finishes on distinctive...

Salesforce made people fall in love with the brand by sending them Lego kits. When the pandemic hit, so did the demand for cloud sales and adoption. Salesforce saw an opportunity to drive growth in key industries with a scalable ABM campaign. The aim was to leverage existing content whilst also using insights and understanding to...

The Embraer ‘Profit Hunter’ campaign for the global rollout of a new aircraft has been very successful. Embraer is a leader in the design and manufacturing of aircraft in the 70-130 seat segment (known as regional jets). The company has struggled with the positive brand sentiment towards competitors like Boeing and Airbus and wanted to...

Google published its Year in Search 5 trends for the APAC region. Trend 1: Digital mainstreamed In the first half of the year alone, 20 million people in Southeast Asia became new digital consumers. APAC businesses seek to understand more about digital transformation strategies and online inventory management, while new online shoppers are looking to...

The B2B Institute at LinkedIn published a report titled “2030 B2B Trends”.  The first trend addresses the increasing importance of brand building, the second explores creative strategies, and the third covers distribution. Trend 1: The War On Brand Over the past 10 years, the B2B marketing industry has become obsessed with the bottom-of-the-funnel. We invest...

Adobe achieved record revenue in Q4 and reported its 2021 revenue to exceed $15 billion, which represents 23% annual growth. With an estimated $205 billion addressable market by 2024, the company is well-positioned for further significant growth.

A report by Gartner uncovered some eye-opening trends within the B2B buying process. Digital Trend 1: B2B customers rely on digital channels throughout the purchase journey (such as supplier websites, third-party websites, social media). There has been a shift from in-person sales interactions toward digital channels. B2B buyers report spending exceedingly little time with sales...

A masterful delivery by an ICT company on how to market to enterprise clients. At the end of 2019, to expand their engagement beyond IT management, Nutanix, the global cloud software company, launched CXO Focus. It’s a high-level programme of exclusive content and events for C-suite executives looking for market-leading intelligence that they can use...

WeTransfer’s digital arts platform inspires designers around the world with a mini-docuseries about none other than design. In partnership with 99designs by Vistaprint, WePresent launched a design-focused three-part documentary series, “The Power of Design”, which explores the many ways in which design can change our perception of a brand. Featuring three female designers from London...

At the centre of Elementor’s recent campaigns are web creators whom the brand idolises and makes feel understood. We start this newsletter with two recent campaigns by Elementor, a leading website builder for WordPress. Elementor was founded with the mission of enabling web creators to realise their vast potential by improving every step of the...

The presentation began, like so many everyday experiences today, with a QR code. In the hall, a hundred screens shot up in unison as attendees jostled to frame the code with their mobiles. Around the world, in studies, bedrooms, and kitchens, many more joined in. And over the next three minutes, a word cloud formed…

When we referenced the B2B Participation Brand leaderboard, we did not want to spoil it until now: shoutout to both Marketo and Magento who made it to the list! Both were recognised as top-performing B2B participation brands, scoring #7 (Marketo), and #18 (Magento) among other B2B companies in the world. Bravo

Adobe launched Creative Cloud Express, a unified task-based, web and mobile product that makes it easy to create and share beautiful rich multimedia content with a drag-and-drop editor – from social media posts and stories to invitations to marketing materials like logos, flyers and banners. It looks like it will compete with other template-based image...

Q-commerce is gaining momentum across Southeast Asia, driven by inflated expectations regarding food delivery times amid the pandemic. Two years ago, if one ran out of medicines or other household essentials, one would rush to the nearest store. In the post-pandemic world, that’s no longer a given. Movement control may mean you need to stay...

LinkedIn shares insights about Gen Zers based on a new survey and their behaviour on the platform. LinkedIn published a series of three blog posts on the Gen Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) exploring this audience’s high-level traits and attributes, habits and trends of Gen Zers on LinkedIn, and how brands are connecting...

Nowadays, it’s more important for brands to invite people to participate than to force a precise worldview on them. And it appears that B2B brands are better at it than the B2C field. We live in a people-powered world now. As they become ever more hyperconnected, people are turning to each other (rather than advertising)...

A streaming platform with bite-sized business videos was launched by Publicis Sapient. While during the global pandemic every company pivoted their strategy to digital events, the digital transformation consulting firm, Publicis Sapient, went beyond the typical webinar. Source: The HOW Channel It went to create what it dubbed at the time "Quibi of business," referencing...

Tableau creates a humorous campaign designed to unite people around data to inspire collaboration and innovation. Tableau, the leading analytics platform and a Salesforce.com company, launched an integrated marketing campaign that playfully tells a story of how a small company can collaborate and grow by using Tableau. A series of light-hearted videos brought to life...

 “Hackable Me” is a podcast series created by Proofpoint to educate professionals on the dangers of hackers. “And that has fundamentally shattered my capacity to trust people” — says a woman who fell victim to romance fraud, one of the cybercrime techniques detailed in Proofpoint’s ‘Hackable Me’ podcast. Despite all the leading-edge technology, there’s a...

HP Australia delivered a virtual events series that felt fresh and digestible, to engage its core business audience. With Covid-19 restrictions putting an end to face-to-face events, HP Australia needed a new way to enable its sales team to foster meaningful relationships with IT Decision Makers (ITDMs) and Business Decision Makers (BDMs). In times like...

 TikTok, with its untapped potential to reach entrepreneurs, is a medium that B2B advertisers seem to overlook and underutilise. But this is starting to change. With TikTok having recently hit 1B monthly active users, as a B2B marketer you might as well wonder whether it makes sense for you to get on the bandwagon. Social...

Caterpillar created a life-size version of PAC-MAN to showcase its offering and engage customers with this unusual reenactment of the cult video game. Source: CAT.com After a 4-year pause, in 2020, Caterpillar revived its Cat Trials series that have amassed more than 18 million views. The company designed the trials to surprise and delight its...

LEGO promotes its educational products in this multi-channel campaign that inspires to solve world problems—a very current topic. LEGO Education is considerably less well-known than its consumer counterpart. It manufactures a wide range of physical and digital educational resources to deliver playful and impactful learning experiences for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) classrooms....

The HR services provider, TriNet, continues its human-centered campaign that targets SMBs. Source: trinet.com TriNet, a full-service HR solutions provider for SMBs, created the "Humanity" campaign as the latest chapter in its “People Matter” campaign, which celebrates the hard-working and diverse employees of its customers. “Humanity” highlights the human side of HR while adopting a...

CB Insights’ newsletter is a blueprint on how to amuse a sometimes too serious business audience. If a tech mogul can make “Don’t be evil” their mantra, so can CB Insights make “Don’t be boring” theirs. The company’s newsletter became famous for doing everything differently, and—most importantly—fun.  What began a decade ago as a bunch...

Adobe MAX is a free and virtual conference that celebrates global creativity. This year, it was held between October 26-28 and featured live and on-demand content designed to inspire and educate, including more than 400 sessions, labs, keynotes, musical performances by prolific creatives and entrepreneurs, including Jose Andres, Riz Ahmed, Zazie Beetz, Bryan Cranston, Aaron...

When evaluating 17 digital commerce vendors for their “completeness of vision” and “ability to execute”, Adobe Commerce (previously: Magento Commerce) was named a Leader in the "2021 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce". The company was recognised as having the most diverse geographic presence of all the vendors, a comprehensive out-of-the-box (OOTB) functionality, and a...

Secondhand buying, a quite developed trend in the West, has recently taken off in Southeast Asia too. Traditional, affluent Asian boomers have typically turned away from secondhand goods. It’s a cultural taboo: used items carried bad spirits or the energy of their previous owner. And a social stigma was attached that anything pre-owned was for...

New research shows B2B marketers are missing opportunities by focusing on sales that will never happen, instead of targeting long-term goals. It might surprise you to learn that up to 95% of business clients are not in the market for many goods and services at any one time. This is a deceptively simple fact, but...

A creative agency relies on collaboration and innovation. So how does a firm like PaperplaneCo flourish with a fully remote workforce spread across multiple countries and time zones? PaperplaneCo was founded in Singapore in 2011, and quickly grew into a team spanning three continents. Ten years on, the agency works with global clients on a...

It’s true – food is our common language. Whether it’s sharing photos of our meals or baking confectionaries at home during the lockdown, each food-related message in our PPCO chat is met with excitement and awe, and maybe even some jealousy! Here, we take a look at some local favourites of Paperplane members all around…

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” Growing up, this quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupery was one of my most cherished ones. Never did I imagine that one day, I…

How new technology is disrupting HR in 2020 Human Resources (HR) is rapidly changing because of culture, work types, business structures, and technology. Workload in HR teams is increasing with staff mobility and increasing quit-rates. And low unemployment rates are making it harder to acquire talent. As competitors use the latest tools, you’re more at...

You want to produce amazing content, unleash your creativity, write blog posts that change the world, edit videos..but you have little or no time. Instead, you’re probably copy-pasting text from one box to the other.

Every story requires change to move the plot along. Change is what keeps the readers—as well as the characters—on their toes. The PaperplaneCo story is no exception. We are on the brink of change, but before we look ahead, let’s revisit the past to understand what led us here.  Stories for a New Generation of...