When you think of a giant business operations software supplier, words like “fun”, “playful” and “mass-market” don’t necessarily come to mind.
But that’s what SAP, as it branches out of the usual B2B sales tactics, using TV to find companies amongst consumers.
The idea that marketing for B2B no longer needs to be restricted to “B2B marketing”, that even enterprise services buyers are real people with real families and lives outside of the office, has been around for a while now.
In this video interview with Beet.TV, SAP’s global chief marketing officer explains why the supplier is breaking out of the usual box.
“Being in the B2B space, oftentimes business channels, news channels, are often where we find our decision makers,” Tillman says.
“But no longer is a single decision maker at the helm of making software decisions for their companies. There are so many different forms of influencers that exist in the decision making process today.
“TV gives us that opportunity to go more mass-market. It also gives us an opportunity to think about the style and tone that we’re using to be able to describe our brand.”
Since 2017, SAP has used actor Clive Owen in a series of TV ads, the latest touting SAP’s Experience Management suite with Owen’s monologue on the importance of “feelings”.
Created by BBDO, it manages to inject a dry humor to the usual button-down business sensibility.
“We’re having a little bit of fun with our brand,” Tillman adds.
Beside the eyebrow raises, what does Tillman hope to achieve from the ads? She is tracking what kinds of influencers are getting reached by the ads, as well as whether the ads worked to generate real leads.
This video is was produced in Orlando at the CMO Growth Council. The series is sponsored by iSpot.tv. For more videos from the event, please visit this page.
