B2B marketing examples
Business-to-business campaigns that got attention beyond their industry. Grouped by tactic, with a one-line version for your brand.
Doable with a small team, gifting or a simple partner swap.
Needs a paid creator, some production or a co-branded product run.
Celebrity fees, TV airtime or a large custom build.
Budget is our estimate of what it would take to run the same idea yourself, not what the brand spent.
The funny ad
11 examples
Truth: one thing everyone recognises about [TOPIC] Joke: exaggerate it until it's absurd Product: the punchline or the fix Length: under 60 seconds
Budget: Small to mid.
Did You Mean MailChimp?
Mailchimp leaned into people mispronouncing its name, launching spoof brands and products built on the misheard versions, like MailShrimp.
Result Won a Cyber Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2017.
Why it spread
It took a small, common annoyance and turned it into a puzzle people wanted to decode and share. Source
Calling JohnMalkovich.com
In its Super Bowl ad, Squarespace showed John Malkovich making an increasingly angry phone call to the person who owns johnmalkovich.com, the domain he needs for his fashion site.
Result Won an Emmy, per Adweek.
Why it spread
Based on something that really happened to Malkovich, it made the pain of a taken domain funny and familiar. Source
MailKimp
Mailchimp's short ad on the Serial podcast featured someone mispronouncing its name as "MailKimp", and listeners made it a running joke.
Result An 81% spike in Twitter mentions when Serial returned in 2015, per Marketing Dive.
Why it spread
An odd, repeated line on a show people binge becomes part of the show. Source
B2B that isn't boring
Scayle, an e-commerce platform, made a very funny promo to prove business marketing doesn't have to be dull.
Why it spread
Humour stands out in a category where almost everyone is serious. Source
#WithLoveFromPests
For Valentine's Day, Rentokil PCI in India made a video of pests talking in Gen Z slang to show how pest control keeps homes fit for romance.
Why it spread
Pairing a dull service with a love holiday and youth slang made it something younger people might share. Source
Big ways, small ways
Singapore's water agency PUB set over-the-top ways to save water next to easy daily habits, like reusing rice-washing water, under the line 'Save water. Big ways, small ways. All OK!'
Why it spread
Joking about extreme effort made the small, normal habits look easy by comparison. Source
Stop calling them rock stars
Workday's Super Bowl ad had Ozzy Osbourne, Joan Jett, Billy Idol, Paul Stanley and Gary Clark Jr. object to office workers being called "rock stars".
Why it spread
A B2B brand used a mass-audience joke about office jargon everyone recognises. Source
Commisery
Online estate agent Purplebricks ran TV ads where people scream into a cupboard or fall face-first into a cake on learning they could have avoided paying estate agent commission.
Why it spread
Giving a common grudge its own made-up word made the pitch against high-street agents stick. Source
#ItsThatEasy
Website builder Wix ran its #ItsThatEasy Super Bowl campaign with Brett Favre and Rex Lee, airing a 30-second spot in the fourth quarter.
Why it spread
Putting famous faces next to a small-business tool says the product is simple enough for anyone. Source
What's the Matter with Owen?
GE ran ads about Owen, a new graduate whose friends and family are unimpressed by his programming job at GE because they think it only makes machines.
Why it spread
Joking about its own outdated image let GE tell young developers it is a software company without sounding defensive. Source
The fake band
Zendesk invented an indie band called Zendesk Alternative, so people searching for alternatives to Zendesk found Zendesk's own joke.
Why it spread
It meets competitor-comparison searches with a laugh instead of a sales pitch, and the joke got written about. Source
The stunt
10 examples
Act: [WHAT YOU DO] in [PUBLIC PLACE / LIVE MOMENT] Twist: the one thing people will repeat Proof: why it fits your product Capture: film it properly and send to press the same day
Budget: Mid to big.
Stack
As part of its Built For It series, Caterpillar used five of its machines to play the world's largest game of Jenga with 600-pound blocks.
Result Over 1.5 million YouTube views and about 28.3 million estimated Twitter impressions within days, per MarTech.
Why it spread
A game everyone knows, played with machines most people never get near, makes precision easy to see and share. Source
The Epic Split
Jean-Claude Van Damme did the splits between two reversing Volvo trucks to show how precisely they steer.
Result Passed 59 million YouTube views within about a month.
Why it spread
A trucking spec sheet turned into a stunt anyone would watch. The product claim is the thing that makes the stunt possible. Source
Watson on Jeopardy!
IBM's Watson computer competed on Jeopardy! against its two greatest champions.
Result Watson won.
Why it spread
A quiz show made an abstract enterprise technology easy for anyone to understand. Source
The sponsored wedding suit
A salesman announced he'd cover his wedding by selling ad space to startups on his wedding suit.
Why it spread
An absurd offer from one person gets shared as a story. Source
The smash-proof guitar
Sandvik built an all-metal guitar, with a 3D-printed titanium body and a neck machined from recycled steel, and challenged Yngwie Malmsteen to smash it after a show near Miami.
Why it spread
A rock star failing to break it proves a manufacturing claim in a way non-engineers enjoy watching. Source
The de-location package
Zapier offered new hires $10,000 to move out of the San Francisco Bay Area, promoting its fully remote setup.
Why it spread
An offer that flips a normal perk becomes a headline and a recruiting ad. Source
Jaffa the giant hamster
Kwik Fit sent a 12-foot pedal-powered hamster around Clapham Common, based on one of the oddest things its technicians found in customers' cars.
Why it spread
A true, odd story from your own data becomes a giant prop. Source
The Flying Passenger
Volvo Trucks had an FH truck tow a paraglider up a mountain road in Croatia, holding a steady speed to keep the pilot in the air, to show off its new engine and gearbox.
Why it spread
It turns a dry spec like smooth gear shifts into a stunt you watch once and remember. Source
Look Who's Driving
Volvo Trucks had a four-year-old girl, Sophie, steer an 18-tonne Volvo FMX by remote control around a construction obstacle course, including a full roll down a steep slope.
Why it spread
A small child driving a huge truck shows how tough the product is in a way anyone gets in seconds. Source
Open salaries
Buffer published its salary formula and every employee's salary on its blog.
Why it spread
Radical transparency made a small company the reference point for a topic people search and link to. Source
The billboard or street ad
8 examples
Site: [PLACE] that adds to the message Twist: [MOVEMENT / GAP / PUN / SOMETHING TO TAKE] Words: fewer than seven Capture: a clean photo for press on day one
Budget: Small to mid.
Stop Hiring Humans
AI sales-agent startup Artisan put up billboards in San Francisco reading 'Stop Hiring Humans', later adding lines like 'Artisans Won't Complain About Work-Life Balance'.
Result Tens of millions of impressions from the billboards and hundreds of news articles, per IBTimes.
Why it spread
The deliberately provocative line got people photographing and reposting the billboards, which mattered more than who saw them on the street. Source
Ads with a Purpose
For its People for Smarter Cities platform, IBM and Ogilvy France made billboards that curved into a rain shelter, a bench and a bike ramp.
Result Won the Outdoor Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2013, per Fast Company.
Why it spread
An ad that is useful to people on the street proves the smarter-cities message instead of just saying it. Source
The bursting billboard
Expense management app Perk built a billboard overflowing with receipts to show the chaos of expense claims.
Why it spread
Every office worker recognises the pain, so the ad sells the product without explaining it. Source
The cracked slogan
Autoglass used cracked windscreens in outdoor ads to give its famous jingle a road safety warning.
Why it spread
A slogan everyone can sing gets a serious twist that sticks. Source
Nobody cares that you used AI
Fiverr reminded people that AI is only as good as the people using it, with a campaign titled "Nobody cares that you used AI".
Why it spread
A blunt line on a live debate positions the brand on the side of human skill. Source
In Doers We Trust
Fiverr put posters on the London Underground praising freelancers, including one that read 'You eat coffee for lunch… Sleep deprivation is your drug of choice. You might be a doer.'
Why it spread
Celebrating overwork struck a nerve about the gig economy, so critics spread the posters to attack them. Source
Find Your Formula
New York property site StreetEasy ran 12 illustrated 'formulas' on subways, buses and streets showing apartment trade-offs, like West Village plus outdoor space plus washer/dryer equals four roommates.
Why it spread
It joked about compromises every New York renter knows, which made people stop and read. Source
Ask your developer
Twilio put three words on a red billboard on Highway 101: "Ask your developer."
Why it spread
Executives who didn't understand the product asked their developers, who already loved it. Source
The collab
6 examples
Partner: [BRAND / PERSON] with an obvious link to you Thing: one product, ad or event you make together Run: limited Launch: both post the same day
Budget: Small to mid.
Intel Inside
Intel paid part of PC makers' ad costs if they showed the Intel Inside logo, turning a hidden component into a consumer brand.
Result Over 500 PC makers joined by the end of 1992, per Intel.
Why it spread
Partners did the advertising, and every PC ad became an Intel ad too. Source
Bob the Builder goes back to school
E.ON Next brought Bob the Builder back in stop-motion and sent him to green skills training, with Neil Morrissey voicing him for the first time since 2011.
Why it spread
A character everyone grew up with makes a dry topic (green skills) warm and shareable. Source
Motherf***in' wind farms
Samuel L. Jackson, a former marine biology student, teamed up with Vattenfall to back wind farms.
Why it spread
A famous voice and catchphrase make an energy message entertaining. Source
The data centre dress
Data centre company Equinix teamed up with designer Maximilian Raynor on a fashion creation.
Why it spread
An unexpected fashion collab makes invisible infrastructure visible and photogenic. Source
Toy car rescue
Roadside recovery company Green Flag teamed up with Little Tikes to 'rescue' toy cars children had outgrown and pass them to disadvantaged children.
Why it spread
Doing your real job for toys is charming and does some good. Source
The Sleeping Tapes
Squarespace's Super Bowl campaign starred Jeff Bridges building a website for his 'Sleeping Tapes' project.
Why it spread
A real, odd celebrity project gave people something to go and look up after the ad. Source
The emotional story
5 examples
Story: one person and one small moment Turn: a reveal or kindness near the end Product: part of the plot, not a pack shot Length: 60 seconds to 3 minutes
Budget: Mid to big.
366: Hari Ke-32
Malaysian energy company Petronas told its Chinese New Year story as the first episode of a seven-part YouTube drama covering the country's festivals, ending on a cliffhanger.
Result More than 900,000 YouTube views and 2.3 million Facebook views, per World of Buzz.
Why it spread
Turning the yearly festive ad into a series gave viewers a reason to come back for the next festival. Source
The Future
CrowdStrike returned to the Super Bowl with a futuristic Wild West ad in which its AI character protects a town from cyber adversaries.
Why it spread
Turning abstract threats into a story gives a technical product a hero. Source
The New Frontier
Salesforce's Super Bowl ad had Matthew McConaughey reject space and the metaverse and argue for fixing Earth instead.
Why it spread
Taking a side against the billionaire space race gave a software ad something to talk about. Source
5 to 9
Dolly Parton reworked 9 to 5 as 5 to 9 for Squarespace, celebrating people building side businesses after work.
Why it spread
A famous song rewritten for your customers makes the product the hero of their story. Source
The Wolf
HP made a series of short thriller films starring Christian Slater that show how office printers can be hacked to break into company networks.
Why it spread
A thriller makes an overlooked security risk feel real to people who never think about their printer. Source
The real-time reply
5 examples
Moment: [NEWS / LIVE EVENT / RIVAL / VIRAL POST] Reply: one image or line, within hours Sign-off: one person who can approve quickly Follow-up: deliver on it if people rally
Budget: Mostly small.
The port boat tour thread
During the 2021 shipping backlog, Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen rented a boat to tour the Port of Long Beach and posted a Twitter thread on why so few containers were being unloaded.
Result The next evening Long Beach's mayor temporarily allowed containers to be stacked higher in lots, per Morning Brew.
Why it spread
A founder showing a national problem first-hand, in plain words, made his logistics company part of the news story. Source
The eclipse power-down
Octopus Energy offered its Octoplus members an hour of free electricity on the Sunday if they cut their use during the evening peak of a solar eclipse.
Why it spread
It used a news event people were already talking about to explain why saving power at peak times matters. Source
The power-down hour reply
When an anonymous confession post said a couple used Octopus Energy's power-down hour to go to bed together, Octopus replied that 'the sparks are clearly still flying' and added a meme.
Why it spread
A quick, cheeky reply to an unexpected customer story got the brand covered by the same pages that shared the post. Source
Dear Microsoft
The day Microsoft announced a rival product, Slack ran a full-page open letter in The New York Times "welcoming" it, with advice on what it would take to compete.
Why it spread
Welcoming a giant rival makes the challenger look confident and gets the story written from its side. Source
The Rooney moving van
As Chelsea chased Wayne Rooney, property site Zoopla parked a moving van outside Old Trafford offering to help him move house.
Why it spread
A cheap prop on the day's transfer story gets photographed by sports press. Source
The crisis turned story
3 examples
What happened: stated plainly Response: within hours, in your brand's voice Follow-up: what you do next, in public Rule: never joke about harm to people
Budget: Mostly small.
Journey Home
GoDaddy's planned Super Bowl ad showed a lost puppy making it home, only for its owners to sell it through a website built with GoDaddy, as a parody of Budweiser's puppy ads.
Result An online petition against it gathered 42,000 signatures and the ad was pulled, per Wikipedia.
Why it spread
The joke read as backing puppy mills, and the backlash made the company pull it before the game. Source
The App Store fight
When Apple rejected the new HEY email app over in-app purchases at launch, its makers fought publicly until Apple approved it.
Why it spread
A public fight with a giant gave a new product days of coverage. Source
The job-hunt ad
Tokyo Gas ran an ad about a graduate who is rejected job after job until her mother comforts her over a home-cooked meal, then pulled it after viewers called it too painful and too real.
Why it spread
It aimed for warmth but showed a shared hardship so bluntly that the backlash became the story. Source
Let people make it
3 examples
Ask: one simple thing people can make Reward: [FEATURE / PRIZE / THE REAL THING] Show: the best entries, with credit Timebox: [2–4 WEEKS]
Budget: Mostly small.
Small Business Big Game
Intuit ran a contest where small businesses entered and the public voted for one to win a free Super Bowl ad; toy company GoldieBlox won.
Result Tens of thousands of entries and millions of votes, per Intuit.
Why it spread
Giving away its Super Bowl slot made Intuit the champion of its own customers instead of the star of the ad. Source
Cerita Kita
For Malaysia's National Day, Petronas gave cameras to 10 children aged 5 to 13 from across the country and built its TV ads and a gallery show from their photos.
Why it spread
Seeing the country through children's own pictures felt more honest than a polished patriotic ad. Source
#alittlememory
Printing firm Solopress asked people to upload a photo and printed it in return for donations to a children's hospice charity.
Why it spread
A small business uses its own product to support a cause, which earns local press. Source
Make the product do the marketing
3 examples
Feature: something useful or shareable inside [PRODUCT / PACK / APP] Moment: when people use it most Share: built in, one tap Measure: uses and shares
Budget: Small to mid.
Website Grader
HubSpot launched a free tool that scored any website's marketing out of 100.
Result Over 2 million websites graded by early 2010, per HubSpot.
Why it spread
A free score about your own site is irresistible, and every user is a qualified lead. Source
One, Ten, One Hundred
Wistia had the same agency make three ads for its product at $1,000, $10,000 and $100,000, then filmed a documentary about it and published the results.
Why it spread
The experiment is the marketing: every video maker wants to know if budget matters. Source
Hour of Power
New Zealand power retailer Electric Kiwi launched with a free off-peak hour of electricity every day for each customer.
Why it spread
A simple free daily perk is easy to explain and makes a dull product something customers talk about. Source
The limited product or merch drop
2 examples
Product: [YOUR PRODUCT] as a [SNACK / GARMENT / OBJECT] Why: ties to [A HABIT / JOKE / ANNOYANCE] Run: [NUMBER] units Assets: 3 photos and a 10-second video
Budget: Small to mid.
Fatberg mailers
Thames Water sent tactile 'yuck factor' mailers with free fat traps to over 225,000 homes in blockage hotspots, backed by billboards and online video, to stop fat and wipes going down drains.
Result 70% of residents reported changing their behaviour and blockages fell 26% on average in targeted areas, per Print Power.
Why it spread
Making the fatberg feel gross and personal, and handing people the fix, made it easy to change the habit. Source
The see-through EV
Engineering group Sandvik built a full-size transparent electric car made without mined materials, to show how much green tech depends on mining.
Why it spread
Taking something away is a clear way to show why it matters. Source
More ideas
4 examples
Idea: [WHAT YOU'LL DO] Why it fits: [LINK TO YOUR PRODUCT] Where: [CHANNEL / PLACE] When: [DATE / MOMENT]
Budget: Varies.
The 1.9 square-metre home
A Swedish housing developer built three micro homes that turn housing affordability statistics into spaces people can step inside.
Why it spread
Standing in the space you can afford makes a statistic physical. Source
Climate contracts
Swedish energy app Tibber teamed up with the nonprofit Våra barns klimat, saying it would donate the equivalent of each new customer's monthly fee for six months if they signed up through the campaign.
Why it spread
Giving a sign-up a direct climate benefit fits an energy brand that pitches itself as greener. Source
Turn it off, Bob
Sydney Water cast actor Shane Jacobson as Bob, a man who keeps wasting water with habits like very long showers, in a running series of funny ads on TV, outdoor and social.
Why it spread
A recurring, likeable offender lets people laugh at habits they have without feeling lectured. Source
A Game of Social Thrones
Hootsuite remade the Game of Thrones opening titles with the major social networks as the Seven Kingdoms, released around the show's fourth-season premiere.
Why it spread
Parodying a hit show's intro just as fans were watching again gave a dashboard tool a reason to be shared. Source
How to use these ideas
- Write for the person, not the job title.
- Find the one proof point your product can show in public.
- Pick a format outsiders would watch: a stunt, a joke, a free tool.
- Make it easy for buyers to explain to their boss.
- Measure pipeline, not just views.
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See how it worksB2B Marketing Examples: FAQ
What are some good B2B marketing examples?
Volvo Trucks' Epic Split, Mailchimp's Did You Mean MailChimp?, Twilio's Ask Your Developer billboard, Intel Inside and Slack's letter to Microsoft are well-known examples.
Can B2B marketing go viral?
Yes, when it's aimed at people, not job titles. The examples here use humour, stunts and product demos that anyone would watch.
What B2B campaign ideas work on a small budget?
Free tools like HubSpot's Website Grader, publishing something others hide (like Buffer's salaries), and a sharp billboard or open letter.
More viral marketing examples
By industry and season
Spot a mistake or know a campaign we should add? Email team@odim.co.