Why B2B brands often struggle with brand purpose – and how to fix it

Stephen Whiteside

The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) led a survey of business-to-business marketers that sought to understand their use of brand purpose.

Business-to-business (B2B) marketers often struggle to develop and activate a meaningful brand purpose, according to a study led by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the trade body.

The ANA partnered with researcher The Harris Poll and consultancy Carol Cone ON PURPOSE to survey 250 B2B marketers working in categories like financial services/insurance, manufacturing, professional services, tech/telecoms, and healthcare.

Fully 93% of respondents agreed their company was “somewhere on the purpose journey”, with 42% conceding they are still in the “early” phases of this endeavor, such as discussing the issue internally or assigning teams to develop it. A further 57%...

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