Observed Signal · Sep 14, 2026 · Commentary / Awards · Source: The Drum · Impact: 1/5 · Sentiment: Positive
B2B Creativity Matches B2C, Says McCann's Danilo Boer
Danilo Boer, global creative lead at McCann and jury president of The Drum Awards for B2B, discusses the rising quality of B2B creativity. He highlights that B2B is now on par with, or even ahead of, B2C in some cases. Boer shares his jury philosophy of focusing on work the jurors love, rather than arguing over disliked pieces. He cites standout shortlisted campaigns, including 'T-Rex Leather' by a synthetic leather lab, 'The Last Coke in the Desert' by Coca-Cola, and Carhartt's 'Next Responders' campaign. Boer believes award shows like The Drum Awards drive continuous improvement in B2B creative standards, and he emphasizes the strategic and purposeful use of brand purpose.
Opinion piece about B2B creativity, not a specific industry event or development.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Danilo Boer is global creative lead and partner at McCann and president of the Creative Aces jury at The Drum Awards for B2B.
- Boer highlights 'T-Rex Leather', 'The Last Coke in the Desert', and Carhartt's 'Next Responders' as standout shortlisted campaigns.
- Boer believes B2B creativity is now on par with B2C, citing a 'tiny lab can go head-to-head with the Coca-Cola Company'.
- The Drum Awards for B2B is held in conjunction with B2B World Fest.
- Boer runs the jury based on discussing favored work rather than criticisms.
Connected Companies & Entities
4 Entities mapped“Boer, global creative lead and partner at McCann...”
“He points to Spotify 'Spreadbeats' as the best thing he has done in his career...”
“He points to Mastercard, where the great ideas people read as consumer plays are really arguments aimed at banks....”
“Coca-Cola reaching out to the little bodegas, the resellers, and praising how incredible they are...”
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Michael Ruby: Great B2B Outshines Consumer Work
Michael Ruby, co-founder and chief creative officer of Park & Battery and juror for The Drum B2B Awards, argues that B2B marketing tells larger, higher-stakes stories than much consumer work and that its creative demands are routinely underestimated. Ruby — whose agency won 2026 Ad Age A‑List B2B Agency of the Year and ANA B2B Agency of the Year — criticizes B2B brands for confusing professionalism with sameness and says successful brands take human-focused creative risks. He also says AI replaces parts of the process rather than people and that superior strategy, prompting and creative judgment amplify AI output. Ruby rejects the brand-versus-performance dichotomy, advocating integrated growth strategies and leaders who can hold complexity across business, creativity, data and technology.
Ari Halper: B2B Should Mean Business-to-Person
Ari Halper, global ECD and head of creative excellence at R/GA and a juror on The Drum B2B Awards' Creative Aces jury, argues that B2B marketing should be reframed as B2P (Business-to-Person). He says marketers must remember they are communicating with people, not organizations, and that creative ambition in B2B can match B2C. Halper describes pragmatic use of AI as a strategic and creative partner—researcher, analyst and comp artist—while emphasizing the continuing need for human judgment and craft because AI tends to accommodate rather than challenge. He also discusses brand building, arguing long-term brand success is composed of many shorter efforts that should aggregate toward a consistent narrative. The Drum B2B Awards entries close July 23.
Bad B2B Is Boring, But B2B Isn't
Craig Duxbury, a global B2B marketing strategist and founder of Craig Duxbury Consulting, argues that the central problem in B2B marketing is low creative standards rather than AI, measurement, or brand-versus-demand tensions. Speaking as a juror for The Drum B2B Awards, Duxbury says the opportunity for B2B lies in raising creative ambition, understanding customers and buying groups more deeply, and connecting marketing to business value. He views AI as a productivity amplifier that exposes the quality of underlying strategy and processes, and he urges marketers to bridge the vocabulary gap with the boardroom and to orchestrate brand, creativity, data, technology and sales into a single engine. The Drum B2B Awards entries close July 23. Publication date: 2026-07-03.
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