Observed Signal · Jul 8, 2026 · Interview / Profile · Source: The Drum · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Positive
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.
Industry commentary profiling an agency leader on B2B creative strategy and AI use; useful insight for marketers and agencies but not a major platform, policy, product launch, or financial event.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Michael Ruby is co-founder and chief creative officer of Park & Battery.
- Park & Battery was named the 2026 Ad Age A‑List B2B Agency of the Year and ANA B2B Agency of the Year.
- Michael Ruby served as a juror in The Drum B2B Awards' Creative Aces category.
- Article published by The Drum on 2026-07-08 and written by Margo Waldrop.
Connected Companies & Entities
4 Entities mapped“Ruby ... whose work has been recognized at Cannes Lions, The One Show and WARC’s B2B Creative Effectiveness Awards, sees the creative demand...”
“Ruby ... whose work has been recognized at Cannes Lions, The One Show and WARC’s B2B Creative Effectiveness Awards, sees the creative demand...”
“Park & Battery ... named both the 2026 Ad Age A-List B2B Agency of the Year and ANA B2B Agency of the Year....”
Related Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
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.
Mark Lesniak: B2B Needs Creative Ambition, Not Safe Harbour
Mark Lesniak, founder and creative director of Lesniak Swann and juror on The Drum B2B Awards' Creative Aces jury, argues that creative ambition is underinvested in B2B marketing because many clients prefer safe, low-risk choices. He says media spend is often treated as a substitute for ideas and that brand investment should be prioritized to amplify commercial outcomes. Lesniak believes AI has reshaped production—making previously unaffordable work achievable—but cannot replace the human ability to make the conceptual, tangential creative leaps that produce memorable ideas. He predicts demand for creative leaders who can both generate bold ideas and advocate for them internally.
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