Observed Signal · Aug 14, 2026 · Profile · Source: The Drum · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Two B2B Agency Pioneers Ahead of Their Time
Tim Hazelhurst and Frank Merkel each founded B2B-focused agencies on April 1, 1973 — Hazelhurst in the UK (Industrial Art Services, later IAS/Stein IAS) and Merkel in Germany (Wob). Over subsequent decades both agencies developed and championed ideas now central to B2B marketing: segmentation and buying groups, sales–marketing alignment, database marketing, lead nurturing and early forms of marketing automation. In 1987 Hazelhurst, a Swedish partner and others created BBN (Business to Business Network) to coordinate specialist B2B agencies internationally; Wob remains the only original member still in the network. The article also covers how these agencies anticipated modern concerns — brand built across contacts, automation as a tool — and includes perspectives on AI’s role as an assistive technology rather than a replacement for human judgment.
Historical/feature piece documenting early B2B agency practices that anticipate modern martech and demand-generation techniques; useful context but not an operational platform, policy or financial event.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Tim Hazelhurst and Frank Merkel each founded their agencies on April 1, 1973.
- Tim Hazelhurst founded Industrial Art Services (IAS), later developed into Stein IAS; Hazelhurst claims IAS was Britain’s first specialist B2B marketing agency.
- Frank Merkel co-founded Wob (with Kurt Klein); Wob moved into B2B as clients led the agency into industrial marketing.
- IAS, Wob and other specialist agencies helped create BBN (Business to Business Network) in 1987 to coordinate international B2B agency work; Wob remains the only original agency still in BBN.
- Both agencies developed early practices in segmentation, database marketing, lead qualification/nurture and proto-marketing-automation well before modern martech platforms.
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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.
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.
Unbound Media launches Media Sovereignty Index with Düsseldorf University
German agency Unbound Media, in collaboration with the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences, has introduced the Media Sovereignty Index (MSI). This self-assessment tool helps advertisers evaluate how independently they control their media and data setups. It uses a two-stage questionnaire: a quick check with 12 questions and a full assessment with 18 additional questions, covering six dimensions: resilience and agency, data control and transparency, neutrality of consulting and planning, identity sovereignty, cost and buying transparency, and performance measurement. The index aims to raise awareness of structural dependencies and transparency gaps in the AdTech landscape, where platforms and identity infrastructure are increasingly concentrated. The tool is available free of charge at sovereignty.unbound-media.de.
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