The Axonn team attended the B2B Marketing Expo recently, with the aim of connecting with those in the industry, learning everyone’s marketing predictions for 2025 and growing our network. We had representatives from all over the business – creatives, strategy and account management – but what did they learn?
Tom Evans, head of creative, said: “The team and I found the B2B Expo incredibly insightful as exhibitors, and rewarding having played a crucial role in promoting the event as ROAR B2B’s marketing partner. It was great to see such a large turnout and hear how many delegates were in attendance having seen our campaigns.”
The atmosphere at the event was warm and inviting, which is something Rob Furness, head of client relations, noted. He explained how this in turn led to us talking not only to visitors but also fellow exhibitors and speakers at the event.
As a B2B community, everyone was open and willing to discuss the challenges and opportunities that lie before us in 2025, the insights of which we should see in our Future of Marketing 2025 guide.
Tom added: “We all had engaging conversations with professionals and peers from across the B2B marketing landscape and got a real flavour of the common challenges and aspirations for 2025.
“It was also gratifying to see that the case studies we showcased on stand and shared in conversation with visitors piqued interest in our approach. We’re already following up with marketers looking to add a little of Axonn’s secret sauce to their 2025 marketing mix.”
Having members of our video team capturing delegates really helped to create a buzz around the Axonn stand. There’s something about professional cameras that really draws people in and makes them wonder what’s going on, but Axonn wasn’t the only brand at the Expo attracting attention.
Thomas Schubert, videographer, said: “What really stuck out to me at the Expo was how certain exhibitors went about catching the audience’s attention in a saturated and competitive space. The standouts that I constantly heard people talking about were the zeppelin, the carnival games and the photo booth.
“These memorable stands acted as easy conversation starters and the best of these were also really playful and light-hearted, which was what made them stand out so much.”
Nothing compares to chatting about industry trends in a room full of experts, so the Expo was the perfect opportunity to indulge in some insightful discussion of the coming challenges. Not just was this sweeping areas like AI, but the more nuanced ways in which it will inevitably impact marketing going forward.
Chris Littley, head of production, said: “Listening to wider insights around generative engine optimisation (GEO) and the impact of AI on SEO was also extremely interesting and is likely to be a clear topic of conversation in the months to come both for our clients and internally within our strategy and content teams.”
Rob added: “A topic that came up a few times was the power of AI/automation when it comes to scaling up marketing operations, especially in small marketing teams. However, with that comes a major challenge to humanise content and communications to provide genuine value from people with experience and authority in whichever sector you operate in.”
Instead of being terrified by AI like some people think we should be, the best agencies will be looking for ways to harness its potential for good. It’s something we’ll be interested to see talked about in our survey results next year, no doubt.
Nico Eller, design lead, found attending the Expo an inspiring experience. He was fascinated to see what marketing leaders and companies at the forefront of the industry are focusing on, especially how AI emerged as a hot topic. He had positive conversations where he could bring in his design and creative perspective to a space predominantly filled with sales professionals.
Unsurprisingly, Will Stiles, videographer, picked up on how people are starting to notice video less. He believes that this is the result of the extreme rise of user-generated video content and AI video becoming a major player in the video space.
We’re becoming desensitised to it because video is around us now 24/7 and it’s becoming harder and harder to grab someone’s attention. He thinks it’s possible to overcome this if we start to forecast what AI and user-generated videos aren’t going to be able to do.
He said: “To me, this comes down to two major things. It’s making sure we’re always aiming to tell a human story. I think this is going to be key as we progress into a more AI-saturated market. Really leaning on a human story, human emotion, with all of its flaws and imperfections, there’s a beauty in that, and I think people will always resonate with it.
“The second major point is making sure that whatever we shoot as a video team, we shoot it better than AI or any novice with an iPhone can, we tap into capturing beautiful light, work on extracting the most out of our subjects through great directing and use the camera with purpose through the angles, focal lengths and depth of field we use.
“We need people to stop and go, ‘woah, that looks different.’, or ‘that made me feel different’ to stand out from the crowd.”
With more than 100 exhibitors, 120-plus expert speakers and in excess of 5,000 visitors, there were plenty of people to network with at the Expo. In a world where so much is done online, the chance to meet face-to-face still has the ability to make lasting connections.
Chris added: “In short, it was great to meet with amazing people from across the B2B spectrum, with many positive conversations around how our services could potentially support their business’ goals in the year to come.”
In fact, the Axonn team came away with around 50 leads, which is a great outcome for two days’ work. Of course, the in-person event was supported by all the online preparation we did, marketing our attendance on social media, on our website and in our newsletter.
Nico added: “The event was a great opportunity to engage with forward-thinking ideas, see the future of marketing in action and interact with professionals from companies whose products support my work daily, like Vimeo, Hootsuite and HubSpot.
Looking back on the Expo, let’s give the last word to Maria Small-Smith, account manager, who said: “Wow, what an event! From engaging conversations about the dynamic world of B2B marketing to discussing how our services have evolved to meet the ever-changing demands of the industry, it’s been exciting to explore how we can provide value – whether by offering a helping hand in digital marketing or acting as an extension of a client’s marketing team.
“Being surrounded by such incredible creatives and innovators within the B2B marketing space was inspiring, to say the least. From CEOs and marketing managers to designers and just overall companies or agencies. It was amazing to see the incredible work being done to push the boundaries of B2B marketing in today’s world.”
On a mission to understand the perceived challenges ahead, as well as how ready marketing teams are to meet them, we asked delegates to fill out our The Future of Marketing: Challenges and Trends for B2B in 2025 survey. We’re currently collating this information and the report will be available to download in Q1.
If you didn’t get a chance to have your say at the Expo, fill in the survey now.
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