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B2B campaigns that make a clear Customer Promise are 3x more likely to increase market share

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2 years ago

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B2B campaigns

New research by WARC Advisory, in partnership with The B2B Institute at LinkedIn, and strategy expert Roger Martin finds that campaigns that make a Promise to the Customer are even more effective in B2B than B2C
The new report, “Making a promise to the business customer: Why Customer Promise campaigns are even more effective in B2B than B2C,” is based on an analysis of over 700 global B2B campaigns
Customer Promises are much less common in B2B – only 18% of B2B campaigns make a Customer Promise compared to 40% of B2C campaigns
Customer Promise campaigns in B2B are more effective when budgets are tight
13 August 2024 – WARC Advisory in partnership with The B2B Institute, LinkedIn’s marketing think tank, and strategy expert Roger Martin today published “Making a promise to the business customer: Why Customer Promise campaigns are even more effective in B2B than B2C”. This new white paper will help business-to-business (B2B) marketers understand why placing a clear Customer Promise at the heart of their strategy – chiefly a promise that is memorable, deliverable, and valuable – is more likely to bear brand building and commercial rewards. This is the second edition of last year’s report, “Making a Promise to the Customer: How to give campaigns a competitive edge,” that largely analysed B2C campaigns.

Based on an analysis of 700 global B2B campaigns from North America, Europe, MENA, and Asia, this new report focuses explicitly on understanding the value of Customer Promises in B2B advertising to drive impact across key brand and business metrics. The findings provide a diagnosis and a solution for B2B brands to build brand awareness and reputation by demonstrating a clear promise of value to their customers. The report features successful B2B campaigns from brands such as Procell, Workday, Sage, and Amazon India that make a clear promise to the customer.

Paul Stringer, Managing Editor, Research & Advisory, WARC, says: “Customer Promises can make brands familiar by being memorable, valuable and deliverable. They can cut through the noise and the messiness of decision making by offering a clear and simple articulation of the value delivered by a brand to its customers. It sounds simple, but of course, there is a huge amount of work involved in designing and projecting a clear Promise to the Customer. We hope that after reading this paper, more B2B marketers will see the value of going on that journey.”

Jann Martin Schwarz, Founder at The B2B Institute at LinkedIn, said: “Brand is not just a “nice-to-have,” it is an essential full-funnel deal-closing advantage. And, while there are many definitions of ‘brand,’ making a clear promise of value to your customers is the most effective way to build your brand. Our research conclusively finds that across every category, a Customer Promise is far more effective than any other kind of brand promise.

Our findings reveal that B2B campaigns that make a Customer Promise are 3x more likely to deliver increases in market share, and 2.5x more likely to deliver increases in brand health.”

Mimi Turner, Head of EMEA & Latin America at the B2B Institute at LinkedIn, said: “The great problem for marketers is not that they don’t know what to do. It is that often, they don’t have the money to do it. The huge advantage of putting a clear promise of value at the heart of a campaign is that marketers are virtually guaranteed to get better results without spending any extra money. Marketing is expensive. Customer Promises are free.

The findings show that lower budget B2B Customer Promise campaigns are 1.7x more likely to increase brand health and 2.7x more likely to increase market share than higher budget ones.

For the first time, we are able to offer an effectiveness strategy that is budget-neutral and enhances meaningful marketing metrics.”

Roger Martin, CEO Advisor, Strategist and Author of “Playing to Win”, says: “Making a Customer Promise in a B2B campaign is much more important and impactful than in a B2C campaign – across all important dimensions of performance. Yet the vast majority of B2B advertising campaigns are designed to be ineffective. And that creates a doom-loop.”

Key findings from the research are:

Customer Promise campaigns in B2B are nearly three times more likely to deliver increases in market share

B2B campaigns that made a Promise to the Customer are nearly three times more likely to report increases in market share than those that did not. They also appeared more likely to report increases in market penetration (44% vs 36%) and revenue (30% vs 20%).

Customer Promise campaigns in B2B are nearly two-and-a-half times more likely to report on brand health shifts than non-Customer Promise campaigns

Almost half (47%) of the B2B Customer Promise campaigns that were analysed delivered a meaningful uplift in key brand health measures such as consideration, preference, purchase intent and perceived quality. This compares to just 19% of non-Customer Promise campaigns, showing that in B2B, Customer Promises are almost three times as likely to deliver a meaningful impact than non-Customer Promise campaigns.

Customer Promises are much less common in B2B: Only 18% of B2B campaigns make a Promise to the Customer, compared to 40% of B2C campaigns

Fewer than one in five (18%) B2B campaigns made a Promise to the Customer, regardless of whether the objective was brand building or activation. This is significantly lower than the 40% of B2C campaigns that made a Promise to the Customer, highlighted in previous research.

Given that B2B purchases are often high-consideration / high-risk, and lead to a relatively long-term relationship between buyer and vendor, this infrequency is surprising. It suggests that making a Customer Promise could represent a competitive opportunity for B2B brands.

Customer Promise campaigns in B2B work particularly hard when budgets are tight

Customer Promises in B2B deliver valuable advantages for scale-up brands or businesses with limited marketing resources. Research showed that B2B Customer Promise campaigns appeared to be disproportionately effective at the lower end of the Creative Commitment scale (a composite of budget size, campaign duration and number of channels deployed to drive effectiveness with scores ranging from 3 to a maximum of 15), an important insight for organisations with smaller marketing budgets.

Download the full report here for actionable insights and advice to B2B brands interested in creating a Customer Promise campaign.

This B2B report follows the publication last year of “Making a Promise to the Customer: How to give campaigns a competitive edge,” which primarily focused on B2C campaigns. This research showed when B2C campaigns are grounded in an explicit Promise to the Customer, they are as much as 48% more likely to report brand health improvements than those that don’t.

Methodology

The findings of this report are based on an analysis of over 700 B2B advertising case studies from North America, Europe, MENA, and Asia drawn from the WARC database.

All B2B cases in the sample had either a campaign objective of ‘brand building’ or ‘activation’. Steps were taken to ensure the sub-samples of ‘brand building’ and ‘activation’ case studies contained the same ratio of Customer Promise to non-Customer Promise campaigns to avoid skewing the results.

The cases are all entrants or winners in major awards shows, and meet a high benchmark for creative excellence and effectiveness.

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West African Development Bank (BOAD) and PROPARCO Launch a Landmark €200 Million Cross-Financing Operation to Boost the Private Sector in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) Region

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10 hours ago

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May 15, 2026

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BOAD

This structure directly addresses current challenges related to reforming the global financial architecture by introducing an innovative and catalytic financial instrument

Together with BOAD, we are reaching a major milestone in our commitment to boosting financing for African economies, particularly within the WAEMU region

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 14, 2026/APO Group/ –On the sidelines of the Africa Forward summit, the West African Development Bank (BOAD) (www.BOAD.org) and PROPARCO, a subsidiary of the AFD Group, announced the signing of an unprecedented €200 million financing agreement (equivalent to approximately CFAF 131 billion). Structured by Galite as a cross-currency transaction between the euro (EUR) and the CFA franc (XOF), this operation is a global first in both its nature and ambition.

 

This structure directly addresses current challenges related to reforming the global financial architecture by introducing an innovative and catalytic financial instrument. It enables:

More efficient allocation of resources through expanded access to the XOF market, helping diversify financing options for local businesses;

Greater stability through support for the WAEMU region’s foreign exchange reserves, ensuring stronger macroeconomic resilience;

Direct impact through the financing of transformative private-sector projects, a key driver of job creation in the region.

Françoise Lombard, Chief Executive Officer of PROPARCO, stated:

“Together with BOAD, we are reaching a major milestone in our commitment to boosting financing for African economies, particularly within the WAEMU region. This initiative is fully aligned with the momentum to reform the development finance architecture by providing a tangible solution to increase the mobilization of local-currency resources in support of the private sector and local economies.

I am delighted by this partnership, which embodies a truly win-win approach and reflects our shared determination to act with ambition and pragmatism to sustainably support the development of the private sector across WAEMU economies, particularly our clients in the region, to whom we will be able to offer more loans denominated in CFA francs.”

Serge Ekué, President of BOAD, stated:

“The partnership between BOAD and PROPARCO reflects the quality and depth of our strategic cooperation.

Through this initiative, BOAD is reaffirming its role as a mobilizer of resources by attracting additional investment for the benefit of the region. Expanding the range of available financing tools is essential to sustainably support the transformation of WAEMU economies.

This transaction marks an important milestone in our collective ability to channel greater financing toward projects delivering strong economic and social impact across Africa.”

 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement (BOAD).

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Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt and President of Afreximbank Hold a Press Briefing on Egypt’s Ongoing Preparations to Host the 33rd Afreximbank Annual Meetings in Alamein

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11 hours ago

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May 15, 2026

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Central Bank

The briefing underscored the strong strategic partnership between Egypt and Afreximbank, while highlighting the Bank’s support for key sectors, including financial services, trade, industrial infrastructure, manufacturing, oil and gas, telecommunications, power, and construction

CAIRO, Egypt, May 14, 2026/APO Group/ —

H.E. Mr. Hassan Abdalla, Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), and Dr George Elombi, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank (www.Afreximbank.com), held a joint press briefing at the CBE’s headquarters on 13 May 2026 to address preparations for 33rd Afreximbank Annual Meetings (AAM2026). The AAM2026 will be held under the patronage of H.E. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, in Alamein city from 21 to 24 June 2026.

Attended by over 100 local and international media representatives, both in person and virtually, the briefing provided updates on preparations for AAM2026, expected participation, and Egypt’s role as host country for one of Africa’s leading annual gatherings focused on advancing the continent’s economic transformation.

 

In his remarks, H.E. Mr. Hassan Abdalla, Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, reaffirmed Egypt’s commitment to the successful hosting of the AAM2026 and emphasised the country’s readiness to host the event as well as its long-standing partnership with Afreximbank to support Africa’s economic development, trade and investment.

 

Mr Abdalla said: “Egypt is honoured to host the 33rd Afreximbank Annual Meetings in Alamein, reflecting our continued commitment to supporting Africa’s economic integration, trade expansion, and sustainable development.”

He also noted that these Meetings represent a high-level platform for dialogue and the exchange of views on the future of African economic and financial cooperation.

He added: “The Meetings extend beyond conventional discussions to advance key continental priorities, including trade finance, regional integration, and the pressing need to reform the global financial architecture to better reflect the development needs of emerging economies.”

Dr. George Elombi, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, expressed his appreciation to H.E. Mr. Hassan Abdalla for his strong support and commitment to hosting AAM2026 in Alamein and for the efforts by all relevant institutions in coordinating these meetings in Egypt.

 

“Egypt and Afreximbank share a common vision to accelerate Africa’s economic development, industrialisation, and widespread economic prosperity across the continent.

 

“AAM2026 will provide a valuable opportunity to strengthen partnerships, unlock investment opportunities, and advance discussions on intra-African trade, Africa’s financial sovereignty, and its economic resilience in an increasingly complex global environment”.

Egypt and Afreximbank share a common vision to accelerate Africa’s economic development, industrialisation, and widespread economic prosperity across the continent

 

Dr Elombi added that “Through our Annual Meetings, Afreximbank aims to identify priority projects and actionable programmes that will accelerate the transformation of Africa’s trade infrastructure. Africa’s pace of growth will be driven by industrialisation and intra-African trade, and achieving this will require significant improvements in processing, logistics, and importantly, policy support from governments.”

 

The briefing underscored the strong strategic partnership between Egypt and Afreximbank, while highlighting the Bank’s support for key sectors, including financial services, trade, industrial infrastructure, manufacturing, oil and gas, telecommunications, power, and construction.

 

Additionally, the press briefing outlined the significant opportunities associated with Egypt hosting AAM2026, including enhancing the country’s position as a regional financial and business hub, supporting the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) sector, creating new opportunities for Egyptian businesses, investors and the broader private sector, as well as providing a major boost to tourism in Alamein.

 

Dr Elombi said that the Bank has provided approximately US$9.5 billion in financing to Egypt over the past three years. He also referenced the groundbreaking of the Afreximbank African Trade Centre (AATC) in New Administrative Capital in December 2025, noting that the landmark US$250 million development will strengthen Egypt’s role as a regional hub for trade facilitation, payments, logistics, and SME development.

 

Dr Elombi further outlined plans for the proposed pan-African Gold Bank, an initiative designed to formalise Africa’s gold value chains, strengthen central bank reserves, and reduce the continent’s dependence on offshore refining and external trading centres.

 

Over the years, Afreximbank’s Annual Meetings have become one of the leading platforms for shaping dialogue on Africa’s economic future and advancing intra-Africa trade. The 33rd Afreximbank Annual Meetings are expected to bring together Heads of State, government ministers, central bank governors, business leaders, academics, entrepreneurs, private sector investors, and development partners. They will deliberate on the key issues shaping Africa’s economic future and trade agenda, while advancing practical solutions for the continent.

 

The AAM2026 programme will offer policy discussions, plenary sessions, business and investment forums, deal-signing ceremonies, major announcements, networking events, bilateral meetings, and forums on intra-African trade and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). It will also feature presentations on trade finance, industrialisation, energy, infrastructure, and digital transformation.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Afreximbank.

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DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) celebrates its 53rd Transported Asset Protection Association’s (TAPA) Facility Security Requirements (FSR) certification

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11 hours ago

on

May 15, 2026

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DHL Express

DHL Express SSA is the most TAPA certified company in the Region and was the first company in the TAPA EMEA Region to attain multi-site certification for a Region

LAGOS, Nigeria, May 14, 2026/APO Group/ —

  • Increases TAPA certifications across the Region, total of 53 sites across Sub-Saharan Africa
  • DHL Express the most TAPA-certified company in SSA
  • Lekki contributes to DHL Express surpassing the 500 facility milestone in TAPA certifications worldwide
  • Part of global €250 million investment in world-class security infrastructure by DHL Express

 

DHL Express (www.DHL.com) has announced that its Service Center in Lekki (Nigeria) has officially been certified according to the Transported Asset Protection Association’s (TAPA) Facility Security Requirements (FSR). This certification contributes to the over 500 TAPA certified sites globally and increase the certifications across Sub-Saharan Africa to 53 sites across 19 countries as part of a multi-site certification.

 

As the world’s most TAPA-certified logistics provider, DHL Express continues to set the benchmark for world-class supply chain security. The certification of 53 facilities in SSA strengthens a network that has already exceeded 500 TAPA-certified facilities globally, supported by a worldwide EUR250 million investment in advanced, industry-leading security technologies and processes. DHL Express SSA is the most TAPA certified company in the Region and was the first company in the TAPA EMEA Region to attain multi-site certification for a Region.

 

Anthony Beckley, VP Network Operations and Aviation at DHL Express SSA said: “Security is a cornerstone of DHL’s operations and a critical enabler of trade across Sub‑Saharan Africa. By continuously strengthening security standards at our facilities across the region, we help protect our customers’ shipments while building confidence in the supply chains that connect Africa to the world. As African businesses expand their reach into global markets, they rely on trusted, resilient, and world‑class logistics partners. We are proud to support this growth through industry‑leading security practices, underscored by our achievement of 500 TAPA certifications worldwide.”

Security is a cornerstone of DHL’s operations and a critical enabler of trade across Sub‑Saharan Africa

 

TAPA (Transported Asset Protection Association) certification is a comprehensive process of membership, verification, and auditing designed to ensure the security of customer shipments throughout the supply chain. It is based on rigorous standards such as FSR (Facility Security Requirements) and TSR (Transport Security Requirements), which can be achieved through independent audits or, for Level 3 (basic), via self-certification by a registered Authorised Auditor (AA), followed by submission of documentation to TAPA for validation and issuance of a certificate typically valid for three years. The Security Requirements established by the Association are recognised worldwide as industry benchmarks, making TAPA certification an essential mark of excellence for customers seeking the highest levels of reliability and protection.

 

This achievement not only affirms DHL Express as the global leader in secure logistics but also highlights Nigeria’s strategic contribution to the company’s security excellence in SSA.

 

Adrian Whelan, SVP and Head of Global Security at DHL Express, commented: “The TAPA certification of Lekki and the 53 sites TAPA certified across the SSA Region highlights DHL Express’ commitment to providing our customers in Africa with world-class security infrastructure. Customers want to ship their valuable goods through a secure and resilient supply chain, and DHL Express provides the most secure and resilient supply chain, not only in SSA but globally”.

 

The TAPA FSR certification is a central element of the broader security strategy of DHL Express. As global supply chains become increasingly complex, certified operations ensure consistent protection, risk mitigation, and resilience across the entire DHL network.

 

The achievement of the TAPA FSR certification was formally celebrated on May 13 during an event hosted at the DHL Express Lekki facility in Lagos, Nigeria. The event brought together private and public sector partners who share the aim of building resilient, transparent, and high-standard logistics ecosystems across SSA.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of DHL Express.

 

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