Creating a meaningful conversation starts with understanding

Lucy Watson
05.02.2025

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At Nelson Bostock, we know that creating a meaningful connection starts with understanding. That’s why our Human Understanding Lab, a 120-strong team of neuroscientists, behavioural scientists, data analysts and technologists, has applied an insight-driven lens to analyse key communication and marketing touchpoints across 150 B2B brands. From tone to channels and messaging to influencers, we’ve gained unique insights into what the B2B conversation will look like in the year ahead.

What topics trended in 2024, and why they resonated

Where these conversations gained traction

Who drove the dialogue

Learn how these insights can help brands not only join, but lead the conversations shaping their industries in 2025 and beyond.

We evaluated more than 50 B2B campaigns that were shortlisted for awards in 2024.
It turns out that over a fifth of campaigns were purpose-focused, while nearly a quarter (23.5%) used humour or fun to convey their message.

It won’t come as a shock that AI was the biggest buzzword (well, initialism) of 2024. Our audit of nearly 150 B2B brands – analysing over 2 million words from their LinkedIn and X posts – revealed that ‘AI’ was used nearly four times more than the second-most used buzzword, ‘Data’..

It seems men still dominate the visual language of B2B brands, with images tagged ‘man’ by our AI models used over 14,000 times (14,263). That’s over triple the number of women found in images (3,915).

LinkedIn is surging in popularity amongst B2B brands and influencers. According to LinkedIn’s own data, there has been a 35% increase in C-suite professionals in the US on LinkedIn over the last five years, and a 30% rise in the UK.

We often think of influencers as the preserve of B2C communication, but the reality is they are even more important in B2B communication. In fact, 90% of
every B2B sale is influenced by word of mouth, compared to just 50% in consumer purchases. So, it should be no surprise that businesses are investing heavily in building the profile of their senior executives.