If you’ve been reading my newsletter these past few weeks, you've noticed that I've been thinking about something very specific. Something that I believe is more valuable today, then ever before.
The attention economy.
Levi's did it with their tarp over the logo during the World Cup. The Cybertruck campaign I ran (which also got us a Cease and Desist letter) was amazing because it got us over 1 million views in 36 hours. And, the Coach Prime activation generated a ton of earned media.
3 completely different examples. 3 completely different markets. And, 3 different ways to capture attention.
I really believe that all 3 had the same advantage. People knew how to talk about them. And that’s more valuable today than just sales.
Why?
Mainly because a lot of B2B brands aren't actually suffering from a lack of awareness (or maybe they are…???). They're suffering from the fact that nobody knows how to describe them without needing a full damn walkthrough.
That's the problem.
I've seen a few posts on LinkedIn lately all circling around the same idea. It’s some version of…
“if you have to explain your value every single time, your brand probably isn't clear enough.”
Honestly. I think that's spot on. And I'd take it one step further.
If people can't repeat your STORY quickly, your brand is going to be harder to spread than it should be.
Look… I get it… sometimes it’s easier when it’s B2C because you’re dealing with consumers. So, you have to tell a story. But there’s plenty to be learned from that strategy.
I really believe that's what Levi's got right.
You didn't need a strategy deck to understand what they did. FIFA told stadium sponsors they had to cover their branding. Levi's threw a white tarp over the logo and made the cover-up part of the campaign.
Done.
Damn petty, but funny as hell. That's why it was so memorable. It was easy to tell the story. ANYONE could tell it.
Same with the Cybertruck campaign I launched back in 2023.
You didn't need me to sit there for ten minutes and unpack it. Wrapmate launched a configurator tied to a vehicle the market was already obsessed with.
So, it made the story simple to share. The timing was spot-on. And people instantly understood why it was interesting. You were buying a mobile kitchen appliance. Our modern day Model-T Ford.
Same thing with the Coach Prime activation. We wrapped my giant F250 truck (still wrapped today…), put 25 branded cars on the road, and used the biggest sports frenzy in the state to drive earned media.
Again, not hard to explain. And that's the point. The market repeats what it can carry.
Not just what is good. Not just what is useful. Not just what your internal team thinks is brilliant. What it can actually carry.
That means it needs a hook. And that hook needs a clean angle. Something people can remember without taking notes. In my opinion, this is where a lot of B2B companies make life way harder than it needs to be.
They try to say everything at once.
They've got 6 service lines. 3 audiences. 4 different value props. A homepage headline that sounds like it was approved by 5 people and loved by none of them… nor their customer.
Then everybody wonders why the hell the market isn't talking about you.
But, ask yourself… “talking about what?” Cause, if you don’t give them a story to talk about, well, they won’t talk about it.
If I asked your sales team, your founder, your customer success lead, and one of your customers to explain what makes your company different, and I got 4 different answers, that's not a small messaging issue.
That's a growth issue. Because confusion slows everything down.
It slows down referrals. Trust. Sales conversations. Word of mouth. Content. And every channel that’s supposed to be helping the brand move forward. And then companies try to fix that by creating more content.
More posts. Blogs. Landing pages. Case studies. Polished brand language.
But if the core idea still isn't easy to talk about, all you're really doing is creating more material around the same friction.
And that's why I've been stuck on this. Your brand should be easier to talk about. Not dumbed down. Not flattened. Not watered down. Just easier to pick up and pass along.
Think about how you and I actually share things to our friends.
We share sharp observations. With a simple story. That makes us look smart for noticing.
Along with phrases our friends (and ourselves) can remember. And examples we can explain over text, in a meeting, or at dinner without opening a slide deck.
See the difference.
This is why creating simple talking points, strong hooks, and memorable stories are critical to capture awareness of your brand. And I don't mean that in some fluffy “let's go viral” kind of way. I mean it in a very practical, grown-up B2B way.
If your brand is easier to talk about, then…
your customers refer you more clearly
your sales team explains you faster
your content lands quicker
your market remembers you longer
your paid traffic has less work to do
All of that will turn into revenue (and a strong brand presence).
One of the best ways to poke holes at this is to ask a brutally simple question:
“What is the thing people actually say about us?”
Not what you want them to say. Not what the positioning doc says. Not what your internal narrative workshop came up with.
What do people actually say?
Because the market usually tells you what's sticky before your team does.
It shows up in social media comments. On sales calls. In screenshots from an email. In how prospects paraphrase you. In what customers repeat back. In the stories your team keeps telling over and over because they know those ones land.
That's signal.
And if you pay attention to that signal, you start to realize that the best brands usually aren't the ones saying the most. They're the ones saying one thing clearly enough that other people want to keep carrying it.
That's just a different game.
I've seen B2B companies with solid products, good teams, and real results still struggle because the market can't quite get a grip on them.
Sure… they sound capable. Professional. And credible. But they don't sound memorable. And memorable wins more than people think.
Not because it is flashy. Because it reduces friction.
The easier it is for somebody to say, "Oh, they're the company that..." the easier it is for the story to move.
It's the difference between a brand that gets politely acknowledged and a brand that gets carried into other rooms.
So, here are 4 questions you can ask yourself (with your team) to get a sense of direction on what’s possibly missing.
What's the shortest, clearest, truest way to explain why your brand matter?
What do customers naturally repeat when they talk about you?
What are you making too complicated because you're afraid to leave something out?
If somebody recommended you tomorrow, would they know exactly what to say?
Simple work, but a bit more thinking behind it.
Don’t spend time on polishing your brand, making it look better, or just posting more.
Make it easier to talk about your company. That’s it..
Because if people can describe you quickly, remember you easily, and repeat you naturally, the market starts doing most of the lifting for you.
And when that happens, everything gets a little cheaper, faster, and more believable.
Let me know if you have any questions about this. As you can tell, this is something I’m quite passionate about.
See you next week.
Javy
P.S. — Is there a topic or strategy that you’d like me to unpack? Drop me a line. Let me know what you’re thinking of. And, I’ll get it queued up for an upcoming newsletter.
