B Capital breaks down B2B commerce with 3 bite-sized animated videos

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Multi-stage global investment firm B Capital has released a three-part animated video series across its owned digital platforms to shed light on B2B commerce in Asia and how technological innovation can help the vertical sustain its growth trajectory.

Efforts to transform B2B commerce in Asia revolve around getting SMEs to migrate to automated, digital processes. In these videos, B Capital highlights the importance of using technology to enhance existing relationships, ensuring product-market fit, and futureproofing to grant B2B players greater visibility across the value chain. B Capital shares that it is important to consider the indelible role technology can and should play in the next phase of B2B growth in Asia.

This marketing campaign was conceptualised by the B Capital Platform team, whose core function within the firm is to provide expertise and guidance to help founders successfully accelerate key growth initiatives in their business. The campaign targets commerce brands, suppliers, retailers and startups operating in Southeast Asia. It also aims to raise awareness of the rising prominence of the B2B commerce industry and build connections between B Capital’s portfolio companies and industry stakeholders with the end goal of generating solutions that can benefit the wider ecosystem.

Karl Noronha, VP strategy and operations, B Capital told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that the campaign's overall goal was to establish B Capital as a thought leader in the B2B commerce space in Asia. "We wanted to build industry awareness of our knowledge in this space, the companies we invest as well as share our view on what we think the retail landscape will look like in 20 years time," he said. According to Noronha, some in the team have worked in FMCG or built B2B commerce businesses prior to joining B Capital.

He explained that filling in the knowledge gap, i.e. understanding how the retail value chain works is complex. From B Capital's discussions with entrepreneurs and other venture capitals, the team started to realise that people's understanding of how the retail value chain works is limited. "While most people can talk about the key players across the value chain, few know how intermediary operate and the motivation behind their decisions," he added.

Hence, the team went ahead with this campaign. He added that marketing the evolution of B2B commerce has been difficult because every country in the region has their own unique pain points and barriers to entry. The team decided to break down the topic into three bite-sized videos that make it easy for viewers to digest and understand.

"The approach and forecasted reach should help ignite conversations with global and local brands who are looking to improve their commerce distribution channels and expand within Southeast Asia and India," he said.

That said, timing the campaign's release was one challenge B Capital faced. Given the current economic climate, Noronha said the focus for plenty of businesses now is on unit economics and extending cash runway.

"B2B commerce companies require scale before they can deliver positive CM2 margins. For companies well capitalised, a campaign such as ours could help them accelerate discussions with principals to expand their distribution reach and higher margin products," he explained.

At times, B2B marketing might be thought of as less exciting compared to B2C. However, Noronha said that B2B marketing follows the same principles as B2C - understand the customer (in this case a business), their needs and wants and determine if your solution can solve one of their pain points.

"By showcasing our knowledge in the space as well as portfolio companies we have invested in across vertical, horizontal and B2B2C commerce, we want to play a more active role in redefining the retail landscape in Asia," he explained.

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