JLL Appoints Stein as Global Creative Agency of Record

JLL has appointed Stein as its new global strategic and creative agency of record, following a competitive review. The partnership marks a significant step in the commercial real estate giant’s brand and marketing journey as it looks to unify its global brand presence and strengthen demand generation across its B2B business.

The remit covers strategy, creative, and go-to-market, with Stein tasked with aligning JLL’s marketing more closely with its corporate strategy. The agency will support JLL in building brand recognition, driving measurable demand, and enhancing the client experience across the company’s vast global network. The first global campaign work will kick off imminently. 

For JLL, this is the latest step in a wider marketing transformation. Since bringing on Siddharth Taparia as its first global CMO three and a half years ago, the Fortune 200 company has been reshaping how it thinks about marketing’s role within the business. That process began with a full brand refresh and the launch of the ‘See a Brighter Way’ platform in 2022-23, which repositioned JLL with a more differentiated voice in the marketplace.

Against that backdrop, the search for an agency partner was about finding a team that could build on that foundation – one with the B2B specialism to help elevate the brand further, while also delivering measurable business impact.

“When we began looking for an agency partner earlier this year, we ran a very rigorous process,” says Siddharth, speaking with LBB. “We wanted a partner that could meet us where we are, with real specialisation. Most of our business is B2B, so that focus was extremely important to us.

But B2B marketing is also going through a renaissance, and JLL needed a partner that could both build its brand and drive revenue impact for the business. “That’s what made Stein stand out,” adds Siddharth. ”The combination of brand thinking, demand generation, and revenue growth, paired with expertise in overall client experience – and all of it through a B2B lens.”

Stein brings deep expertise in B2B marketing through its ‘Brand-to-Demand Experience’ (BDX) model, which integrates long-term brand building with demand generation to drive business growth. The agency, part of MSQ Partners since 2015, has recently sharpened its own positioning in the industry with a rebrand that elevated BDX into everything the agency does and how it is viewed externally.

The JLL appointment is the most significant win for Stein since that rebrand. Beyond its size and stature as a brand, the business is seen internally as validation of Stein’s positioning, capabilities, and model. Brand-to-Demand was a decisive factor in the pitch process, and the win marks a moment of real momentum for the agency as it builds on the rebrand and pursues further opportunities with major global clients.

“JLL has done a strong job in recent years of increasing its brand strength, and now they’re asking us to continue that process, but in a way that connects brand building to action across all their lines of business worldwide,” says Tom Stein, chairman of Stein.

That, to Tom, is what Stein is all about. “Working at the brand level while ensuring every investment connects into business units, offerings, and ultimately into driving KPIs and meaningful outcomes. That’s why we won – because we proved to JLL that we’re the partner best able to deliver that.”

The JLL-Stein partnership also reflects a broader renaissance underway in B2B marketing. Not long ago, marketing was barely considered a serious function within many B2B companies. The assumption was that as long as existing clients knew you and relationships held steady, there was little need to invest in brand.

That view has shifted dramatically. Today, B2B decisions often involve commitments worth hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars, stretching over several years. Research shows that strong brands don’t just win more clients – they retain them, command premium pricing, lower acquisition costs, and attract top talent. As a result, B2B companies are now thinking about brand and brand identity with a seriousness that rivals their B2C counterparts.

“I’ve always seen brand and demand as two sides of the same coin,” says Siddharth. “If you get an email or a call from a company you’ve never heard of versus one you know, you’re far more likely to respond. That, to me, is the essence of why brand and demand are inseparable.

“You need a recognised brand for demand generation to become efficient and effective. And you can only drive demand effectively if you’re also building brand awareness with the audiences you want to reach. That connection works well for us – it’s a natural fit, because it reflects how we think about these things too.”

Tom takes the thought further, pointing to a broader industry shift. “One of the big shifts in B2B – and it’s been happening for some time but is now reaching a tipping point – is the recognition and reframing of brand as a full-funnel effectiveness and growth driver. In B2B organisations, brand has often been compartmentalised and not given a genuinely strategic role. JLL is a great example of where brand has been elevated – formally and officially – to a strategic imperative.”

As this Brand-to-Demand mindset takes hold, the partnership will also be shaped by the rapid evolution of the commercial real estate sector itself. From shifting workforce practices to the rise of data centres, AI, advanced manufacturing and new distribution models, the industry is undergoing profound change. JLL sees data and technology as critical to providing clients with sharper insights and better decision-making – and in Stein, it has found a partner that approaches AI and efficiency with a similar mindset.

“The biggest change the world is seeing right now is the amount of data becoming available and the use of AI,” says Siddharth. “We’ve been investing in technology and data for almost a decade, not just since the advent of ChatGPT. Clients want to work with a company that can provide the best insights, and the best insights come from those who can combine proprietary and third-party data into meaningful recommendations. That’s the biggest shift we’re seeing.

“When we began working with Stein, our thinking aligned closely. They’re approaching AI from a different angle – how to make marketing more effective and efficient – while we’re focused on making our clients’ lives easier. But the mindset is the same.”

That alignment underpins how the two teams plan to work together. For Siddharth, the priorities are clear: continuing to build JLL’s brand, ensuring marketing makes an ever-stronger contribution to pipeline and revenue, and continually improving the client experience across every touchpoint.

“I don’t see these partnerships as project-by-project,” Siddharth continues. “I see them as all-season partnerships. We certainly hope this will be a much more strategic relationship. As we think about our marketing strategy, our brand, our campaigns, our planning, and our measurement and analytics, Stein will be deeply embedded – not just in the day-to-day work but in the thinking behind it.”

Tom sees the relationship as a chance to show how Stein’s brand-to-demand philosophy can elevate one of the world’s most significant B2B brands.

“This is a B2B decade, and JLL is such a good example of an exemplary brand in this B2B decade,” he says. “For us, partnering with JLL at this point in time is the fulfilment of what we aspire to do: help build the world’s most demanded B2B brands. The way to do it is by helping them build brand strength around the key value drivers in their business, like tech and AI, like data and intelligence. We believe the way to get there is by connecting Brand-to-Demand to business outcomes.”

See more global business wins and hires across North America here.

​Read more from Addison Capper here.