MSQ’s Stein IAS Rebrands with a Rock-Solid Vision for the ‘B2B Decade’

Stein IAS has rebranded to simply Stein, marking a strategic evolution for the 52-year-old B2B agency as it doubles down on creativity, brand-building and sector leadership in what it’s calling 'The B2B Decade'.

The Stein IAS brand came from a 2015 merger between Stein + Partners and IAS B2B Marketing. On top of moving forward with a simpler name, the rebrand is also intended to set out a new market positioning for the agency: ‘Building the world’s most demanded B2B brands’.

This follows the significant hire of Kate MacNevin, MRM’s former global CEO, into the same role at Stein, as well as the executive chair of the B2B practice of MSQ, Stein’s parent company. It also comes at a pivotal moment for B2B advertising, as the traditionally more product-led industry leans more into the importance of brand in its communications. This is also reflected in its recent increased presence at Cannes Lions.

“That is one of the reasons I came to join Stein,” says Kate. “I believe it is the time for B2B. You’re seeing not only a growing importance in what it means to our economy, but also – unlike any other area – there’s a real passion in B2B for understanding the audience and such a passion for creativity.”

This repositioning feeds into the ambition of Kate, along with Tom Stein, the agency’s chairman and chief brand officer, for Stein to be a ‘category of one in the B2B space’ as the industry enters this new era of brand-led, creatively ambitious business marketing.

A simpler name, a stronger identity

“For us, this is quite a bit more than a brand refresh,” says Tom. “Our intent is a statement – to the market, to the industry, and to ourselves – about the role we envision Stein playing as a B2B agency leader.”

Tom says that the process was twofold. Number one was to go back to the agency’s core with a simplification of the name but also an indicator of strength within the market at the same time. Stein, part of Tom’s ancestry, as the name would suggest, means ‘rock’ in German. “We think of ourselves as really one of the foundational agencies in B2B – an agency on which B2B brands can build their future,” he says.

Second is how that name shows up in the world. The primary colour of the agency brand now is lime. Its vibrancy is a point of differentiation in a sector that he admits can come across as a little “colourless” compared to its B2C compatriots. “We don’t believe that’s the case, and certainly it’s not how we view B2B,” he says. “Lime is fresh, vibrant, electric, energetic – it’s all of those things. And that’s what we think B2B is. We think it’s all of those things, and we wanted to manifest that in our brand visual expression, as well as in how we show up in the world.” He jokes that younger members of staff have pronounced ‘Stein is going brat’.

Stein is also making strategic changes to ensure that it is what Kate sees as “future-forward” for B2B clients. The agency plans to be AI-forward in its approach, is set to launch a bespoke influencer practice tailored to B2B, and will announce new creative leadership soon.

What’s more, the repositioning is a reinforcement of its trademarked Brand-to-Demand Experience (BDX) model of working that Stein launched last year in partnership with LinkedIn and WARC. The accompanying playbook demonstrates how to unify brand and demand to increase B2B marketing effectiveness. Tom says that ‘brand to demand’ has been disconnected in B2B similar to the brand and performance disconnect prevalent in B2C.

Unifying brand and demand in B2B

“It’s been a challenge for B2B enterprises for a long time – unifying brand and demand marketing instead of treating them as isolated or siloed activities. That unification is really the path to the future.”

Unifying brand and demand, adds Tom, means unifying strategy and the creative approach as an omnichannel creative platform. It uses technology to orchestrate brand-to-demand activity. “It also means helping our clients understand, both organisationally and operationally, how bringing brand and demand together works internally as well as externally.”

All of these things are very much of the moment in B2B,” he adds. “We rarely get an RFP that isn't asking for this. And that’s been the case for some time.”

For Kate, it’s about harnessing the trends and themes they’re hearing from B2B marketers. “How do I build brand strength and then create that demand?”

This all feeds into the growing importance of brand in the B2B space. The whole subject of brand and B2B is fodder for an entirely different article another day, they say, but there’s been a traditional reluctance, going back 20-plus years, to really invest in B2B brand in a meaningful way. That reluctance comes from the conservatism of many B2B organisations and the fact that many of them are run by engineers – people with deep functional expertise.

The advent of digital marketing and marketing technology has also made it easier for organisations to feel more comfortable investing in demand-orientated activities because of the immediacy of results. By contrast, the more long-term investment that brand requires is a harder sell to boards and C-suites. “But there’s been an inexorable movement toward understanding the role of brand in B2B,” says Tom, citing WARC, the Effies and the IPA as areas of proof for his point. “I think there’s a growing and general acceptance that [the] brand needs to play a much bigger role in B2B, and to be fully embraced as a full-funnel activity that ultimately contributes to commercial outcomes.

“That’s one of the central narratives of Stein. It’s one of the central narratives of B2B in the CMO community. And I think it’s a huge opportunity.”

Kate points to a growing uptick in demand from B2B clients for general creativity, storytelling and emotion as further evidence of Tom’s point. “There’s a growing recognition that storytelling and emotion can play a very powerful role in not only creating a strong brand, but also demand,” she says. “When you’re thinking about building brand strength and demand through BDX —when you look at it as a connected ecosystem, which is what BDX is all about – you can find really powerful stories in brand and emotion that then drive that emotion into product in a really seamless, connected way.”

So, the buyer or customer is having an experience through that journey that is consistent. “And I think that’s what’s really exciting about our lens on BDX: it doesn’t have to be cookie-cutter all the way through the funnel. It’s about creating that emotion, that connection. And then bringing in the product messaging at the right time.”

The rebrand, then, is not just cosmetic. It’s a statement of intent from a legacy agency with a clear point of view on where B2B marketing is headed – and a desire to lead that conversation. For Stein, this is about stepping confidently into Tom and Kate’s self-proclaimed ‘B2B Decade’, with a bold vision for what creativity, strategy, and client partnership can look like in this space.

“I think about the fact that we are, this year, a 52-year-old agency,” says Tom. “There aren’t that many independent agencies that live to the ripe young age of 52. The fact that we’re here, and are certainly one of – if not the – leading B2B agencies, is significant.”

He adds that the arrival of Kate, “with her pedigree and background”, underscores Stein’s belief that its most defining chapter is yet to be written. “It says a lot about the fact that our future is ahead of us in a compelling way. I think we have a differentiated proposition in the market right now. That all comes back to the rebrand, and we want to make that statement very clearly to the market.”

That statement also pushes back against what Tom sees as an industry trend toward consolidation. “Great agency brands have disappeared. And we’re the opposite of that. We’re Stein. Loud and proud. We believe in the power of an agency point of view – not being consolidated, not being watered down, but being more expressive, more strategic, and more powerful to the client base.”

Kate, too, sees this moment as a rare and exciting one for B2B. “We’re at this really important inflection point where modern CMOs are asking for modern solutions to really complex problems that land squarely in B2B,” she says. “It’s passionate work for everyone, because we’re solving some of the biggest problems in the world, for some of the biggest brands in the world. As a marketer, and just as someone who loves this industry, it’s exciting to be a part of that.”

Tom puts it simply: “This is the B2B decade. B2B is so of the moment right now. And it’s not just me saying that – the whole world is saying it. We want to be its agency. We want to be the agency for the B2B decade and into the future. And that’s something I, Kate, and the whole agency are super passionate about.”

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