Vitaly Pecherskiy, CEO and co-founder of StackAdapt, on why B2B brands have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to break the mould, why you should never go dark in marketing regardless of uncertainty, and why a programmatic advertising platform ended up 3D-printing a toaster.
"B2B brands have a tremendous opportunity to think more like B2C, take risks and be something people will actually enjoy interacting with."
Why B2B brands must think like B2C brands and why staying visible regardless of uncertainty is the most important marketing discipline
Vitaly Pecherskiy studied finance and got into advertising when a startup CEO told him to spend the weekend learning everything he could about the industry. He co-founded StackAdapt in Toronto a decade ago and has grown it to over 1,100 people across 16 markets. His perspective on B2B marketing is shaped by watching what the most progressive brands in his platform's client base are doing that less progressive brands are not.
In this conversation Pecherskiy argues that economic uncertainty in B2B markets creates pressure to go quiet on marketing, and that going quiet is always the wrong decision. He makes the case for B2B brands adopting the creative ambition and channel experimentation of B2C brands, explains why verticalising your go-to-market by customer pain point creates more resonant marketing than speaking to everyone at once, and shares what a 3D-printed toaster taught him about the value of campaigns that get people talking.
"There is a tremendous opportunity for B2B marketers to think more like a B2C company, take risks and be just something that people will actually enjoy interacting with. The economic uncertainty means the job for marketers is increasingly harder, but that just gives you more reason to stand out."
Pecherskiy traces this opportunity to two converging trends: the crowding of B2B markets as barriers to entry have lowered, and the increasing realisation that B2B buyers are just people who happen to be making a purchase decision for their organisation. Reaching them through the same channels and with the same creative standards as consumer brands is both possible and increasingly necessary.
"I mean, as soon as you pause on marketing, you're starting to feel that everything is becoming harder. And I think one thing that we learn is that you should never go dark. You should always stay top of mind."
Pecherskiy is direct about the mechanics of this. Top-of-mind awareness in a B2B context functions differently from consumer awareness but it is equally perishable. When you stop being visible, competitors who stay visible take your position. The pressure to go quiet during uncertainty is understandable but consistently produces worse outcomes than the discipline of maintaining presence.
"Two years ago, we made an ad with an agency drawing parallels between business and sport. They proposed StackAdapt symbolised by a toaster. We thought it was random but went with it. People started asking why. Then we made a second ad in-house and 3D-printed a physical toaster. People said, why is StackAdapt always obsessed with toasters? And if it gets people talking about it, you are successful."
The toaster story illustrates a principle about creative risk in B2B: the things that create distinctive memory are rarely the things that seem most logical in a briefing room. The first toaster was adopted partly on instinct. The second was a deliberate continuation of something that was generating conversation. The brand conversation it created was more valuable than any direct response metric the campaign produced.
"We have separate engineering teams, solutions teams that are building products that are deeply interconnected but where the way you use the product is ultimately talking to the pain of a specific one of our customers. Once marketing is so deeply interconnected with the product, it naturally resonates a lot better."
The shift from horizontal to vertical at StackAdapt required building genuinely different product knowledge into the marketing and sales teams for each vertical. A B2B tech marketer and a retail e-commerce marketer have very different problems. Marketing that speaks to the specific pain of each rather than generic programmatic capabilities produces better engagement and better qualified pipeline.
"I think AI implementation in enterprise software is not going to be like a flip of a switch and then suddenly your platform is totally transformed. It is going to be incremental improvements that will hopefully make the quality of life better for our customers."
Pecherskiy is deliberately measured about generative AI in ad tech. He argues that for companies with a platform approach serving diverse customer types, the implementation is necessarily incremental rather than transformative. He frames it as improving existing workflows rather than reinventing them, which he believes is the honest and sustainable way to integrate AI into a complex product.
"We only had two ads. But people were like, why is StackAdapt always obsessed with toasters?"
Host Tell us about StackAdapt and your journey building it.
Pecherskiy StackAdapt is a programmatic advertising platform. Brands and agencies use our software to run programmatic advertising campaigns across the internet. We started with native advertising in Canada ten years ago and have grown to 1,100 people across 16 markets. I got into this industry when a startup CEO told me to spend the weekend learning everything I could about advertising and come back Monday. I fell in love with how the internet reflects consumer behaviour.
Host What is the biggest opportunity for B2B marketers right now?
Pecherskiy B2B brands have a tremendous opportunity to think more like B2C companies, take risks and be something that people will actually enjoy interacting with. The most progressive B2B marketers are tapping into channels and creative approaches historically pioneered by consumer brands: connected TV, digital out of home, brand campaigns with genuine personality.
Host Why should you never go dark?
Pecherskiy As soon as you pause on marketing, you start to feel that everything is becoming harder. You should never go dark. Always stay top of mind. In times of uncertainty the knee-jerk reaction is to go quiet. But you should do the opposite and lead with a message.
Host Tell me about the toaster.
Pecherskiy We made an ad where an agency proposed StackAdapt be symbolised by a toaster. We thought it was random but went with it. People asked why. Then we made a second ad and 3D-printed a physical toaster. People said, why is StackAdapt always obsessed with toasters? And if it gets people talking about it, you are successful. That is the test.
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