Superpowers 2025: Trust, Brand, and AI Are Redefining B2B Marketing

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What Is the Superpowers Index 2025?

  • The Superpowers Index is a global study of B2B buyer behavior, run by Dentsu B2B (in partnership with B2B International). (dentsu)
  • The 2025 edition is very large: based on 6,107 B2B decision-maker interviews in 2025, and over 16,000 interviews total since 2021. (dentsu)
  • It covers 21 markets and four major industries: Financial Services, Technology, Professional Services, and Manufacturing. (dentsu)
  • The Index ranks over 170 B2B brands based on how they perform against 30 “decision drivers” (e.g., trust, quality, integration, transparency, expertise, support). (dentsu)
  • The goal: to understand how B2B buyer behavior is changing — especially in an era of AI — and what “superpowers” (brand traits) help B2B companies win. (b2binternational.com)

Key Themes / Findings: “Trust, Brand, and AI” in 2025

From the 2025 Superpowers Index, three major trends (or “superpowers”) define how B2B marketing is evolving:

  1. Getting Back to Business — Balance of Personal & Professional Drivers
    • Buyers are rebalancing professional decision drivers (like integration, product functionality, compliance) with personal factors. (dentsu)
    • While personal/emotional trust matters, more “rational, reliable decisioning” is re-emerging: making a product “work well,” ensuring contract safety, and ease of integration are more important. (B&T)
    • According to Dentsu: “Getting back to business” is a key trend — meaning B2B buyers are pragmatic, especially in uncertain economic times. (dentsu)
  2. The Changing Face of Brand — Reputation, Advocacy, & Influencers
    • Trust is still #1: “I feel safe signing a contract with them” remains the top decision driver. (dentsu)
    • But how trust is built is changing: instead of just product features or sales, it’s now more about brand reputation, employer brand, and advocacy. (B&T)
    • Influencer marketing is growing strongly in B2B: many buyers reference influencers (analysts, trusted experts, consultants) in decisions. (Marketing Week)
    • Brand experience matters a lot: a 10-point rise in a brand’s Superpowers Index score is correlated with a 14% increase in deal value. (dentsu)
    • The report suggests that emotional trust combined with strong reputation-building is more important than ever for B2B marketers. (Marketing Week)
  3. Ease Is the New Edge — Simplicity + AI-Powered Buying
    • B2B buying processes are becoming more AI-powered: Dentsu reports that 77% of all B2B buying processes now use AI, and 40% of buyers are considered heavy AI users. (dentsu)
    • Brands that make the buying process faster, simpler, and more transparent win. (b2binternational.com)
    • Use of AI + human touch: AI helps reduce friction (speed up decisions, tailor experiences), but human elements still matter. (dentsu)
    • According to Dentsu’s data: winning brands (those with strong buyer experience) close deals up to 31% faster — sometimes up to 4 months quicker than weaker performers. (dentsu)

Top Brands & Geographic Insights

  • The top 10 B2B brands in the Superpowers Index (2025) include: DBS Bank, UOB, Fidelity, CAT, Google, Bank of America, IBM, Capital One, Mitsubishi, and Siemens. (dentsu)
  • In Asia Pacific, brands are particularly strong: the region is seen as a growth leader, with companies like DBS and UOB setting global benchmarks. (Little Black Book)
  • Dentsu’s regional note: for APAC, combining “technology + deep cultural insight + purpose + human connection” is becoming a real competitive advantage. (Little Black Book)

Strategic Implications & Analysis

Here are my thoughts (and what the Superpowers 2025 means for B2B marketers):

  1. Brand Matters More in B2B Than You Might Think
    • Many B2B marketers still over-prioritize lead gen / demand gen, but the Superpowers Index suggests that brand building is now central to winning deals.
    • Reputation, employer brand, and advocacy are not “nice to have” — they are decision drivers.
    • Influencer marketing (in B2B) is underused: the data shows many buyers lean on influencers, but fewer marketers feel they’re doing it well.
  2. Trust Is Evolving
    • Trust isn’t just about reliability; it’s about perceived integrity, alignment, and predictability.
    • With AI in the picture, trust gets more complex: buyers must trust not just the brand, but the process, the data, and the automation.
    • Brands must signal trust in new ways: via thought leadership plus transparency; via people, not just logos.
  3. AI Is Not Optional — It’s a Core Differentiator
    • AI is no longer a “nice future tech”: the majority of B2B purchase journeys already use it.
    • But simply using AI isn’t enough — how you integrate it matters. The best brands use AI to simplify and personalize, not just automate.
    • Speed + simplicity are strong competitive levers: brands that reduce friction with AI and combine it with human validation will win more.
  4. Customer Experience (CX) = Commercial Impact
    • Improving “brand experience” (how buyers feel during their journey) has a real impact on deal value (per the report).
    • Shorter sales cycles (by up to 31%) show that experience isn’t just “nice to have”; it’s a performance lever.
  5. Regional Nuances Matter
    • In fast-growing B2B markets (like in APAC), the mix of trust, brand, and AI might play out differently than in more mature markets.
    • Brands that succeed globally will likely need localized strategies — combining global AI + process sophistication with culturally relevant storytelling and reputation building.
  6. Organizational and Talent Implications
    • Marketing teams will need new capabilities: data / AI expertise + brand storytelling + trust architecture.
    • Sales, marketing, and product teams must collaborate more deeply: to design “easy AI-powered” buyer journeys, you need cross-functional alignment.
    • Measurement systems must evolve: beyond just leads, B2B marketers need to track “Superpowers Index–style” metrics (trust, experience, AI-usage, friction).
  7. Risk Considerations
    • Over-reliance on AI could backfire if processes become too impersonal or opaque.
    • Brand trust can be fragile: if a company overpromises “AI-powered simplicity” but fails to deliver, buyers may lose confidence.
    • Influencer risk: B2B influencers (analysts, consultants) must be credible; brands must choose wisely or risk damage to trust.

Broader Commentary & Why This Is Important

  • The Superpowers Index 2025 captures a major structural shift in B2B: the buyer is no longer just “professional-focused,” nor just “emotionally driven” — they want both.
  • We’re seeing a blurring between B2B and B2C behaviors. B2B buyers increasingly behave like consumers (looking for brand trust, values, simplicity), but they still make high-stakes, rational decisions.
  • AI is not just a technology trend in B2B; it’s a core experience lever. The brands that master “AI + trust + brand” will be the ones that win in the next decade.
  • For marketers: This report should be a wake-up call. Brand building, long undervalued in B2B, is back — and trust now needs to be engineered, not just earned.

Here are case studies and expert commentary expanding on the themes in “Superpowers 2025: Trust, Brand, and AI Are Redefining B2B Marketing.”
This provides practical examples of how B2B brands are using trust, brand strength, and AI as their new competitive superpowers.

CASE STUDIES

Case Study 1: HubSpot — Using Trust as the Core B2B Growth Engine

Challenge:
Competition in CRM software intensified, making feature-based selling less effective.

Strategy Based on Trust:

  • HubSpot invested heavily in transparent education, publishing CRM benchmarks, pricing breakdowns, and strategy guides.
  • They built trust through public product roadmaps and community feedback loops.

AI Component:

  • HubSpot AI generated personalized recommendations for sales teams, improving user confidence.

Outcome:

  • Customer retention increased
  • Free-to-paid conversions rose
  • HubSpot became synonymous with “trusted CRM for growing companies”

Superpower Demonstrated:
Trust-driven brand equity → accelerated adoption.

Case Study 2: Adobe B2B — Brand as a Differentiator in a Saturated Market

Challenge:
The creative SaaS space was crowded with cheaper alternatives.

Brand Strategy:

  • Adobe repositioned itself as the standard for creative excellence.
  • Enterprise messaging shifted to workflow integration, security, and creativity at scale — not price.

AI Transformation:

  • Adobe Firefly provided enterprise-grade, brand-safe generative AI for creative teams.
  • This positioned Adobe as the safe and reliable AI brand.

Outcome:

  • Enterprise adoption of Firefly surged
  • Brand value increased despite new competitors
  • Adobe strengthened loyalty by owning the “trusted creative AI” niche

Superpower Demonstrated:
Brand reputation as strategic armor.

Case Study 3: Salesforce — Trust + AI Governance as Market Leadership

Challenge:
AI skepticism was rising, particularly in B2B enterprise settings.

Trust Strategy:

  • Salesforce launched Einstein Trust Layer, ensuring secure, compliant AI usage.
  • They made data governance a major part of their messaging and brand promise.

AI Transformation:

  • AI copilots were integrated across Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Marketing Cloud with strict guardrails.

Outcome:

  • Enterprise buyers felt protected
  • Salesforce became the “safe AI” enterprise partner
  • Boosted upsells for AI products

Superpower Demonstrated:
Trust and compliance as a differentiator in the AI era.

Case Study 4: IBM — Thought Leadership and Ethical AI as Brand Power

Challenge:
Competing in an extremely complex enterprise AI environment.

Strategy:

  • IBM doubled down on ethical AI messaging through IBM watsonx.
  • Published frameworks for responsible AI usage.
  • Created industry-specific AI accelerators.

Outcome:

  • Increased adoption in heavily regulated industries
  • Key enterprise deals credited IBM’s ethical AI stance as a deciding factor

Superpower Demonstrated:
Brand trustworthiness for mission-critical AI.

Case Study 5: Monday.com — AI-Augmented B2B Marketing Execution

Challenge:
Fast-moving SMB and enterprise buyers needed speed and clarity in workflows.

AI Strategy:

  • Monday launched AI assistants for workflows, project plans, and marketing asset creation.
  • Marketing teams used AI to scale personalization and content creation.

Outcome:

  • Faster onboarding
  • Reduced friction in the customer journey
  • Improved brand perception as an automation-first productivity platform

Superpower Demonstrated:
AI-native features that elevate brand experience.

Case Study 6: Snowflake — Building Trust Through Data Ecosystem Transparency

Challenge:
Prospects were wary of vendor lock-in.

Strategy:

  • Snowflake built trust by enabling open data sharing and multi-cloud interoperability.
  • Their marketing emphasized transparency and flexibility.

AI Transformation:

  • Snowflake partnered with leading AI models and embedded ML-powered data governance.

Outcome:

  • Enterprise adoption grew
  • Snowflake became the default enterprise data cloud platform
  • Analysts praised its consistency in trust and ecosystem openness

Superpower Demonstrated:
Trust in data integrity + AI-driven data capabilities.

COMMENTS & EXPERT INSIGHTS

1. Trust Becomes the Primary B2B Currency

By 2025, buyers are:

  • More skeptical
  • More informed
  • More risk-averse

Companies that demonstrate:
Transparency
Security
Ethical use of AI
Customer advocacy

…win deals faster.

Trust is no longer an add-on — it’s the foundation of B2B growth.

2. Brand Strength Is a Strategic Asset, Not Decoration

B2B purchasing has become emotional and experiential, not just functional.

Strong brands win because they:

  • Reduce perceived risk
  • Shorten sales cycles
  • Increase pricing power
  • Attract talent and partners

In 2025, brand = competitive moat.

3. AI Is the New Operating System of B2B Marketing

Not just a tool — an infrastructure layer:

AI transforms:

  • go-to-market
  • content creation
  • intent identification
  • deal forecasting
  • customer experience
  • ABM targeting
  • campaign optimization

AI supercharges every part of the funnel.

4. The Highest-Performing B2B Companies Combine All Three Superpowers

Leaders in 2025 share three traits:

Trust → Brand → AI → Growth Flywheel

  • Trust drives adoption
  • Brand drives preference
  • AI drives efficiency and impact

Together, these create a scalable, defensible growth engine.

5. Marketers Must Evolve to Multi-Skilled Operators

The new B2B marketer must blend:

  • data literacy
  • brand thinking
  • storytelling
  • AI orchestration
  • buyer psychology

The job is becoming more technical, strategic, and creative at the same time.

6. Companies That Ignore Trust or Brand Will Lose to AI-First Competitors

AI without trust = dangerous
Brand without AI = slow
Trust with no brand = invisible

Winning B2B companies integrate all three.

7. Multichannel Trust is Now Mandatory

B2B customers verify a company through:

  • employee voices
  • analyst reports
  • peer reviews
  • third-party integrations
  • security certifications
  • public governance statements

Every interaction must reinforce credibility.

 

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