An email dings your inbox. The ask? Your boss wants you to lead the charge on a new back-to-school campaign. It needs to be “fresh and poppy,” have Gen Z appeal, and increase sales by 5%. It also must produce enough video and photography content for seamless marketing across dozens of channels, all while keeping customers engaged and your boss beaming.

You? Overwhelmed. How will you accomplish this Herculean task? What creative approach should your agency take—and how will you direct it?

Remember when we all went back-to-school shopping?

It was, at best, a bittersweet endeavor. 

On one hand, it basically meant that summer was over. Once the calendar hit August, we groaned as we embarked on the slow march toward the first day of school—which would be briefly interrupted by a little slice of retail euphoria. Get in the car, kids, we’re getting everything you need for the new school year and we’re going to do it in like, four hours. Our parents truly loved us, didn’t they?

I’ll just get right to it: if your B2B website leads with your products, you’re doing it wrong.

“But we have the best products!” you say. “We manufacture them in the U.S.!” “Our R&D is second to none!” I hear you, and that’s all still important. But a lot of your competitors claim the same things. And no matter how flawless your SEO, your competitors are also being found for the same things. So why should a prospect choose you?