B2B campaigns often share a familiar profile: functional, and persuasive in the details. But that’s exactly why they tend to blur together. With the campaign ‘Your copilot to get invoices paid faster’, Payt deliberately chooses a different route. The interface or feature list isn’t the hero here — a strong metaphor is: a copilot that helps you perform faster, smarter and with more control, without ever taking the wheel. Creatively, that’s translated into an image that’s hard to forget: speed, teamwork and sharpness, with a clear division of roles between pilot and co-pilot.
Stramigo studied how this campaign lands and compared the results with the B2B/Software benchmark. The overall picture is positive, and especially interesting for marketers working in a functional category: Payt shows that a bold creative choice can build recognition and brand feeling without limiting yourself to product language. At the same time, the research points to the biggest growth opportunity: the link between the metaphor and ‘what Payt actually does’ could land just a little faster and more easily.
Standing out in a grey category: Payt breaks the pattern
The first reactions immediately show where Payt wins. People describe the campaign as “action-packed”, “eye-catching”, “original” and “different from the rest”. That is exactly the effect many B2B campaigns miss: they are informative, but rarely memorable. Here it’s the opposite: the imagery and energy make people keep watching and form an opinion. And that “forming an opinion” is valuable in itself, because it shows the campaign isn’t sliding past people unnoticed.
Compared with the B2B/Software benchmark, Payt scores just above average on ‘distinctive’. That may look like a small edge, but in this category it’s meaningful. Many B2B brands communicate from the same logic and use similar words, which makes it hard to earn any distinct place in someone’s mind at all. Payt’s creative choice keeps the campaign from feeling like a generic B2B message, and gives it its own style and story instead.
The power of the metaphor: the concept is felt, not just explained
The choice for ‘copilot’ works well because it immediately evokes a role. As a viewer, you instantly see: this is about standing beside you, helping, moving with you and keeping the pace. That fits finance teams who constantly need to adapt. The metaphor brings the promise back to one clear idea: Payt supports, but doesn’t take over.
In the responses, people pick up on the tone and direction well. Words like “speed”, “help”, “teamwork” and “looking ahead” keep coming back. That is exactly what you want as a marketer building a brand: people reflecting something back in their own words that matches your positioning. The concept is doing its job on associations.
At the same time, this is also the moment where a metaphor can show its flip side. Part of the audience is still working out exactly how the image connects to Payt, or what Payt actually is. That doesn’t have to be negative, but it does call for a smart balance: the stronger the image, the more you need to help lock in the meaning right away.
“It’s valuable to see that the core values we wanted this campaign to convey — distinctiveness, speed, forward thinking and humour — are actually recognised by the target audience. The next step is to connect that recognition even more clearly, across our other marketing activities, to Payt’s role as a financial copilot that helps organisations gain more grip on their receivables management and get invoices paid faster.”
Sanne de VriesHead of Global Brand and Operations, Payt
A positive foundation, with room to make the ‘Payt link’ land faster
Bottom line, there’s a strong foundation here: Payt is seen as distinctive and original, and the campaign triggers associations that fit the brand promise. The room for improvement mainly sits in ‘translation speed’: how quickly does someone who doesn’t yet know Payt understand what the brand does, and why it’s relevant to them?
In the benchmark, B2B/Software on average often scores a bit higher on factors such as appreciation and credibility. That’s not surprising: a lot of B2B communication is designed to reassure and explain immediately. Payt deliberately opts for more energy and tension instead. It follows that part of the audience needs a moment to switch gears, or finds it busy. You also see people occasionally describe the campaign as “confusing” or say they don’t immediately see the connection.
That is exactly where the opportunity lies, without touching the creative core. The marketing fix is rarely “more information”, but rather “something to hold on to”. One concrete anchor can already be enough: make it clear faster that Payt is software for receivables management and getting invoices paid faster, and connect that directly to the copilot image. That way the campaign stays just as cinematic and distinctive, while the viewer relies less on the very last moment to understand everything. For B2B, that can be the difference between “fun and eye-catching” and “this is interesting, I want to know more”.
Why this matters for marketers
Payt shows that B2B campaigns don’t always have to lean on explanation and arguments. Even in a rational category, you can build a campaign that works as a brand story, with a recognisable concept and a visual world that sticks. Precisely because many competitors mainly compete on arguments, a brand that becomes recognisable in style and imagery can build a head start in the target audience’s mind faster.
At the same time, it’s a realistic case for the trade-off that comes with more creative B2B campaigns: the stronger the creative layer, the more important the timing of your explanation becomes. The research doesn’t point to a change of course, but to sharpening. The campaign has attention and distinctiveness; with a slightly faster link to product and problem, Payt can translate that brand energy even more directly into understanding, trust and interest.
Lessons for marketers
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Dare to be recognisable in imagery, not only in your promise
In many B2B categories, the promises look alike. ‘Faster’, ‘smarter’ and ‘more grip’ are almost category claims by now. Payt shows that you mostly win by being recognisable in how you tell it: a concept you can summarise in one image, that keeps feeling consistent. If people describe your campaign as “different from the rest”, you’ve taken a first step toward brand recognition that goes beyond a loose claim.
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Metaphors work best when you label them right away
A metaphor grabs attention, but can also invite interpretation. The research shows that part of Payt’s audience is still searching for the precise link between image and product. The lesson isn’t to avoid metaphors, but to guide them faster: give context early in the piece about what you are (software), who you’re for (finance teams/business owners) and what you solve (invoices paid faster, grip on cash flow). That way the creativity stays intact, while the message ‘clicks’ sooner.
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Brand building and activation need to start together
A campaign can work very well as brand building and still activate in a limited way if relevance isn’t immediately clear. In B2B, that first threshold is often simple: ‘Is this for me?’ and ‘What’s in it for me?’ Payt’s campaign already has attention, so the biggest activation opportunity isn’t shouting louder, but shortening the route from attention to understanding to curiosity. Once the viewer grasps faster what Payt concretely does, the step toward searching, clicking or considering becomes smaller on its own.
Payt proves with this campaign that you can think big and creative in B2B too. With a few smart sharpenings in the link between metaphor and product promise, this approach can work even harder for understanding, trust and curiosity, while the campaign keeps its eye-catching, distinctive character.