Most B2B funnels still open the same way. A dashboard. A voiceover. A list of features. A quick push to book a demo.
I think that approach is tired.
In 2026, video is only getting louder. IAB projects that U.S. digital video ad spend will pass $80 billion in 2026. Your buyer is seeing ads all day long. If your first frame feels like every other B2B ad, you lose them fast.
I’ve been filming since I was 14. I started with skateboard videos, then weddings, then a fishing show that aired on TV, then commercials. I’ve been running my production company since 2008, and these days I mostly work with growth-stage B2B SaaS and AI brands. I’m a filmmaker first, entrepreneur second, so I look at the funnel through a camera lens first.
Here’s the big point. Up to 95% of B2B buyers are not in-market at any given time. That means most people watching your ad are not ready to buy today. So your job at the top of funnel is not to force a conversion. Your job is to build memory.
That is why I believe the new B2B funnel is entertainment first.
I make commercials, but I don’t like commercials. I want the ad to feel like something people would actually choose to watch.
Key Takeaways
- Because up to 95% of B2B buyers are out-of-market at any given time, top-of-funnel video advertisements must prioritize building long-term brand memory over driving immediate software conversions.
- A LinkedIn analysis of over 13,000 B2B video advertisements revealed that only 7% feature human emotion, highlighting a significant market opportunity for entertainment-first creative strategies.
- Batch-shooting B2B video campaigns in a single versatile location allows production teams to capture 10 to 15 distinct scripts in one day, reducing overall content budgets by over 50%.
- B2B marketers can optimize funnel efficiency by retargeting buyers who watched at least 50% of an initial top-of-funnel brand video with a detailed 90-second software explainer asset.
- Deploying a cinematic, narrative-driven video hook for the SaaS brand Lavender generated over 300 asset variations in a year and prompted inbound prospects to reference campaign characters during demo requests.
- Broadcasting cinematic B2B advertisements on Connected TV platforms enabled the software brand Replicant to recoup its entire video production investment from a single enterprise sale within six months.
Why Entertainment Matters More Now
Most B2B ads feel dead.
A LinkedIn and MAGNA study found that 64% of decision-makers think typical B2B ads lack humor, 60% think they lack emotional appeal, and 59% think they lack relatable characters. That should wake people up. Buyers are telling us the work is bland.
The same problem shows up in the actual creative. LinkedIn’s review of more than 13,000 B2B video ads found that only 7% featured any human emotion. 7%. No wonder so much of the feed feels numb.
And this is not some fluffy brand argument. Creative work moves business. That same LinkedIn and MAGNA research found that ads seen as creative drove 40% higher purchase consideration, 34% higher research intent, and 23% higher brand preference.
Humor matters too. Kantar found that only 33% of ads use humor, while 50% of its Creative Effectiveness Award winners do. Their data also showed humorous ads are more expressive, more involving, and more distinct.
That lines up with what I see in the real world. People remember funny. People remember an emotion. Whether it’s a mental laugh or an outside laugh, like an LOL, that memory has value.
And entertainment does not always mean a joke every two seconds. Sometimes it’s comedy. Sometimes it’s suspense. Sometimes it’s just beautiful cinematography that makes someone stop and watch. I care about making the ad watchable.
Top of Funnel Should Build Memory
If most of your buyers are out of market, the first job of the funnel is memory.
That also matches how B2B buying works. Gartner says buyers spend only 17% of their buying journey meeting with suppliers, and when three suppliers are being considered, each one gets about 5% of the buyer’s total purchase time. 5% is tiny. You need your brand to show up in their head before your rep shows up on the call.
This is why I push hard against the “show the dashboard in the first three seconds” rule. A human cannot scan a crowded interface in three seconds and store it in memory. What usually happens is simpler. They recognize it as an ad and move on.
At the top of funnel, I really don’t want to sell anything. I want to grab attention and say, hey, here’s who we are. Remember us.
Even the budget logic supports this. Binet and Field’s B2B effectiveness analysis recommends roughly 46% of budget toward brand building and 54% toward sales activation. That feels right to me. Brand memory gets you on the list. Activation helps you close when timing lines up.
What I Want in the First Three Seconds
I want curiosity.
Sometimes that is a strong visual. Sometimes that is a weird image. Sometimes it is a beautiful, moody scene that feels more like Netflix than LinkedIn. I never want the opening to feel like a dry corporate explainer.
For Lavender, I opened one of the ads with the ending first. Lavender Joe is getting dragged away by the email police because he sent too much spam. Sirens are going off. Lights are flashing. Two officers are pulling this guy in a lime green suit through the frame. It looks polished. It looks funny. It makes people say, what the heck is going on here?
That hook worked because it asked a question. The audience wanted the answer.
We also shot Lavender in a real courtroom and in other cinematic locations with moody lighting. I wanted some of those spots to feel like a David Fincher movie where the audience questions which platform they’re on. Wait, am I on LinkedIn or am I on YouTube or Netflix? That reaction is gold.
And yes, I often hold the brand reveal until the end. I like when viewers get pulled into the scenario first. They might not even know it’s a commercial at first. Then the logo and tagline arrive after they’re already invested.
That campaign turned into more than 300 videos over a year. Prospects mentioned Lavender Joe on demo requests. I even had people recognizing the character around the industry, including at Collision in Toronto. That is the whole point of top of funnel. Build a memory link that stays alive until the buyer is ready.
Middle of Funnel Should Teach Clearly
Once someone watches half the ad, now you’ve earned something. You’ve earned the right to explain more.
This is where I like the 90-second explainer. This is where the product can breathe. This is where the buyer can learn what the software actually does and why it matters.
And when you do this stage well, it helps buyers move forward with less friction. Gartner found that buyers who see supplier information as helpful are 2.8x more likely to experience a high degree of purchase ease and 3x more likely to buy a bigger deal with less regret. Helpful wins.
So I like to retarget viewers who watched more than 50% of the top-of-funnel spot. First, I hook them with a funny or cinematic brand video. Later, I serve the explainer, the product walkthrough, the lower-funnel education, or a demo asset.
I still keep this stage less dashboardy than most teams do. If a client wants the UI early, I usually push it to the 8-second or 12-second mark. That gives me time to establish a proper hook first. I’ll also make alternate cuts if needed. One with the dashboard. One without. Let the market tell us what it likes.
I also prefer showing the problem with a metaphor and then letting the tagline deliver the aha moment. That keeps the top of funnel short and memorable. If leadership really wants the “after” shot, I can include it. I just don’t want the ad to feel tired before it even starts.
Bottom of Funnel Should Feel Warmer
By the time the buyer gets to sales, they should already know your name. They should already know your tone. They should already feel like they’ve seen you before.
That warmth matters.
Remember the 95% rule. A lot of people who see your ad will not buy right away. Some of them will save the brand name in their phone notes. Some will make a mental note. Some will say, I’m busy right now, but I’ll check them out later. That is still useful. You are setting the table for later demand.
That’s why I care so much about recall. When your brand shows up later in search, on a retargeting ad, in a founder’s LinkedIn post, or in a sales email, the buyer is no longer seeing a stranger. They are seeing a brand they remember.
This is where entertainment starts paying off in a more practical way. The brand video softens the room. The explainer answers the questions. Sales steps into a warmer conversation.
Video ads are just a splash in the bucket when it comes to marketing. I know that. The rest of the machine matters too. Your emails matter. Your landing page matters. Your sales process matters. But a memorable top-of-funnel video makes the whole system work harder.
One Safe Hero Ad Is the Risky Play
I want to be clear here. A safe corporate ad might work. I’m open to testing it. We just do not know until we test.
What I don’t like is betting the whole budget on one timid asset.
If that one ad flops, you have nothing else to lean on. No second hook. No alternate angle. No different pain point. No backup. That is why I keep saying that safe ads can be the risky move.
Creative matters more than many finance teams think. A meta-study across nearly 450 campaigns found that creative drives 49% of incremental sales. That is a massive lever.
I also can’t sit here and promise you some guru-style fantasy result. I can’t tell you a video will automatically 10x your growth. Nobody honest should say that. What I can tell you is that more quality creative gives you more chances to find a winner.
Humor is hard with humans. Art is opinion, not fact. One person laughs, another doesn’t. Fine. That is exactly why I like to diversify the scripts from safe to bold to unhinged.
Safe videos get impressions. Bold videos get views. The smart move is to test both.
How I De-Risk the Campaign
My whole production model is built around this idea.
I’ll spend weeks in pre-production. I’ll work with the client on the big idea, the scripts, the pain points, the casting, and the location. Then I structure the shoot so we can get a lot done in one place in one day.
A house gives me a kitchen, living room, office, hallway. An office gives me a conference room, desk area, hallway, lobby. We stay in one location and move fast. That is how I can shoot 10 to 15 short ads in a day without turning the work into junk.
Usually I’ll write a handful of core scripts tied to different pain points. Then I’ll swap the opening hooks, shorten the cuts, and create variations. One script gets five outputs. If we’re on a retainer, I use the data from the previous month to improve the next batch. That keeps the funnel fresh and helps fight ad fatigue.
I still love horizontal because I’m a filmmaker. But I always deliver the square and vertical cuts because your media plan needs them. LinkedIn already supports 16:9, 1:1, 9:16, and 4:5. So when I’m delivering 15 videos, you’re really getting 45 usable assets.
That is how I bring down the budget by 50% or more and add 10x the content compared with the old agency model. And if you originally wanted one commercial, the jump to 10 or 15 is usually not huge because the crew, the gear, and the location are already there all day.
If a couple of videos flop and a couple do really well, now we’re already winning.
CTV Matters a Lot in 2026
Now let’s talk about the couch.
Social media is overwhelming. Ads hit you every few seconds. The couch is calmer. People are there to relax.
The attention environment is different too. Nielsen reported that streaming accounted for 47.6% of total TV usage in March 2026. Wurl found CTV ad load was about 9 minutes per hour, which is lighter than traditional linear TV. That matters. The viewer feels less assaulted.
And B2B people are already there. LinkedIn and MAGNA’s CTV study found that 98% of surveyed LinkedIn users watch CTV weekly, 94% opted into ad-supported CTV, and 76% of sole decision-makers are open to B2B messaging there.
That is why I like to say CTV gives you TV-level attention with digital-style targeting.
I’m not telling you to stop running LinkedIn. I still like LinkedIn. I want CTV added to the mix. Use it to build memory on the big screen, then retarget that audience across social, YouTube, display, and email.
For Replicant, I shot a rainy diner scene at night with gritty lighting inspired by Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. It had tension, story, and a little humor. It felt like a mini show. That campaign recouped the production investment from a single sale within six months, and the client came back for another campaign.
That is why I keep pushing B2B teams to take CTV seriously. A funny or cinematic ad hits much harder on a 65-inch screen than in a tiny LinkedIn feed.
How I Help the Internal Marketing Champion Win Approval
A lot of the marketers I talk to are the champion inside the company. They love the vision. Then they have to walk it upstairs to a CEO or CFO.
I get that. So I help them.
I’ll often write sample scripts and big ideas before the deal closes. Sometimes that means free scripts. I want leadership looking at a real campaign idea, not a vague promise. Once the whole team signs off, my writing job is done and my directing job begins.
When you make the case internally, keep it simple. Tell them you are buying multiple shots on goal. Tell them one safe hero ad gives you one chance. Tell them a batch shoot gives you many hooks, many pain points, many formats, and a cleaner testing plan.
If you want the plain-English version, use the dating metaphor I like. Asking one person for their phone number gives you one chance. Asking 15 gives you much better odds. The same logic applies to creative.
And one more practical thing. Please fund the media side properly. If leadership gives you the video budget and then starves the ad spend, it becomes very hard to judge the work fairly.
Human Craft Still Matters
I use AI. I use it to brainstorm. I use it to help write. Creativity is limitless. It’s infinite.
But there’s still that human nuance that AI doesn’t have.
When I start a campaign, I ask the client to tell me what the product does like I’m 10. Then I ask for a metaphor. Then I ask them for the lingo their ICP would actually use. I’m not a professional in their industry. I’m a professional in my industry. So I need the client’s expertise, and they need my creative instincts.
Emotion still matters here. The same LinkedIn video research found that a highly emotive tone lifted engagement by 84% at the consideration stage, an authentic tone lifted it by 47%, and a human story lifted it by 16%. Human feeling moves people.
I see that on set all the time. A pause. A facial expression. A tiny hand gesture. A line delivered a little differently than I pictured it. Those moments can make the ad.
As social media fills up with AI content, I think real human production becomes more valuable, not less. If everything is AI on social media, it’s actually going to be pretty cool to see a commercial done by real people again.
Final Thought
Entertainment first gives performance marketing room to breathe.
It gives you a hook people will actually watch. It gives you memory that lasts longer than one scroll. It gives your explainer a warmer audience and gives sales a warmer conversation.
If you’re the demand gen lead fighting for better creative in 2026, start with one question. Will someone actually want to watch this?
If the answer is yes, your funnel gets stronger. Build memory first. Teach after. Test multiple angles. Keep the work cinematic. Safe ads will lose over time when every competitor looks the same.
The best marketing wins, and you have to create a video that stands out. Always Be Cinematic.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I prove to my CFO that cinematic comedy isn’t just a vanity play?
Lead with data. Creative drives 49% of incremental sales. Safe ads waste spend because they are ignored. Tell finance that highly creative ads drive 40% higher purchase consideration. It is your best performance lever.
Does an entertainment-first hook actually lower B2B Cost Per Lead (CPL)?
Yes, because it builds cheap memory links. LinkedIn data shows that leading with a highly emotive tone spikes engagement by 84%. That high engagement drastically lowers top-of-funnel CPMs. When you retarget those users with a product explainer, your CPL drops.
Should we cast our own sales reps or hire professional actors for humorous ads?
Hire professionals. I know it is cheaper to use your team, but comedic timing is a rare skill. Currently, only 7% of B2B ads feature any human emotion. You need trained actors to deliver that authentic feeling. Let your reps close deals, and let pros deliver the punchlines.
How long can a batch of 15 cinematic ads run before audience fatigue sets in?
Usually three to six months. Because we shoot multiple hooks and deliver them in every supported LinkedIn format – like 16:9, 1:1, and 9:16 – you get a deep bench of assets. Swapping a hook or an aspect ratio refreshes the ad enough to fight algorithm fatigue effortlessly.
How do we tie an entertainment hook to a complex, dry SaaS product?
Do not explain the software upfront. Dramatize the pain point. If you sell complex SaaS, visually exaggerate the chaos of the problem. Kantar found humorous ads are significantly more involving. Grab attention with a funny metaphor first, then transition to your dashboard later.
