LinkedIn’s Cannes B2B insight: defensibility beats differentiation

Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM. That line’s older than your average LinkedIn strategist, but it still explains most B2B buying decisions today. Not because the metaphorical IBM is the best, fastest or most visionary solution. But because IBM is defensible. Safe. If it goes wrong, it’s not your fault. It was the obvious choice.

That’s the uncomfortable insight in LinkedIn’s latest B2B playbook. Unveiled at Cannes Lions, but grounded in the kind of behavioural research that doesn’t make it into most pitch decks. When people buy on behalf of a company, they don’t buy with their brains. They buy with their reputations.

The fear isn’t making the wrong decision. It’s making the indefensible one. The one you have to explain. The one that raises eyebrows in a boardroom or a Teams call. A decision without precedent. Without backup. Without social proof.

That doesn’t mean the biggest brands always win. The most defensible ones do. The ones that feel safe, because they’re known. In the words of that other LinkedIn research: category-famous. You don’t need to be a household name. You need to be the name in your space.

Because trust in B2B doesn’t come from being everywhere. It comes from being known where it matters.

That’s why emotional validation matters more than logic. Why B2B is driven more by social proof than specs. Why “what the others are doing” is more persuasive than any badge or feature. Because people don’t want to be wrong alone. They want to be safe together.

So if you’re building a brand in B2B, stop trying to win the argument. Start helping your buyers win theirs. Give them the language to defend the choice. The stats, the stories, the quotes. Turn your proof into armour.

Because in the end, you’re not selling a product. You’re selling a decision someone can live with. And yes, maybe even get promoted for.