Canva head of B2B marketing Emma Robinson believes the best B2B work happens when creativity and intelligence support each other, not compete.
With more than two decades leading marketing for global tech brands including ThoughtSpot, Medallia, Google and Salesforce, Robinson now helps Canva show businesses how visual communication can drive clarity, alignment and growth. As a B2B juror for The Drum Awards Festival she brings a perspective shaped by experience across mature organisations, fast-growth companies and teams that rely on innovation to stand out.
“AI in B2B marketing is helping brands generate smarter leads, personalize content at scale and continuously optimize campaigns,” she says. It frees humans to focus on creativity and storytelling. Predictive analytics lets marketers double down on what works before budgets disappear. “At Canva, we see AI as a helpful assistant that enhances human creativity with data-driven intelligence.” For Robinson, the goal is campaigns that feel personal and relevant instead of automated.
Her view on balancing brand and demand is grounded in pragmatism. “I do not know if there is ever a perfect balance,” she says, but she treats brand like research and development. It creates future revenue and sets the conditions for demand to grow. When entering new markets her team leans into awareness and brand building first. Once presence is established they can invest more in demand generation. “The brand becomes the oxygen that sustains demand over time,” she says.
Standing out in a rational category requires marketers to resist the temptation to sound like everyone else. “We need to ensure AI makes us faster not duller, so always lead with creativity and humanity,” she says. Levity, narrative and emotional resonance are far more memorable than functional selling. She encourages teams to use analogies and storytelling to cut through the sea of sameness before layering in the functional proof. “The most resonant B2B brands are taking more inspiration from Disney than from instruction manuals.”
LinkedIn is her channel of choice for 2025. She sees it as the place where decision-makers are most open to ideas and where professional credibility meets creative formats. “Canva’s thought-leadership posts on creative transformation reach CMOs and spark conversations among their teams,” she says. The range of formats from carousels to video to live events allows marketers to blend reach with relatability.
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She believes the most overlooked challenge in B2B is the nonlinear buying journey. Multiple influencers shape decisions and buyers rely less on ads and more on peers, creators and communities. Success will come from aligning internal teams while tapping into external networks that drive authentic influence. The brands that master both will create consistent experiences that feel real and relevant.
The next generation of B2B marketers will need to be T-shaped. Robinson expects them to combine creativity with data fluency, adaptability with strategic storytelling and empathy with AI literacy. They will understand culture and craft and develop deep expertise in marketing technology and measurement. “There has never been a better time to build a career in marketing,” she says.
Her biggest challenge today is expanding enterprise adoption at scale. Canva enters many companies through enthusiastic users but the leap to enterprise requires persuading both marketing leaders and IT decision-makers. “We need to inspire teams with creativity and visual communication as a competitive advantage while proving enterprise-grade security and scalability,” she says. Effective B2B work must bridge inspiration and assurance, emotion and logic, every time.
The Drum Awards Festival celebrates the B2B leaders raising the standard for creative, intelligent and meaningful work. Follow jurors like Emma Robinson as they define what effective B2B marketing looks like in 2025.
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