Carat has won Silver for Media Innovation at The Drum Awards for Marketing EMEA, alongside FlightStory, for work that helped Vodafone compete in the UK SMB market in a way that hadn't been done before.
The Drum Awards for Marketing EMEA celebrate the brands, agencies and teams setting the standard for effective marketing across the region. Here's the campaign that earned us the recognition:
Vodafone: Business.Connected - Creating a new system for B2B marketing
Vodafone was being outspent by competitors in the UK SMB market and needed a smarter way in. Only 26% of SMBs felt advertising reflected the reality of running a business, and just 9% felt any emotional connection to large organisations. Founders weren't switching off from digital growth — they were switching off from the way brands talked about it.
The solution was a first-of-its-kind B2B media system, built with FlightStory, in which audience insight, creative production, and paid media operated as a single, continuously learning engine. FlightStory's FlightLab platform pre-tested 60 question framings per business area with real SMB audiences, replacing internal assumptions with proven, interest-led editorial direction.
Launched in August 2025, the campaign delivered 10 unscripted long-form episodes featuring 27 founders and generated 150+ short-form assets across YouTube, Meta, and TikTok. Over 1,000 hooks and editorial angles were tested across the campaign lifecycle.
YouTube VTR nearly doubled across the campaign cycle. Paid social CTR came in at 10x benchmark, with VTR running 14 points above benchmark. SMB brand consideration lifted by +4.61%.
Thinking about your B2B media strategy? Talk to our team.
