The person scrolling social media at work is the same human they are at home. Effective marketing creates an emotional connection by focusing on the person ("P2P"), not just their professional role ("B2B"), leading to stronger, longer-lasting brand affinity.

Rather than creating disparate events, Canva designs its annual "Canva Create" conference as a central brand moment with tailored tracks for different audiences like enterprise customers, educators, and creators. This "center of gravity" approach allows them to make the investment work harder and deliver a cohesive brand experience at scale.

When asked about competitors like Adobe, Canva's CEO consistently redirects the conversation away from a zero-sum battle for market share. Instead, she frames the company's strategy as identifying and solving a user problem: the need for a simple, integrated platform for creativity and productivity.

Adobe's CMO argues the best B2B marketers focus on customer problems and tell great stories to evoke excitement about potential, just like consumer brands. B2B marketing shouldn't be boring or purely functional; it must be creative and innovative.

Having run both functions, Canva's CMO applies marketing principles like lifecycle management to the employee experience (e.g., onboarding). This perspective treats employees as an internal audience, creating a strong brand experience both inside and outside the company.

B2B marketing often assumes a sterile, professional-only mindset. This is flawed. The same person scrolling LinkedIn during the day also binges consumer entertainment at night. B2B content should embrace humor and personality, recognizing that you're always marketing to the same multifaceted human being.

The core strategic goal of Canva's massive 'Love Your Work' campaign was to change user perception. It aimed to reposition the product from a consumer tool to a powerful, indispensable platform for professional work, which then influenced the entire funnel.

Canva's marketing org avoids a rigid B2B/B2C split, recognizing users don't distinguish between these contexts. They structure teams by business unit (B2B, B2C, International) and support them with channel centers of excellence, promoting collaboration and a unified brand experience.

Canva enters large companies through individual employees using the free product. Once a critical mass is reached, they approach leadership with an enterprise solution for brand consistency and security, solving pain points that have already emerged organically within the organization.