Brand Jeopardy – The Risk and Reward of Brandstorytelling featuring Who is Watson? The Day AI Went Primetime
B2B marketing has a reputation problem. In a category where rational, feature-led messaging dominates, most brands play it safe—and most audiences tune out. But a growing number of marketers are placing a different bet: that the biggest risk in B2B isn’t telling a bold story, it’s not telling one at all.
This session puts that thesis to the test. We’ll open with the premiere of "Who Is Watson?", a short documentary produced by global B2B agency Transmission that captures one of the most audacious brand moments in tech history—when IBM bet its reputation on putting Watson on Jeopardy! and brought an enterprise AI into the cultural mainstream.
After the screening, we’ll move into a candid panel discussion on what it actually takes to make brand storytelling happen in B2B: the decision to invest, the craft behind great stories, the internal politics of getting alignment, and the business outcomes that justify the risk. Moderated by Transmission’s David Reid with perspectives from a documentary filmmaker, a brand leader at Qualcomm, and a marketing effectiveness expert from the ANA, this is a conversation about what separates the brands that play it safe from the ones that break through.
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