The State of B2B Creative: What 500+ Projects Tell Us About Where Budgets Are Going in 2026

Every year, marketing leaders face the same question: where should we invest our creative budget this year? The answer used to be straightforward, sales decks, case studies, trade show booths. Not anymore.

We spoke with Monet Sommers, Vice President of Creative Partnerships at SketchDeck, about the 500+ creative projects her clients are prioritizing for 2026. What emerged wasn’t just a list of deliverables; it was a portrait of how B2B marketing is fundamentally transforming. The patterns reveal where the pressure points are, what’s actually working, and where smart companies are placing their bets.

Here’s what the data tells us.

The AI Communication Challenge Is Real (And Getting Bigger)

“Almost every tech client I have is trying to communicate how AI fits into their product without sounding like they’re just jumping on the bandwagon,” reports Monet Sommers, Vice President of Creative Partnerships at SketchDeck. “They need pitch decks, one-pagers, and website content that makes complex AI capabilities understandable to buyers.”

Monet Sommers, VP of Creative Partnerships at SketchDeck

This isn’t surprising; AI is everywhere. What’s revealing is why this creative work is suddenly urgent. The business goal is differentiation. “Everyone’s claiming ‘AI-powered’ so they need to show specifically what their AI does and why it matters,” Sommers says.

The explosion in AI explainer content reflects a deeper challenge: commoditization anxiety. When every competitor can claim AI capabilities, the companies that can clearly articulate their specific value proposition win. The ones that rely on buzzwords lose.

This trend also signals a maturation in how B2B buyers evaluate AI claims. Three years ago, “powered by AI” was a selling point. Today, it’s table stakes. Buyers want to understand the mechanism, see the outputs, and quantify the benefits. 

Sales Cycles Are Breaking (And So Is Traditional Sales Content)

Sommers flagged: sales cycles are getting longer.

“My B2B SaaS clients’ sales cycles are stretching,” Monet notes. The creative response? “They need modular presentation systems where reps can customize for different stakeholders, CFO-focused ROI slides, technical architecture for IT, and change management content for operations.”

Monet Sommers, VP of Creative Partnerships at SketchDeck

This shift from monolithic pitch decks to modular content systems represents a fundamental rethinking of sales enablement. The old model assumed a linear sales process with a consistent audience. The new reality is that different stakeholders need different content at different times, and sales reps need to assemble the right narrative on the fly.

The implication for creative teams is significant: you’re no longer building a single compelling story. You’re building a content architecture that supports dozens of possible stories depending on who’s in the room.

Sommers, who works with growth-stage companies, sees this playing out in product demonstrations too. “Traditional slide decks aren’t cutting it anymore for product demos. They want screen recordings with voiceover, interactive Figma prototypes, even simple web-based demos prospects can click through themselves.”

The driver is “shortening time-to-value perception, prospects need to see the product working, not just hear about features.” When sales cycles stretch to six months, anything that accelerates buyer conviction becomes worth the investment.

Proof Matters More Than Promise

If there’s one theme that cuts across every account manager, it’s this: prospects want evidence before engagement.

“Prospects want proof before they’ll even take a meeting. My clients are investing heavily in video case studies, interactive ROI calculators, and data-rich one-pagers showing actual customer results. It’s about reducing sales friction by answering ‘does this actually work?’ before the first call even happens.”

Monet Sommers, VP of Creative Partnerships at SketchDeck

Another SketchDeck account manager, who manages enterprise accounts, sees the same pattern manifesting differently. “My clients want to be quoted in Forbes, appear on podcasts, speak at conferences. They’re commissioning original research reports, data visualization, and ‘state of the industry’ content they can shop to journalists.”

What’s driving this? “It’s a brand play, they’re fighting for mental real estate in crowded markets where paid ads don’t cut through anymore.”

Smart companies are leading with evidence: customer data, third-party research, earned media credibility, and transparent demonstrations.

In-Person Is Back (With a Vengeance)

After years of virtual fatigue, physical events are commanding serious creative investment.

“In-person events are BACK and my clients are going all-in,” Sommers reports. “We’re talking booth graphics, presentation decks for speaking slots, leave-behind materials, digital screens, and AR experiences for larger booths. After years of virtual fatigue, they’re betting big on face-to-face.”

Monet Sommers, VP of Creative Partnerships at SketchDeck

The goal is pipeline generation. “They want these events to capture leads that convert.”

What’s interesting isn’t just that event spending is up, it’s how companies are approaching event content differently. The bar has risen dramatically. A booth with a logo and some brochures doesn’t cut it anymore. Companies are creating immersive experiences, interactive demonstrations, and memorable brand moments because they recognize that in-person opportunities are priceless.

This also reflects a broader realization: not all channels are created equal for relationship building. You can generate awareness digitally. You can nurture leads via email. But for complex B2B sales where trust and relationship matter, face-to-face interaction still carries unique weight. The creative investment follows that insight.

Multi-Channel Coordination Is Non-Negotiable

Gone are the days when a product launch meant shipping a press release and a sales deck.

“They want launch kits: website hero sections, social assets, email sequences, sales sheets, demo videos, press releases,” Sommers explains. “Multi-channel is the mandate. The driver is that launches fail when messaging isn’t consistent everywhere simultaneously, so they’d rather invest upfront in a coordinated package than scramble to create assets piecemeal.”

Monet Sommers, VP of Creative Partnerships at SketchDeck

Another account manager, who works primarily with marketing and brand teams, sees this playing out in demand generation too. “Not one-off assets but orchestrated campaigns: a hero piece, research report or interactive tool, surrounded by 20+ derivative assets like blog posts, social content, email sequences, infographics, short videos.”

The shift toward campaign thinking rather than asset thinking reflects marketing sophistication. Savvy teams recognize that a single piece of content, no matter how good, rarely moves the needle. But a coordinated system of content that reinforces the same core message across multiple touchpoints? That creates momentum.

For creative teams, this means moving from project-based work to program-based work. The brief isn’t “create a whitepaper.” It’s “create a content ecosystem that drives pipeline over the next quarter.”

Internal Enablement Is Getting External-Quality Investment

One of the most surprising findings: the volume of high-quality creative work being commissioned for internal audiences.

“My clients are prioritizing training and internal enablement content, new product features, compliance updates, process changes,” reports Sommers. “They need internal presentations, interactive modules, and video tutorials for global teams. With hybrid work, they can’t just do a conference room training anymore.”

Monet Sommers, VP of Creative Partnerships at SketchDeck

The business challenge driving this investment? “Products are getting more complex and teams are more distributed, so knowledge transfer is a major operational bottleneck.”

This represents a philosophical shift in how companies think about internal communications. For decades, internal content got the leftover budget and minimal design attention. The assumption was that employees would tolerate boring, poorly designed materials because they had to.

That assumption no longer holds. In a hybrid work environment where attention is fragmented and employee retention matters, internal communications need to be as compelling as external marketing. Companies are recognizing that a confused sales team costs more than a confused prospect, and that poor internal enablement directly impacts revenue.

Another internal content category getting serious investment: board and investor presentations. “Economic uncertainty means CFOs and CEOs are facing way more scrutiny from boards and investors. They need quarterly business reviews, fundraising decks, M&A presentations that tell compelling data stories. These can’t look like internal decks, they need to be polished, strategic, and tell a clear growth narrative.”

Monet Sommers, VP of Creative Partnerships at SketchDeck

The stakes? “Literally hundreds of millions in valuation or funding.”

Compliance Content Is No Longer Optional (Or Boring)

“New regulations in AI, data privacy, ESG reporting mean they need to communicate complex compliance topics to customers, partners, and internal teams. It’s risk mitigation, if they don’t explain these things clearly, they face legal exposure or lose customer trust. Nobody budgeted for this work, but it’s critical.”

Monet Sommers, VP of Creative Partnerships at SketchDeck

The rise of compliance-driven creative work reflects an under-discussed reality: regulatory complexity is becoming a competitive differentiator. Companies that can make compliance understandable build trust. Companies that treat it as a checkbox lose deals to competitors who demonstrate their governance maturity.

This is particularly acute in AI, where regulation is evolving rapidly and buyers are appropriately cautious about data usage, bias, and transparency. The creative challenge is making defensive content feel strategic, turning “we comply with regulations” into “we’re a trustworthy partner in a high-risk category.”

Geographic Expansion Demands Cultural Intelligence

“My clients are entering EMEA and APAC markets and need everything adapted—not just translated, but culturally localized,” Sommers reports. “Different case studies, different visual styles, different messaging frameworks.”

Monet Sommers, VP of Creative Partnerships at SketchDeck

The challenge? “Their US-focused content doesn’t resonate in other markets, and they will lose deals because of it.”

This insight challenges the efficiency-driven impulse to create “global” content that works everywhere. The reality is that what resonates in Silicon Valley often falls flat in Singapore or Stockholm. Color symbolism varies. Humor doesn’t translate. Case studies featuring US companies may not impress international buyers who want local references.

The companies investing in proper localization—not just translation—are signaling that they take international markets seriously. It’s expensive, but it’s less expensive than losing deals because your content feels American-centric.

What This All Means

When you step back from the individual trends, a larger pattern emerges: B2B creative is splitting into two distinct categories.

Efficiency-driven creative focuses on doing more with less, modular content systems, derivative assets from hero pieces, partner toolkits that scale reach without scaling headcount. This is about operational excellence in content production.

Trust-driven creative focuses on building credibility in a skeptical market, proof-based case studies, thought leadership content, executive visibility, and transparent demonstrations. This is about overcoming buyer hesitance in extended sales cycles.

The companies that win in 2026 aren’t choosing between these approaches. They’re doing both simultaneously. They’re building content systems that scale efficiently while also investing in the high-trust moments that accelerate deals.

The other major theme: the boundaries between internal and external content are blurring. Training materials need external-quality production. Compliance content needs to be engaging. Internal enablement directly impacts revenue. The old assumption that internal audiences would tolerate mediocre design is dead.

Finally, there’s a sophistication gap opening up. Companies that understand these trends are investing strategically, building content architectures, not just creating assets. Companies still operating on the old playbook are commissioning one-off sales decks and wondering why they’re not moving fast enough.

The Budget Allocation Question

So where should B2B marketing leaders allocate creative budget in 2026?

Based on what 500+ projects tell us, here’s where the smart money is going:

High-priority investments:

• Modular sales enablement systems that adapt to different stakeholders
• Proof-based content (case studies, customer data, ROI calculators)
• Multi-channel campaign packages, not isolated assets
• Internal enablement content at external-quality levels
• Localized content for international expansion
• Partner enablement toolkits that scale through channels

Emerging priorities:

• AI explainer content that demonstrates specific value
• Compliance communication that builds trust
• Executive visibility content and thought leadership
• Interactive product demonstrations
• Event experiences that justify in-person investment

Declining priorities:

• Generic capabilities presentations
• One-size-fits-all sales decks
• Text-heavy whitepapers without supporting assets
• Purely translated (not localized) international content
• Internal communications treated as afterthoughts

The common thread? Content that respects buyer skepticism, enables complex sales cycles, scales efficiently, and builds trust through evidence rather than assertion.

As we move into 2026, the companies that understand these shifts won’t just have better creative, they’ll have a structural advantage in how they go to market. That’s where the budget should go.

Ready to future-proof your B2B creative strategy for 2026? 

Partner with SketchDeck to design scalable, high-impact creative systems that deliver consistency, efficiency, and results.