It's business-to-business time.

Is it time to revisit the rules of business-to-business marketing? Apparently, we're not the only ones who might think so.

B-to-B Magazine recently recognized that successful business-to-business agencies are adopting more of a business-to-consumer mentality. And why not? The goal is the same in both spaces: create an emotional connection with customers to sell more stuff.

So why is it that B-to-B projects often lack the same luster as their B-to-C counterparts? Consider the integrated campaign from Pearl Izumi above as Exhibit A.

When was the last time you saw a tacky, digitally enhanced donkey grinning at you? Sure, the metaphor is sophomoric, but we went straight to GetaHappyAss.com to see more of the campaign, anyway. And once there, we opted in to the Happy Ass challenge to win free bike shorts for life.

So, is it time to revisit the rules of B-to-B marketing? We're leaning toward yes. Breakthrough campaigns that break all the rules get the job done on the consumer side. They can and should achieve the same success on the business side.