Have you noticed more predominantly consumer advertisers touting their ability to solve complex business problems? And, at the same time, business-to-business advertisers playing up their work for consumer products?

Both, I surmise, believe that their ads can rub off (in a very positive way) on their mainstream products, whether they be turbines or mobile phones.

Consumer marketers are seeking credibility in a commoditized world. AT&T might be best known for consumer phone service, but it also likes to demonstrate how it can use its technology to track business equipment. One of its commercials shows a bunch of semi-trailer with prefabricated homes and supplies moving in a caravan down a country highway.

The voice-over announcer explains that the chain of trucks is part of Genco Services in McAllen, Texas. “In here, heavy-rental equipment in the middle of nowhere is always headed somewhere.” A computer screen shows a truck’s ID number, time of arrival and location. A guy in the field pulls out his cellphone and pushes a button — and up comes a map with trucks arriving at the home office at that same time and location. “AT&T created a mobile-asset solution to protect and track everything. So every piece of equipment knows where it is and how it’s doing and where it goes next,” the announcer says.

Another campaign, for GE, shows how the company’s industrial prowess brings other companies’ consumer products to life. A TV spot features a guy who helps make turbines at its Schenectady, N.Y., plant and borrows consumer-ad techniques such as storytelling to show the worker up close and personal. “When I was a kid, I wanted to work with my hands,” the worker tells us. “That was my thing. I really enjoy building turbines. It’s nice to know that what you’re building is going to do something for the world.”

Read More at AdAge