Last week I attended the Adobe Marketing Summit in Salt Lake City, UT [disclosure: Adobe provided travel accommodations and complimentary access to the event]. There were two themes at play at this year’s Summit: the first was the “official” theme of Reinvention, the second, perhaps unofficial, theme was about execution. The meaning of reinvention as told by Adobe is that marketing must be reinvented in an age of customer empowerment, and marketers must reinvent themselves to take on this challenge. The execution perspective was embodied by the steps Adobe has taken from a product perspective to deliver on the promise of customer-centric, cross-channel (omni-channel?) marketing.
The reinvention theme was supported by a study Adobe had conducted with marketers indicating a critical skills gap and expectations for change. I don’t doubt this premise. Adobe touched on some of the implications and drivers of marketing disruption, and probably could have gone even further. For example, Digital Marketing Cloud SVP & GM Brad Rencher mentioned the emerging wearables market during his opening keynote (though he didn’t elaborate as much as I thought he could have on the marketing opportunities that it might present). One compelling example from the consumer world was Sephora’s innovative use of in-store technology for color assessment linked with their well-known customer loyalty program. A true digital experience as marketing example. This example, while perhaps a lofty in its nature, points to a general challenge of engineering digital experiences that go beyond traditional marketing channels, while considering how tried and true channel work smarter in such environments, which has implications across B2C and B2B marketing, especially in technology.
The notion of the skills and knowledge gaps that necessitates reinvention has been a focus for many CMOs over the last 5+ years as dueling demands of technology (digital experience) and content (creative execution) have vied for priority. It’s gratifying and impressive to hear a product company like Adobe make this assertion, since the solutions they offer are also part of the challenge (i.e. technology skills necessary to implement and run these systems), albeit a very necessary and rewarding challenge. Through our research, Aberdeen consistently identifies gaps between the activities marketers see as valuable, and the tasks they’re able to execute, from marketing technology, like the use of marketing automation platform functionality, to creative, like the ability to generate high-quality content to support marketing programs. We also consistently see, not surprisingly, that high-performing firms are more successful in closing these gaps through more effective execution.
This is where the 2nd, unofficial theme (leitmotif?), of execution comes into play. Over the last several years, Adobe has presented an impressive and compelling vision for marketing’s role in developing personalized digital experiences across channels. While always technically possible, the vision was, well, visionary. This year’s Summit focused (a little) less on vision and (a bit) more on the execution (a good thing in my view) through announcement of what Adobe calls Core Services, common components that work across solutions of the Adobe Marketing Cloud, such as a common Master Marketing Profile, a single user profile shared across solutions (an omni-channel buyer profile, if you will), Digital Asset Management (DAM) for common creative elements across components, and perhaps ultimately, dynamic content generation driven by analytics, and Tag Management, which supports invocation of the services (including non-Adobe services) on sites. Along with a common UI design, these core services have helped Adobe develop a successful formula for integration of acquired products and technologies. The work is not complete (for example, the DAM doesn’t work across all solutions yet), but the path is clear.
The tension between innovation, accessibility, and ability is driving the story for today’s CMO. Both the focus on reinvention through skills and execution through technology on display at Summit are critical to bridging the gaps. Adobe has as comprehensive and compelling a vision for “omni channel” digital marketing as any provider in the space.
