Adobe’s Secret to Effective Marketing: Find out how the company does that with the help of its CMO!

Monday: MicroBusiness and Marketing Marvels FROM THE DESK OF MILES EVERSON: As the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Adobe, Ann Lewnes is passionate about creativity and media. During her tenure, she has worked on various digital marketing solutions and on bringing creativity back to the technological space and in her marketing campaigns. At the moment, Lewnes is pioneering a new category of marketing―moving from digital marketing to customer experience management. Lewnes credits her success to doubling down on data-driven results. She believes in getting the right people and processes in place in a marketing campaign. Keep reading to know more about Lewnes perspectives on risk taking, redefining engagement, and the importance of a data-centric culture, commitment to change, creativity, and talent. CEO, MBO Partners Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute

Adobe’s Secret to Effective Marketing: Find out how the company does that with the help of its CMO! Ann Lewnes: Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Adobe Ann Lewnes watched too much TV as a kid. According to her, this admission and her passion for creativity and media still drive her as Adobe’s CMO and are manifested in the company’s marketing campaigns. Actually, when I think about it, Lewnes’ creativity is only half the equation because under her leadership, Adobe’s marketing organization has pioneered the shift to digital. By “digital,” I mean deploying a set of comprehensive digital marketing solutions, establishing an insight-driven culture, and setting an example for marketing strategic impact on businesses. It seems to me that being a successful marketer runs in Lewnes’ blood. Prior to her tenure at Adobe, she spent 20 years building the Intel brand as Vice President of Marketing. Lewnes also currently serves on the boards of Mattel and Ad Council. She’s named as the third most innovative CMO in the world by Business Insider, one of the world’s most influential CMO by Forbes, and part of Ad Age’s The Creativity 50, a list honoring the most creative people of the year. How awesome is that?! Indeed, Lewnes is one of those Marketing Marvels that we should look up to when it comes to establishing and strengthening our own brands. Let’s take a look at what Lewnes has to say about making big bets on digital marketing, cloud, and AI (artificial intelligence)... In one of her public speaking engagements as a keynote speaker at MarTech Conference last 2019, Lewnes discussed a few marketing technology trends and why, for her, robots will NEVER replace human marketers. Here’s what she said at the conference: “My secret is a lot of focus on results.” According to Lewnes, Adobe’s marketing success boils down to doubling its efforts on digital marketing early on when the strategy was still considered a fad. As early as 2010, Adobe put three-fourths of its marketing budget into digital, which gave marketing legitimacy by helping drive measurable business results. Aside from being an early adopter of digital marketing, Adobe was on the cusp of a massive transformation in the industry when it decided to turn its packaged software business into a cloud-based platform. Now, for Adobe’s MarTech (marketing technology) team led by Lewnes… The MarTech team is data driven and technology focused. In fact, Lewnes said they do a lot of internal consulting on new technology and industry trends for Adobe’s various business divisions. However, the team’s road to success is not always smooth-sailing. According to Lewnes, their primary struggle comes down to getting the right people and processes in place. In her words, “The tools themselves will not solve anyone’s problems. I believe, without changing the way you view your talent, technology is not going to work for you.” What did Lewnes do to overcome this struggle? She trained her team to expect AI and other types of machine learning to deliver in the coming years! But! Here’s the thing: Marketing requires instinct, intuition, and creativity. While robots can benefit marketers at task level, it’s still in the hands of the human marketer to make sure a company’s campaign is effective. So, despite all that’s changed in the marketing industry throughout the years, Lewnes believes creativity is one thing that remains the same and is inter-connected to data and analysis. As part of her passion for creativity and media, Lewnes connects data analysis and marketing automation to a brand’s humanity and ability to connect with its target audience. “I think automation leads to humanity. If a marketer can use data to better understand the customer, he or she can deliver better customer experiences―a win-win for the brand and the audience.” - Ann Lewnes Hope you’ve found this week’s insights interesting and helpful. Follow us on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for next Monday’s MicroBusiness Marvels! “I never wanted to be a businessman, because all the businessmen I knew didn’t want to be like. As every day passes, the work 50 people are doing here is going to send a giant ripple through the universe.” Learn more about Steve Jobs and how he established the reputation of one of the giants in the tech industry on next week’s MicroBusiness and Marketing Marvels!