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This is London calling. We’ve arrived at the Excel for Adobe Summit 2023. It’s warm, it’s bright, and we’re already two coffees in – so it should be a great day.
Centered around creating modern digital experiences, Adobe Summit is a must for anyone in marketing, eCommerce, CX, data analytics, and more. And we’ll be here bringing you all the latest news and updates as they happen. We’re expecting to see announcements across a range of products, including Adobe Firefly and Adobe Express.
The morning begins with Adobe boss Shantanu Narayen taking to the stage for the opening keynote. He’ll be joined by President of Digital Experience Business Anil Chakravarthy, President of Digital Media David Wadhwani, and business leaders from other organizations.
Not long to go now.
The lights dim, the music cranks up. It’s about to start….
President of Digital Experience Business Anil Chakravarthy hits the stage to welcome everyone.
First mention of generative AI – and we’re only three minutes in. Expect many, many more…
“Digital markets and digital products are converging,” says Chakravarthy. And it’s up to businesses to connect and personalize experiences.
He calls it “experience-led growth”.
Shantanu Narayen, CEO, comes to the stage. The focus is on the revolutionary nature of everything digital – he likens it to the radical impact of mobile.
“Creators need tools with power and precision” to get the right message to the right people at the right time.
Narayen highlights the decades-long investment in AI, and Adobe’s approach to the new technology, which can loosely be described as “responsible”.
He explains that content will be tagged to increase transparency, provenance, and authorship.
President of Digital Media David Wadhwani bounds to center-stage. He tells the audience, “marketing happens in real-time. It’s as fast as social.”
Building on Narayen’s comments, Wadhwani says AI-generated content from Adobe is safe for commercial use since it tracks all the data from start to finish.
“Adobe magic,” Wadhwani says after a display of Adobe Firefly working inside Photoshop.
But now the focus is on Express, with creative teams and marketers brought together with the tool.
The company’s showing some major love to the online graphic design app. Better integration with other Adobe products, more stock imagery, and built in gen AI. Ever wanted to create unique font textures through artificial intelligence? That’s a thing now.
It’s official: Adobe Express and Firefly for Enterprise is now available.
Chakravarthy returns to talk marketing, marketing teams, and marketing tools. Adobe Mix Modeller and Adobe Product Analytics are getting a whole lot of love, and we’re promised a demo later during the keynote.
After that interlude, Narayen is back on stage for a fireside chat with CEO of Publicis Group Arthur Sadoun. They’ve set up a table and two chairs. No actual fire, though.
What’s new in the constant world of marketing? Sadoun says there businesses are keen now to engage directly with customers (and their data). It’s a shift from third-party to first-party engagement. It’s all about that ‘experience-led growth.’
Sadoun says what he likes about AI, which his firm have gone all in on, is how it helps make us better.
Too much content. The wrong content. These are issues faced by many businesses today. Sadoun notes serious challenges with the content supply chain.
Invoking The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, Sadoun tells us he often thinks it’s not important to be the best at what you do. It’s important to be the only one doing it.
To end, Narayen lightens the mood with a word association game – “Polo?” he asks. “Youth,” Sadoun replies.
And we’re back with Chakravarthy. He explains that integration is one of the most important factors for a true digital experience. He says businesses can go from receiving a customer signal to taking action and gathering insights without pause. It’s effectively possible with Adobe.
Sonali Patel now takes the stage. We’re shown a demo on the AI-infused Adobe Experience Platform that empowers businesses throughout the customer journey. New ways to engage, new ways to activate advertising.
“Fasten your seatbelts,” she said. “Let’s take a ride.”
Content, content, content. We’re back with Chakravarthy to learn how Adobe is rethinking the content supply chains – from planning and production, up to delivery, and analysis.
New campaign planning and visualizations are coming.
“it’s past time to modernize,” he says – aiming his words at businesses still running on spreadsheets.
Here’s an interesting one: Through the power of Sensei, you’ll be able to analyze a piece of campaign content from color to copy. It’ll let users really drill down into their audiences.
So, marketing metrics don’t have to be a superficial, top-line numbers game – always a tricky thing to quantify for creative work.
Another fireside chat (no, there’s still no fire). This time, it’s a conversation between reps from Adobe and Covento.
But my word, someone’s left a mic too close to the electrics. It’s squealing through the main hall.
Luc Dammann, Adobe’s President of EMEA, finishes his chat and turns attention to those in the hall.
“Trust is the imperative,” he says, noting that customers want to be seen, understood. Experiences need to be “personalized but also a human way. Establishing a connection is so important. Easier said than done. You know this.”
And that’s a wrap. We’ll be back for tomorrow’s keynote with Emma Thompson (yes, that Emma Thompson).
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