The main focus of the Adobe Partner Summit 2017 was the idea of “making experience your business”. What this means is that brands need to begin delivering a powerfully uniform, yet personalized, experience to each and every one of their customers. With the amount of content that is being thrown in front of consumers these days it’s no longer enough for brands to simply be segmenting and campaigning toward their targeted audiences. Brands have to become fully fleshed out always-on experiences if they really want to stand out amongst their competitors. According to Adobe, there are four pillars that a brand must stand on in order to achieve this; know me and respect me, speak in one voice, make technology transparent, and delight me at every turn.
Adobe Experience Cloud
As a result of this new outlook, Adobe announced the Experience Cloud, which is made up of the Analytics, Marketing, and Advertising Clouds all tied together by the new AI Adobe Sensei. The introduction of the Advertising Cloud into Adobe’s lineup has put them on the map for media buyers who, prior to this, tended to leave Adobe to marketers while they utilized other tools better suited to their needs. Some of the strengths of this new platform that were highlighted at the conference include the cross-channel capabilities, the Experience Cloud integration that closes the gap between analytics and ad buying, and the inclusion of the dynamic creative management system. All in all, the Experience Cloud is without a doubt Adobe’s bold answer to their bold new outlook of making experience their business.
Other innovative features of the Experience Cloud that were discussed at the summit include geo-targeted offers using RightSpotIQ, timely offers with the use of Adobe Sensei, customer journey optimization with JourneyOrchestration, integration into voice-activated personal assistants with BeyondClick. All of these features are clear indicators of Adobe’s over-arching mission to becoming an all-encompassing experience for each and every one of their customers. Whether it be the issue of being available on all channels that their customers are on or tackling the disconnect between two stages of the customer lifecycle, Adobe is doing everything in its power to make data-driven personalized customer engagement a seamless, streamlined process.
What “making experience your business” really means
In closing, the new tools and tech that Adobe introduced at the summit were simply examples of how they are leading the way for their vision of making experience the business of brands. The key takeaways that can be deduced from their tools and vision can be found in the four pillars that they focused on throughout the week. First and foremost, brands need to make their customers feel like they know and respect them by reading their data properly and turning that data into relevant content. When and where this content is delivered to the customers is just as much a part of the equation as the content itself. Secondly, brands need to deliver consistent and familiar language when speaking to their customers, it’s important for brands to speak in one voice because it allows customers to better relate. The third takeaway is that brands should make technology transparent; ensure both customer participation and ease of use by making the entire experience as accessible as possible. Finally, brands need to delight customers at every turn, which is a culmination of all of the other moving parts coming together. By being a seamless, accessible experience brands will connect with customers on a level that was previously unimaginable.
As for how we, SundaySky, fit into this whole picture is apparent in the trends that were brought to light at the summit. It’s obvious that video is, and has been, the key medium for brands to use when communicating with their customers. The VP of Business and Marketing Partnerships for Facebook stated at the conference that 100 million hours of video are consumed on Facebook daily and an impromptu crowd survey during one of the breakout sessions revealed about 80% of the crowd is currently exploring video personalization. Not only does SundaySky’s view of customer engagement match that of Adobe’s new mantra, but creating truly 1-to-1 video communications between brands and their customers is literally our business.
