Adobe wants its marketing to move at “the speed of social” and believes that by treating its influencers as “consultants” it will be better connected to its audience.
The design tool specialist – best known for its Photoshop and InDesign packages – has been utilising brand partnerships for decades as a way to boost credibility with the audiences that it serves.
Vice-president of international marketing Simon Morris explains “ambassadors” have always had early access to Adobe products and offer direct feedback to its product teams, so it’s “not a new thing” to focus on social marketing. But the modern marketing landscape is changing how the brand utilises influencers.
Adobe wants its marketing to move at “the speed of social” and believes that by treating its influencers as “consultants” it will be better connected to its audience.
The design tool specialist – best known for its Photoshop and InDesign packages – has been utilising brand partnerships for decades as a way to boost credibility with the audiences that it serves.
Vice-president of international marketing Simon Morris explains “ambassadors” have always had early access to Adobe products and offer direct feedback to its product teams, so it’s “not a new thing” to focus on social marketing. But the modern marketing landscape is changing how the brand utilises influencers.
“We recognise the impact of the content that creators create and by bringing that into our media, licensing it and using it in performance channels, it is having really great results,” he says. “We’re seeing really high return on marketing spend with that type of content. We treat creators as consultants rather than a tactical, one-off type of activity.”
That “trust and authenticity” Adobe’s partners have with their audience is a reason why creators have become a “bigger part” of the marketing mix, as the business looks to reach its audience in the “right places in the right way”. However, creator partnerships don’t just need to have an effect on the lower end of the funnel, they can make a difference at the top as well.
“Ultimately, your brand is what people say about it when you are not there,” says Morris. “And we believe that building these longer-term, trusted partnerships with creators puts us in a unique position to utilise the trust and authenticity they have with their audiences. It’s absolutely going to support the full funnel. Whether it’s awareness, consideration or conversion.”
The key word there, of course, is trust. And, for Morris, “faith and collaboration” are critical when it comes to working with creators, as much as it is when “empowering” Adobe’s local teams to produce content based on “local nuances”. Naturally, this means handing over that little bit of creative control.
Why Adobe has signed a three-year deal to be the new lead Women’s FA Cup sponsor“They may be micro creators that have very niche communities. They could be macro creators, like we did a partnership with Stephen Bartlett in the UK, because we were trying to reach solopreneurs and SMBs. We know that he’s a very trusted partner to that audience,” explains Morris.
“We build long-term relationships with those types of creators and work with them to quickly create content based on what’s happening and what’s relevant for the audiences they serve.”
This is where the idea of moving at “the speed of social” comes in. Morris believes there needs to be “agility” in how teams operate in the modern marketing culture, but that can’t come at the expense of its brand building efforts. By equipping its teams with AI tools like GenStudio and Adobe Express, the business believes it can build “frameworks and guardrails” around its brand templates and let teams create content that will “reinforce” the brand, as well as move quickly.
“We see this enormous explosion of content that’s only going to get bigger and bigger,” he says. “We know that marketing is under more pressure to deliver that content onto more channels and platforms, and we need to meet that challenge.”
Football crazy
One partnership Adobe is particularly proud of in recent years is its work with women’s football, specifically its sponsorship of the Women’s FA Cup. More than just being a badging exercise, Morris was keen Adobe used the resources at its disposal to help grow the game and excitement around the competition.
“We’re focused on inspiring more women and girls into sports,” says Morris. “The way we felt we could do that is by telling the stories that existed in the game from the clubs themselves.”
Morris points out how 500 teams entered the competition in the first round – around 80% of those amateur. Adobe spoke to these clubs and found the “biggest challenge” they have is around the skills needed to create great content that will appeal to potential fans.
The business gave the clubs access to Adobe Express and trained them on workflows to help them with everything from creating posters to promote upcoming games and designing match day programmes. Morris says Adobe now has over 100 clubs using these tools and templates to boost awareness.
‘Embrace the change or get left behind’: Inside the rise of B2B influencers“We’ve seen an explosion in not just the people that are following the Women’s FA Cup, but also the engagement rates with the amazing, interesting stories we’re telling of players in the game in these clubs,” he adds.
Adobe has always focused on “passion points” for its customers, says Morris, and while in the past these have tended to focus on fashion, art or film, the brand has recently seen sport as a way to tell stories and tap into the “emotion” that it brings.
Recent partnerships with the NFL and Real Madrid have continued that push into sport, although Morris accepts KPIs need to be different depending on the size of the partner, and their reach and scope.
“We will typically have brand trackers that we will look to change over time,” he explains.
“Often, as part of those partnerships, you’ll have a certain number of activations or campaigns throughout the year, which are built around empowering fans to tell stories, in which case we’ll have set targets around how many people are downloading Adobe Express and using the templates. Different metrics define success with any type of partnership.”
