Nerdy Is the New Sexy: How Adobe Is Giving Us the Tools to Transform Creativity
Leo Burnett’s SVP, group analytics director, Caitlin Winkworth, debriefs us on her visit to the Adobe Summit
At the end of March, more than 12,000 marketers, technologists, executives and data scientists descended on Las Vegas for the Adobe Summit, considered by many to be the world’s foremost digital marketing conference. Attendees explored the latest Adobe tools, heard from marketing innovators and saw how companies leverage human insights to build better, more relevant experiences for their customers.
Our own Caitlin Winkworth, senior vice president, group analytics director at Leo Burnett, was one of the many to hear how industry-innovating brands including the NBA, ESPN, USA Today, Prudential, T-Mobile and National Geographic are using technology to move closer to their customers.
We caught up with Caitlin for a quick look back at the conference, and what she’s most excited to share with her colleagues and clients.
What was the biggest takeaway from the Adobe Summit?
Caitlin: Nerdy is the new sexy. Technology has evolved to a point that makes the inspiration, delivery and evaluation of the consumer experience seamless across all channels. At the end of the day, consumers expect brands to know them. Data provides that context we, as marketers, need to make better decisions.
What did you see/learn that you weren’t expecting?
Caitlin: Ryan Gosling.
What are you most excited to share with your colleagues and incorporate into the work at Leo Burnett?
Caitlin: Two new features stood out as relevant partnerships to the work we do at Leo Burnett: Adobe + Microsoft Partnership and the rollout of Adobe Advertising Cloud.
Adobe and Microsoft announced their first set of joint solutions designed to help companies transform their customer experiences. What does this mean for Leo Burnett? In short, stronger integration between previously disjointed data and experience silos. With this partnership we’ll be able to tap into existing data sets sitting in a Microsoft system and translate those into cross-channel experiences powered by Adobe. In addition, the companies are collaborating on the first open industry standard to define and unify the language for marketing, sales and services data needed to deliver digital experiences consistently at scale.
Adobe Advertising Cloud is the industry’s first end-to-end platform for managing advertising across traditional TV and digital formats. Adobe Advertising Cloud simplifies the delivery of video, display and search advertising across channels and screens.
Leo Burnett already has a partnership with Adobe. Can you tell us about it?
Caitlin:Leo Burnett was the first creative agency within Publicis Groupe to lean into Adobe. We hold the largest group of Adobe certified professionals in North America. The partnership also gives Leo Burnett teams access training programs; a shared marketing fund that we can use to support speaking and thought leadership activities; and we can leverage Adobe to introduce us to new clients outside of our current portfolio.
What should clients know about the partnership with Adobe?
Caitlin:This year in partnership with Adobe, Leo Burnett is doubling down on data-driven storytelling. Our key focus is to marry Adobe’s technology stack with Leo Burnett’s belief that creativity has the power to transform human behavior. We believe data has the power to transform creativity.
What does data-driven storytelling mean to Leo Burnett?
Caitlin:Data-driven storytelling allows us to personalize content. First, a data-centric content model is embedded into “how work is done” to deliver inspiration at the right time and the right place. This then allows us to produce clear, reliable and actionable insights. With a true understanding of a consumer’s unique characteristics, we define audience segments and develop engaging content and messaging test plans to iteratively and incrementally improve marketing efficiency. In other words, we can deliver targeted engagement at scale.
How would you describe the Advertising Cloud and how will that change the way clients do business?
Caitlin: Adobe Advertising Cloud will finally allow brands to centralize all advertising planning and buying in one trusted platform with full transparency into where their ads appear and how effective they are at creating business impact. This transparency will allow clients to be much more targeted and nimble in the delivery of relevant and contextual messaging to their consumers.
Data-driven content creation, optimization, and delivery are so top-of-mind for brands today — this transparency will only increase the confidence in how these messages are delivered.