An inside look into Adobe India Symposium 2019

Contributed by Ravi Sharma, Manager Employee Communications

The stage was set. On April 16, more than 1,600 folks descended on the Grand Hyatt Mumbai to be a part of one of the biggest marketing events in India – The Adobe India Symposium. Spanning a full day of, the Symposium brought together great minds, all dreaming up the best ways to bring amazing experiences to life.

And even before the start of the Symposium, Adobe hosted a series of pre-conference trainings, receptions and customer networking dinners to set the stage for the big event, focusing on driving deeper engagement between partners and Adobe teams. Here, our Adobe leaders shared our growth opportunity, Experience Cloud vision and why partners are essential to the growth of the Experience Cloud business in India.

But now, for the day-of highlights!

Adobe leaders talk about the future of tech

The main event was kickstarted by Kulmeet Bawa, Managing Director, South Asia, who spoke about India as the next growth engine for the digital economy, and how it is turning into a mobile-only country where digital experiences matter now more than ever. And after his enlightening keynote, Aseem Chandra, SVP, Experience Cloud Strategic Marketing, took the stage. My favorite quote of the day came from Aseem when he said, “retention is the new growth.” Additionally, in his keynote, he talked about privacy principals governing Adobe and our products and how our customers’ privacy is at the forefront of everything we do. I couldn’t agree more. Suresh Vittal Kotha, Vice President, Experience Cloud, Platform & Products, then took the stage to talk about the diverse offerings within Experience Cloud that help create end-to-end customer journeys. He also spoke about our Magento and Marketo acquisitions and how the convergence of B2C and B2B is leading to B2E (Business to Everyone).

Aseem Chandra, SVP, Experience Cloud Strategic Marketing, addresses the audience.

Our customers take the stage

Some of the most valuable keynotes actually centered around Adobe’s customers. For example, we heard from Falguni Nayar, Founder and CEO of Nykaa.com, and got a glimpse of Nykaa’s journey as India’s largest beauty retailer and how they are creating exceptional experiences. Other customers included Ambareesh Murty, co-founder of online furniture store Pepperfry; and Kavita Nair, Chief Digital Transformation Officer of Vodafone Idea. We also heard from Pallavi Singh, Head of Marketing at MG Motors India. Pallavi explained the challenges she faced in setting up a completely new automobile company in the highly competitive Indian market, and how Adobe Experience Cloud and Creative Cloud are helping her reach the right customers.

Pallavi Singh, Head of Marketing, MG Motors India, shares her experiences.

Getting hands-on experience

Aside from customer stories, attendees were treated with products demos to see firsthand what Adobe is doing. Amy Robson, Sr Product Manager/Regional Evangelist, along with Soumitra Dhankar, Solutions Consultant, and Pragati Malhotra, Solution Consultant – Adobe Analytics Cloud, showed how Adobe Analytics is changing the game. We also saw a mesmerizing augmented reality demo by Marc Szulc, Principal Product Marketing Manager, who showed how Footlocker customers can interact with and order shoes in real-time.

Later in the day, attendees got to participate in breakout sessions. The two sessions I attended were “Experience-Driven Commerce” and “Design-led Customer Experience.” The first session gave insights into how using a scalable e-commerce platform with a flexible content management system, personalization and customer intelligence can give brands a competitive advantage. The second session highlighted Adobe Sensei’s use in making mundane processes faster and easier for marketers to reach customers.

Adobe partners at the event.

Ending the night inspired

The evening ended on a high note with a celebrity keynote by noted Bollywood actor Boman Irani, who, in his conversation with Sunder Madakshira, Director, Marketing, spoke of his escapades as a child and how he overcame the odds to reach where he is today. His mantra for success was, “keep your goal in sight and work relentlessly towards it until it is reached.”

Afterwards, attendees got to enjoy Sneaks, where Adobe employees got to showcase up-and-coming breakthrough technologies. Hosted by stand-up comedian and actor Biswa Kalyan Rath, the audience was blown away by the cutting-edge technology, and left excited for what the future holds.

Boman Irani, Bollywood actor, with Sunder Madakshira, Director, Marketing.

I had a great time at this year’s Symposium and can’t wait for next years!