The 10 Most-Viewed Adobe Summit Sessions
Explore our roundup of Summit 2020 sessions to find out what people are saying and what you may want to catch still.
Image credit: NVISH Solutions
On March 31, we made Adobe Summit an all-digital experience for the very first time, bringing “together” our community of customers, partners, analysts and employees to share best practices for managing experiences, and staying agile and innovative both in times of uncertainty and beyond.
If you’re wondering where to start with the 100+ on-demand videos — or where to go next — we’ve pulled together a few highlights you won’t want to miss.
#1. Welcome to Summit
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen’s Summit kick-off video from his home office — in fact, each session was filmed by the presenter from their home — highlights how digital is driving the economy, the role technology plays in digital transformation, and why a CIO-CMO partnership is key to success in business today.
“As we look around at this new digital economy, I see one constant: It is constantly changing,” Narayen told viewers.
Emphasizing that theme, Narayen introduces the Digital Economy Index, powered by Adobe Analytics, which analyzes trillions of anonymized visits to retail sites and tens of millions of product SKUs to track the state of e-commerce during COVID-19 — and beyond.
According to Narayen, “Digital isn’t only changing and reshaping our daily lives — it’s driving the economy.”
Anil Chakravarthy, Adobe’s new executive vice president and general manager of its digital experience business, appears in an in-depth presentation on the company’s newly launched CXM playbook, a tool for organizations big and small that builds users a customized plan to become a data-driven experience business. “Our customers understand the need to transform; their real challenge is how to do it. No matter what industry you are in, it is important to have a blueprint to accomplish this kind of transformation. You need to have a playbook.”
In addition, NFL quarterback Tom Brady shared an inspirational video highlighting the importance of a playbook in athletics, business, and in life. Be sure to get your own customized CXM playbook.
In his video keynote, Chakravarthy lays out Adobe Experience Cloud strategy. “At the heart of Adobe Experience Platform is the real-time customer profile. [It’s] a market-first combination of comprehensive customer insights, contextual awareness, and ability to take real-time actions.” With customer profiles combining millions of data points, these aggregated data sets provide the optimal environment for training and running AI and machine-learning models that can amplify customer experience insights. Last year, Adobe filed more than 400 patents worldwide and more than 30% of those are specifically related to AI and machine learning.
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#2. Content connects every experience
The Content keynote opens with Aseem Chandra, senior vice president for Adobe Experience Cloud, sharing the company’s vision for experience-driven commerce — specifically, why the integration of content and commerce is key to effectively managing customer experiences. In addition, Gina Casagrande, Adobe principal evangelist, walks through the latest Adobe Experience Manager updates, and, from Oslo, the chief digital officer of outdoor apparel leader Helly Hansen shares the company’s approach to delivering effective and efficient commerce experiences today.
#3. B2B gets into the experience business
Sarah Kennedy, vice president of global marketing for Adobe Experience Cloud, hosts the B2B keynote highlighting how leading B2B companies are building their brands, proving impact, connecting marketing and sales, and driving new revenue growth with account-based experiences. Nnamdi Nwoke, head of US growth marketing for SAP Concur, joins to underscore the importance of having the skills to communicate the way the business needs — beyond just marketing speak — as marketers become ground zero for growth.
Brian Glover, director of product marketing at Adobe, uses Honeywell assets to share a demo of new capabilities in Marketo Engage, including a new B2B purchasing workflow. And Marissa Dacay, head of global enterprise marketing for Adobe, reviews how Adobe, as customer zero, is focused on account-based experiences. “ABX is not and can not be a tactic or an end result. ABX is a strategy…requiring sales and marketing to truly operate as one team.”
Kennedy is passionate that the most personal buying experience that exists is B2B because there is so much riding on the decisions that are made. “There are real people that sit behind every deal and every decision,” she says.
#4. Getting insights from data
A few related offers or loosely aligned product recommendations just aren’t enough anymore. Today’s customers demand highly-relevant, high-value experiences from every brand they engage with — and 44% say they’re frustrated when a brand fails to deliver. You must have real-time, actionable customer intelligence to be able to drive loyalty, reduce acquisition costs, and increase revenue. In the Data & Insights keynote, Anjul Bhambhri, Adobe vice president of platform engineering, explores four imperatives for true customer intelligence — omnichannel, profile, governance, and real time.
#5. Accelerating retail and commerce
Jason Woosley, vice president of commerce product and platform, hosts the Commerce keynote. His opening remarks focus on the expanding opportunities for companies of all sizes, as well as the latest Magento Commerce product innovations.
During his kickoff, Woosley discusses the importance of business agility and how, with Magento’s new B2B Buyer Workflow, customers can request approvals, transfer quotes between users, and manage addresses at a company level with greater ease. He also shared insights on device-based payments and how, by shifting to this approach, customers are seeing a 20% lift in mobile conversion.
Chakravarthy appears with Woosley to highlight how the latest market shifts are demanding more traditional brick-and-mortar brands to get online and start generating retail sales. This will no doubt redefine how we think about customer engagement going forward, and brands need to be prepared.
#6. Sneaks
Sneaks are always one of the more entertaining and inspirational sessions at Adobe Summit. It’s where the incredible engineers at Adobe take the stage to share short demos of future technology that is in the works at Adobe. Tune in to see technology reveals that may make it to future products — your vote can help decide. It’s not too late to head over to twitter and vote by ♡ing the Sneaks you love.
#7. Customer journeys demand end-to-end orchestration
Because every experience business must adapt to rapidly changing customer expectations — whether the customer is a consumer or a business — interactions must be orchestrated to be connected, contextual, and personalized. Suresh Vittal, vice president of platform and products for Adobe Experience Cloud, leads the Journey Management keynote to explain how Adobe’s customer journey management solutions help inform the next experience.
#8. Creating cross-channel advertising experiences
The advertising sessions kicked off with Keith Eadie, vice president and general manager of Adobe Advertising Cloud, and Greg Collison, head of product for Adobe Advertising Cloud. During the Advertising keynote, these leaders share how Adobe helps clients connect their ad channels to the rest of their technology, plus strategies and partnerships for future-proofing this essential corner of the business.
Eadie explains how we’re moving from the “exposure era” to the “experience era” and brands need to keep pace. Joseph Tertel, Director, Digital Marketing for Rite Aid, spoke to their “circular reduction campaign,” which moved their traditional paper promotions to digital.
Also central to the advertising track: data, privacy, and identity regulations. As the industry shifts to no more cookies, it’s important to understand how these changes — and the seemingly ever-changing privacy restrictions — impact your business and your customers.
#9. Marketing trends that impact business most in 2020
The top-viewed breakout session “Marketing Trends That Will Impact Business Most in 2020 — and Beyond” is presented by Jason Heller, Persado CEO, and John Copeland, Adobe vice president of marketing and customer insights. They explore the most important marketing trends for the next 12–18 months and spell out the challenges, opportunities, and best practices for success. For example, marketing is evolving faster than ever, as emerging technologies like 5G are driving massive growth in data, with more to come. As marketing continues to be a catalyst for organizational transformation, these trends demand greater focus.
#10. The future gets personal
Personalization takes centerstage in Data & Insights breakouts. The popular session, “Adobe Target & Adobe Experience Platform: The Future of Personalization,” connects the dots between teams, experiences, AI, and data, so organizations can personalize at scale. Ram Parthasarathy, Adobe principal product manager, breaks down the essential elements of cross-channel decisioning, including content management and content intelligence. He also shares a look at what’s next: an Adobe Offer Decisioning service, focused on decisioning for outbound channels.
A year unlike any other
This is just a sampling of the great content you’ll find at the all-digital Adobe Summit 2020. Come back as often as you like to view the sessions that will give you the insights and inspiration you need to grow your digital business. The environment we’re in now is accelerating the need and urgency of your digital transformation and we’re here to help.
Check out the 100+ Adobe Summit breakout sessions, all free and on demand.
