Last week, Katie Laes from our sales and marketing team attended the Adobe Digital Symposium in Minneapolis, co-sponsored by Perficient & Adobe. Well over 100 marketing executives from Fortune 500 and mid-size companies gathered to learn, network, and gain expert insights into the world of digital marketing. The symposium featured three presentations by leaders in the digital marketing space- Adam Justis from Adobe, Mark Bonchek from thinkORBIT, and Ellen Anderson from Thomson Reuters. Katie shares a recap from the event that is a must-read for anyone focused on creating innovative strategies and gaining expert insights on digital marketing.
Katie’s insights: The Reinvention of Marketing: Creating Strategies & Gaining Insights
I was excited to attend the session focused on the “Reinvention of Marketing,” led by Adam Justis, Senior Manager of Product Marketing for Adobe Marketing Cloud. Adam kicked off the event touching on how technology is rapidly changing the marketing environment, reinforcing the importance of focusing on the consumer during brand reinvention. Adam challenged the audience to think less about their brand and more about the experience their brand provides for customers, stating, “Marketing is no longer about the 4 P’s (product, placement, pricing, and promotion), instead it’s about the experience and the experience doesn’t stop once you’ve finalized a campaign.” This idea reiterated that marketing is now making art and science blend to make your business work. Adam said, “As marketers, marketing has changed more in the last two years than the past 50 years combined.” Adam concluded his introduction with a powerful statement that resonated with many, “As digital marketers, if we stop reinventing, we will soon become irrelevant to our consumers.”
Next up was the keynote, Mark Bonchek, Chief Catalyst at thinkORBIT, an advisory firm that helps clients design social business strategies that pull people into orbit around a brand with social gravity –allowing for companies and brands to stay competitive. Mark focused on how digital disruptors have fundamentally changed how people relate to each other and want to do business. Mark stated, “The old ways of engaging consumers aren’t working anymore, people now want a new kind of relationship with brands that enables them to be active participants and co-creators, instead of a passive audience.”
You’d think after an hour of thought provoking presentations the audience’s eyes would be glossed over, however, this was not the case when Ellen Anderson, Director of Communication Platforms, Thomson Reuters took the stage. Ms. Anderson instantly captured everyone’s attention with her “cheeky” presentation titled, “I’ve got 999 sites, can I really just have one?” Ellen shifted the topic of conversation from digital marketing trends to a first- person perspective on what it’s like to launch a digital transformation initiative at a major multinational mass media and information firm, consolidating 1,200+ sites into a cohesive single site experience. Ellen had the courage to stand in front of 100+ digital marketers and shared the most vulnerable stages of site consolidation for Thomson Reuters taking us back four years guiding us through how she and her team:
- Identified the need to consolidate sites
- Built the business case
- Implemented the Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) solution
Ellen shared the nitty-gritty details of an enormous project, ultimately stating, “The AEM solution served as the backbone to managing our enterprise content with sophistication, focus of proofing, and ease of authoring.” Perficient helped them successfully implement several long term solutions with an end result of “300% increase in lead generation on a monthly basis at TR.com.”
The Digital Symposium concluded with the speakers joining a panel discussion. Perficient’s, Director of Digital Marketing, Ross Monaghan joined the group to provide insights on strategy, user experience & design, SEO/ SEM, conversion rate optimization, and analytics. His 9+ years of hands-on experience provided a tactical and strategic perspective to the panel. Questions from the audience ranged from, “How do I gain C-Suite Support?” to “How does data fit into the digital marketing eco-system?” and a hot topic- “Will marketing ever truly be a 1:1 experience between the brand and consumer?”
Watch for commentary and answers to these questions and more in the coming weeks on this blog.
