India – Global digital agency DEPT has been named Adobe’s Digital Strategic Innovation Partner of the Year in India. The award highlights DEPT’s work and bold, forward-thinking approach to leveraging Adobe solutions to drive digital transformation for leading brands.

Announced during Adobe’s 2024 Digital Strategic Innovation Partner Awards, this recognition celebrates alliance partners who are reshaping the digital landscape through bold innovation, technical excellence, and a shared ambition to amplify Adobe’s impact in the Indian market.

Embodying its innovation-led ethos, DEPT has delivered several initiatives within the Adobe ecosystem. A prime example is its Accessibility Plugin, which is seamlessly integrated with Adobe AEM to improve digital inclusivity. With minimal setup, the plugin enhances user experiences across abilities and supports organisations on their journey toward WCAG compliance.

The agency continues to scale its Adobe capabilities with a global team of over 550 experts, including more than 120 certified specialists, executing projects across the Adobe suite, from Adobe Experience Manager to Adobe Real-Time CDP. 

This latest accolade adds to DEPT’s history of recognition, having previously been named Adobe Solution Partner of the Year for APAC in 2019, 2021, and 2022. DEPT will be joining Adobe at the Best of Adobe Summit in Mumbai on June 4 to share insights and debut its latest Adobe-driven innovations.

With a unique 50/50 approach that merges tech with marketing, DEPT applies its experience engineering model to help brands like HDFC Bank, HSBC, Tata Capital, Bajaj Allianz, Vijay Sales, Grasim (Birla Opus), Piramal Finance, IndiaFirstLife, Apollo Tyres, Pidilite Corporate, and Tata AIA deliver faster, more innovative, and more personalised digital experiences.

Singapore – Singapore has progressed in its digital government aim, particularly in customer experience and accessibility, according to Adobe’s report. However, it needs to address shortcomings in site performance and readability in line with its Smart Nation 2.0 vision.

Adobe’s report, which assesses customer experience, site performance, and digital equity, reveals mixed results. Singapore sees a ~+5% increase in customer experience, with higher desktop and mobile CX scores among users with accessibility needs reflecting inclusivity. 

However, site performance has declined by 8%, with ~40% slower mobile loading speeds compared to desktop and issues in domain quality.

Digital equity, which measures accessibility and readability, sees an 11% climb from the index last year, placing Singapore second in the Asia-Pacific.

Despite this, the readability of content remains a concern, with a low average score of 48 out of 100. Additionally, some government agencies are also adopting personalisation.

Singapore’s site performance score has greatly impacted its overall digital government index score, which only increased by 1% from its previous score despite its enhanced customer experience and digital equity.

Smart Nation 2.0 is Singapore’s national digital strategy, which aims to improve the country’s digital infrastructure through smart and inclusive digital services for its citizens.

John Mackenney, director of digital strategy group APAC at Adobe, commented “Singapore’s Smart Nation 2.0 sets a bold vision for a trusted, inclusive, and future-ready digital government. While nearly all public services are now online and Singapore has done well in maintaining citizen satisfaction in customer experience, there remains room for improvement in digital equity and site performance. Achieving Singapore’s Smart Nation 2.0 will require continuous progress in accessibility, personalisation, and seamless digital experiences to meet ever-increasing citizen expectations.”

“At Adobe, we’re committed to enabling government agencies with the solutions they need to modernise digital experiences, efficiently deliver services, increase citizen engagement and build trust through personalisation. Aligned to this, Adobe’s Digital Government Index aims to provide a roadmap to help agencies build an effective digital government of the future, one that is designed for everyone but tailored to the individual,” Mackenney added.

New York, USA – Dentsu, in partnership with Adobe, have announced Adobe GenStudio dentsu+, a generative AI-powered, integrated marketing ecosystem for brands. The culmination of a decade-long relationship, Adobe GenStudio dentsu+ combines Adobe’s latest Content Supply Chain solution suite, GenStudio, with the power of dentsu’s proprietary integrated services, technology and audience intelligence. 

Underpinned by dentsu’s Merkury, the offering gives marketers the power to efficiently reach and engage audiences in a highly scaled and personalissed manner, driving more in-the-moment experiences and bringing consumers even closer to the brand.

Adobe’s GenStudio solution brings together applications across Adobe Experience Cloud and Adobe Creative Cloud—including Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe Express, Adobe GenStudio for Performance Marketing and Adobe Workfront, as well as on-brand generative AI capabilities with Firefly Services and Custom Models—all into one combined ecosystem for helping brands plan, create, manage, activate and measure content at scale. 

The solution enables marketing teams to create the experiences required to drive impactful, personalised marketing campaigns. By integrating with dentsu’s own audience intelligence, creative insights and translation capabilities, Adobe GenStudio dentsu+ enhances Adobe’s suite of services to deliver impactful experiences for clients.

Adobe GenStudio dentsu+ also delivers on the combined power of creative, production, media, and digital experience, leveraging dentsu’s unique Merkury data sources. The solution sets a new benchmark for how marketers can fully utilise Adobe, while effectively targeting millions of customers and prospects in a way that speaks to them individually—not only delivering on customer expectations but also bringing them closer to the brand through each interaction. 

In addition, marketers can now gain a single view across campaign management, content supply chain, and identity mapping, underpinned by dentsu proprietary AI solutions, creating opportunity to lower waste, increase efficiency, and drive engagement.

Abbey Klaassen, global brand president at Dentsu Creative & CEO and Dentsu Creative US, said, “Adobe GenStudio dentsu+ is a direct response to CMOs demanding holistic marketing platforms to drive new growth and provides integrated marketing technology and services that can supercharge business transformation.”

She added, “It’s testament to dentsu’s deep relationship with Adobe that we’ll be able to bring this industry-first solution to market to enable brands to stand out from the sea of sameness and build a competitive advantage. As one of the first users ourselves, we’re already seeing synergies created with our other products and services, and expect clients will have the same experience, finding opportunities both for their in-house teams and their work with their agencies.”

Meanwhile, Brent Rudewick, vice president for Adobe GenStudio and Workfront at Adobe, commented, “Marketers are operating in an environment now where the need for personalised and performant content is outstripping available resources, a challenge that Adobe GenStudio addresses by optimizing a brand’s content supply chain.”

He added, “Adobe and dentsu have a longstanding partnership that focuses on delivering tailored solutions for brands. Now, combining GenStudio with dentsu’s audience intelligence and consultancy, we have the opportunity to activate generative AI for different teams, reshape longstanding workflows around content production and deliver on-brand performance at scale.”

Lastly, Shirli Zelcer, chief data and technology officer at dentsu, stated, “Bringing together these innovative capabilities for the first time creates total business impact for our clients. What we have built alongside Adobe is an adaptive, end-to-end content supply chain solution, in which we can create always-on, always-ready experiences with the least amount of waste.”

She added, “Brands no longer have to try and piece together disparate systems and data—they can do it all in one place. Adobe GenStudio dentsu+ will not only drive better outcomes, but it will save time and add scale to marketing teams already under considerable pressure.”

Philippines – Mobile services provider Smart Communications, Inc. under PLDT Inc. has collaborated with computer software company Adobe and software and services provider Amdocs to elevate its customer experiences.

The partnership aims to provide data-driven and customer-centric offerings to Smart’s subscribers in the Philippines.

The collaboration allows Smart to leverage the Adobe Experience Platform (AEP) for customer insights and other services. Amdocs will be delivering the platform to Smart.

AEP is set to help Smart integrate customer data in real-time from different channels to gain insights into their needs. 

AEP powers enterprise applications such as Adobe Real-Time Customer Data Platform and Adobe Journey Optimizer, which Smart can use to provide personalised customer experiences through the partnership.

Adobe’s applications are also equipped with generative AI, enabling Smart to identify customer patterns, boost productivity, and make its marketing campaigns more impactful.

“Our collaboration with Adobe and Amdocs is a significant milestone in our digital revolution roadmap to deliver amazing experiences to our customers. By leveraging industry-leading Adobe Experience Platform and Amdocs’ advanced technologies and methodologies, Smart is uniquely positioned to engage with our subscribers and serve them effectively and efficiently than ever before,” Anastacio Martirez, Smart’s chief operating officer, said.

“This world-class innovation empowers Smart to be more agile and responsive to the needs of our subscribers anytime, anywhere, strengthening our commitment to customer obsession. Put simply, our new customer experience platform is simply amazing,” Martirez added.

“Today, Adobe Experience Platform is the solution of choice for some of the world’s biggest businesses, as they look to build a single view of customers and seamlessly engage with them across channels. Smart is leading the way in redefining customer experiences in the Philippine telecom industry, and we are thrilled to be a strategic partner in their incredible digital transformation journey,” Shashank Sharma, senior director of Adobe Digital Experience in Korea and Southeast Asia, said.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Smart and Adobe in delivering these new capabilities so Smart can make it amazing each day for their end users,” Anthony Goonetilleke, group president of technology and head of strategy at Amdocs, commented.

San Jose, California – Adobe has appointed Lara Balazs as chief marketing officer (CMO) and executive vice president of global marketing.

In her new role, Balazs will spearhead the global marketing organisation and its operations for Adobe.com, campaigns, communications, social media, and other events.

Previously, Balazs served as CMO and general manager of strategic partner group at Intuit, a financial software and services company. During her tenure, she contributed to reimagining Intuit’s brand and boosting its brand awareness. She also led the ProTax Group, driving its corporate reputation to its peak in four decades.

Additionally, Balazs has held leadership roles at companies such as Amazon, Visa, and Nike. She helped usher Visa into the world of digital payments, leading the launch of Visa Checkout and Apple Pay.

Shantanu Narayen, chair and chief executive officer at Adobe, said, “We’re delighted to welcome Lara Balazs to lead Adobe’s Global Marketing Organization. As Adobe continues to deliver industry-leading product innovations across content creation and digital marketing, Lara’s unique experience across B2C and B2B industries and deep insights as an Adobe customer will help us engage our growing universe of users more effectively while expanding Adobe’s brand reach and impact.”

San Jose, California – Adobe, a digital marketing solutions company, has launched ‘GenStudio for Performance Marketing,’ a generative artificial intelligence (AI) application that accelerates advertising and marketing campaign delivery. 

The launch of ‘GenStudio for Performance Marketing’ aims to meet the rising demand for personalised and effective content across channels. Most marketers believe that consumers expecting dynamic personalised content will increase by at least 5 times, an Adobe survey found.

Through the application, brands can use pre-approved and on-brand content to create advertisements, banners, and even marketing emails. It allows brands to find and reuse brand assets through a built-in repository. Marketers can also remix brand content for variations, personalising them with different audiences.

Creatives can create content through features such as the generative AI tool Adobe Firefly and third-party language models.

To protect brand equity, brand guidelines such as fonts, tone of voice, and other templates can be uploaded on the application. Through AI, the app can also send alerts when the content being created does not comply with the brand guidelines.

Additionally, the app will be able to activate campaigns directly on various channels. Through the expansion of partnerships with Google’s Campaign Manager 360, Meta, Microsoft Advertising, Snap and TikTok, marketers can publish content easily while getting access to direct performance insights.

Meanwhile, Adobe is also working with agencies Accenture Song, Dentsu, Havas, IBM Consulting, Interpublic Group, Media.Monks, Omnicom, Publicis, Stagwell and WPP for customisation and integration. 

“Delivering impactful global campaigns hinges on the ability to bring marketing and creative teams closer together, with generative AI-powered workflows that eliminate cumbersome and inefficient processes,” Varun Parmar, general manager at Adobe GenStudio, said.

“Adobe GenStudio for Performance Marketing enables creatives to focus on delivering deep creative designs that amplify a brand, while empowering their marketing counterparts to create the high volume of content variations that are needed to drive customer engagement, personalisation and conversion,” Parmar added.

Adobe GenStudio was launched last year, enabling quick content creation for enterprises.

California, USA – Adobe has split its global creative mandate, namely Dentsu Creative as its lead global scaled creative and content agency for its Digital Media Business (DMe), and Stagwell will lead the global creative campaigns and social content mandate for Adobe’s DMe.

Together, Dentsu Creative, Tag Worldwide and Adobe will redefine advertising by driving personalisation at scale through a robust Gen AI-powered content supply chain. Meanwhile, Stagwell and Adobe will also partner on a joint go-to-market initiative to accelerate the content supply chain for brands, the end-to-end process used to deliver content for marketing campaigns and personalised customer experiences. 

Transcending a traditional creative remit, Dentsu Creative will architect the company’s first ‘glocal’ go-to-market model, designed to drive relevance, effectiveness and efficiency both globally and locally across key regions–the Americas, EMEA, APAC and Japan. On the other hand, 

Dentsu Creative will also lead product and release marketing and local campaigns for the company’s B2B and B2C creative products and services. Underpinning the relationship is a unified global technology backbone, enabled by Adobe’s integrated set of best-in-class products to help companies optimise their content supply chain, and proprietary technologies from Dentsu Digital and Tag Worldwide.

Over at Stagwell’s side, 72andSunny will expand their seven-year partnership with Adobe by leading global creative and strategy within this new model. Movers+Shakers will lead global social efforts, with a focus on mining cultural conversations in real-time and producing socially-native content with speed and agility. Code and Theory will be responsible for the launch of Adobe GenStudio, among additional high-profile assignments.

Abbey Klaassen, global brand president at Dentsu Creative, said, “As a creative team that has long relied on Adobe’s products and services to imagine, create and bring digital experiences to life, this new partnership is meaningful in so many ways. We’re energised by Adobe’s vision to change the world through personalized experiences, and this fueled us to bring transformative thinking and creativity to every interaction. Now, we’re ready to bring that to customers everywhere through Adobe’s Digital Media Business.”

Meanwhile, Mark Penn, chairman and CEO of Stagwell, commented, “We are proud to join forces with Adobe, a brand synonymous with creativity and innovation, to build game-changing transformation tools for our clients and theirs. This partnership is another example of the value Stagwell is eager to create with clients via our integrated offering, and we are excited to bring our best-in-class creativity and technology to help Adobe inspire and empower their customers.”

Philippines – MARKETECH APAC is excited to welcome Adobe as a platinum sponsor for its inaugural “E-Commerce Marketing in the Philippines 2024” conference. At the forefront of the event, Adobe will lead discussions on harnessing generative AI to transform e-commerce excellence and elevate customer experiences.

The company’s vast product portfolio across Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Document Cloud, and Adobe Experience Cloud gives millions of customers—from individual creators to global brands—everything they need to design and deliver exceptional digital experiences.

For this conference, Ankit Agarwal, senior solution consultant for commerce at Adobe, will deliver a keynote presentation on revolutionising e-commerce through generative AI. The presentation will focus on enhancing efficiency and scalability, highlighting AI-driven merchandising services designed to boost conversion rates and increase average order value.

The presentation will also showcase the use of tools such as Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe Firefly, Adobe Express, and Adobe Stock for efficient asset management and seamless integration across commerce sites. Additionally, it will delve into the significance of tracking and analysing campaign success and content performance with Adobe Gen Studio.

Furthermore, Agarwal will participate in the panel discussion titled “Shake Up Your CX Game with Generative AI.” He will be joined by Jeremiah Su, co-founder of Superminted, and Roki Ferrer, head of data at dentsu International, who will serve as the discussion’s moderator.

The discussion will cover topics such as leveraging generative AI to personalise e-commerce, marketing, and software development, aligning AI capabilities with business goals and customer needs for quick wins and long-term success, and delivering genuine, customer-centric experiences in real-time for superior customer experience.

Teddy Cambosa, regional editor at MARKETECH APAC, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Adobe as a Platinum Sponsor for our event. Their commitment to enhancing e-commerce and customer experience (CX) strategies is truly transformative. With Adobe’s innovative solutions, companies are empowered to create seamless, personalized experiences that drive growth and delight customers. Together, we’re shaping the future of digital commerce.”

MARKETECH APAC’s “E-Commerce Marketing in the Philippines 2024” conference marks the second instalment of the E-Commerce Marketing Series. This event will feature a robust lineup of industry leaders from prominent local and global brands, including Adobe, Colgate-Palmolive, Home Credit Philippines, L’Oréal, Nestlé, PRIMER Group of Companies, and more

Head over to the official event site to see the full agenda and roster of speakers for “E-Commerce Marketing in the Philippines 2024.” 

Singapore – Adobe has announced the general availability of Adobe Journey Optimizer (AJO) B2B Edition. For businesses that sell to other businesses, this offering will activate generative AI to help them engage customers with greater precision and drive profitable growth. 

Characterised by extensive and complex sales cycles, B2B marketing and sales teams have long struggled to identify specific decision makers that collectively sign off on large purchases such as software or hardware. At the same time, it has become a challenge to personalise experiences for each individual, with thousands of variations required across web, mobile, email, social, events and other channels. 

AJO B2B Edition is an evolution from lead-based and account-based marketing, which carry blind spots when it comes to identifying the full set of stakeholders and the products they would be interested in. As a result, sales and marketing teams are unable to engage the right individuals with the right content, lengthening sales cycles in the process. 

Built natively on Adobe Experience Platform (AEP), which provides a single view of customers across every channel, AJO B2B Edition will be able to activate generative AI to identify buying groups, while creating personalised journeys for each individual with AI-generated assets. 

The new offering is a perfect complement to Marketo Engage— a B2B marketing automation solution—which captures and nurtures leads that can be turned into qualified buying groups. 

Amit Ahuja, senior vice president for digital experience business at Adobe, said, “Business leaders purchasing technology on behalf of their organizations have increasingly high expectations for how they are engaged online, creating a paradigm shift for B2B marketers. Adobe Journey Optimizer B2B Edition empowers sales and marketing teams to jointly deliver digital experiences that are highly personalized through real-time and unified data, while driving efficiency and productivity gains with the latest generative AI technologies.”

Singapore – A new report by Adobe has revealed that brands across the region lead other geographies in generative AI deployment and are set to make major near-term organisational changes to scale up adoption.

According to the report, almost two in three (65%) executives in the region have implemented full or initial AI solutions and pilots, making them further along than peers in the US (61%) and Europe (55%). Within the APJ region, deployment is highest in Japan (82%), followed by India and Asia (both 72%).

While executives are confident their generative AI rollouts are advancing to plan, many day-to-day users hold a different view. Across APJ, just 4% of executives say their organisation doesn’t have a formal generative AI adoption strategy, which rises substantially among practitioners. The gap is widest in Japan, where 4% of executives concede there is no formal strategy compared to 37% of practitioners.

The report also confirms that amongst APJ brands, generative AI integration is the digital initiative most likely to support growth in 2024. As a result, most brands are developing guidelines for responsible use of AI (73%) and aligning a comprehensive AI roadmap with broader business goals (71%).

Brands also anticipate significant changes to operating models and organisational structures to support generative AI adoption. Across APJ, the majority intend to reorganise teams and functions to accommodate AI usage, which is highest in Asia (80%) and India (74%). Plans to introduce AI leadership roles are also highest in these regions (India at 78% and Asia at 73%).

Lastly, executives are also prioritising initiatives to help employees upskill and provide clear guardrails for using generative AI. The top-rated is advanced AI skills training for key staff (47%), followed by policies for ethical and secure generative AI usage (45%).

Moreover, over two-thirds of APJ brands also believe that generative AI will transform data analytics and management more than any other part of the organisation. They also recognise that data capabilities and governance are a cornerstone capability, with most planning to increase investment in customer data management in 2024. Within APJ, this is highest in India (75%).

Duncan Egan, vice president for digital experience marketing in Asia-Pacific and Japan at Adobe said the disconnect can stem from viewing generative AI through a different lens.

“For some senior executives, adoption can be as simple as signing a vendor contract, while practitioners are likely better acquainted with the realities of having the right data, tools and training. However, we expect this disconnect to narrow in 2024, with brands poised to strengthen organisational readiness for generative AI deployment,” he said.

Egan further added, “Generative AI offers a clearer path to unify data, predict customer needs, and deliver more relevant and time-critical content. However, the study shows that despite widespread adoption intentions, only some brands are recalibrating to seize these benefits, putting them ahead in the race for consumer loyalty, conversion, and trust.”

Meanwhile, Simon Dale, vice president of Asia at Adobe, commented, “Asia-Pacific and Japan are at the forefront of generative AI adoption, with brands recognising its transformative potential across their organisations. We’re seeing a strong commitment to restructuring functions and teams, introducing AI leadership roles, and prioritising employee upskilling to fully harness the power of this technology.”

He added, “There is also a clear understanding among businesses that generative AI adoption goes hand in hand with matching data capabilities and responsible governance. We anticipate an increase in investments in these areas that will drive innovation and transformation across the region.”