Adobe didn’t mince its words in its latest campaign when it came to airing the frustrations of marketers. Gemma Huckle reports
Not usually known for being provocative or daring, Adobe has adopted a risqué approach for its latest campaign, ‘Metrics, not myths’.
The campaign portrayed its new solutions as valuable tools for marketers who want to debunk the common misconception that marketers are disconnected from business results, as well as other top myths about digital marketing that continue to trouble brands.
Attention-grabbing statements such as ‘Marketing is BS’, ‘Marketers hate big data’ and ‘Social media is worthless’ were used to dispel myths as part of the fully integrated campaign aimed at raising awareness and demand for its new product, Adobe Marketing Cloud.
The service comprises a complete set of analytics via a real-time dashboard that bring together social, advertising, targeting and web experience management solutions so marketers can manage, measure and monetise their digital content more efficiently.
Re-positioning strategy
Recognised for its digital media products such as Photoshop, InDesign and Acrobat, Adobe wanted to raise its profile as a leader in the digital marketing space. The company has invested $2.5 billion in the last few years and has a comprehensive set of marketing solutions. The campaign formed part of Adobe’s strategy to re-position itself to be as well known for digital marketing solutions as it is for Photoshop.
The ‘Metrics, not myths’ global brand campaign, launched on 24 October 2012, was seen as an opportunity for the company to elevate the strategic importance of marketing and advertising to its customers’ bottom line. It aimed to bust the view that marketing is ‘soft’ and involves guesswork – something it felt was obsolete as today’s marketers increasingly harness technology and data to promote their brands.
Heads of marketing, CMOs, VPs and advertising and publishing professionals were targeted using a number of print, online and in-app channels. Advertising appeared in The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, Wired and Brand Republic.
In October, Adobe unveiled its ‘BS detector’ video on YouTube, which sees fictional marketers hooked up to nutty neuroscience contraptions and being punished for using meaningless marketing buzzwords. A number of other comical videos have also been rolled out on YouTube as part of the ‘Metrics, not myths’ campaign. Highlights include ‘The robot’ episode, which stars a retro-looking robot receiving the bad news it’s getting the sack because the company has found a better way to measure analytics and ‘The slap’ where a digital media consultant receives a ‘bitch slap’ from a CMO for failing to recognise social media ROI can be measured.
Other channels leveraged by Adobe included paid-search, email marketing, demand generation offers, Facebook, Twitter (using the campaign hashtag #metricsnotmyths), blogs, plus advertising on London Underground tube stations.
Real-time progress
Adobe is using its own software to demonstrate in real-time how effective Adobe Marketing Cloud is by sharing its own campaign progress. It says it will adjust the campaign based on the data and insights it gets from the programme and will continue to update its progress.
Emma Chalwin, director of brand marketing, EMEA, Adobe, said, “It is no secret that the marketing profession has been misunderstood, with many viewing it as a soft profession based on too much guesswork. Marketers now have so much technology at their disposal they are able to accurately report the impact that marketing is having on the business and bottom-line results. It’s finally time to dispel these outdated marketing myths and for marketers to get the credit they deserve.”
Adobe says all aspects of the campaign will remain ongoing and it will refine and improve the campaign with actionable insight it gathers by using Adobe Marketing Cloud.
