"There will be no 'going back' in customer behavior"

Advertisingweek.ch: Alvaro Del Pozo, Adobe is a proponent of the so-called "experience business." How has this business changed over the past year and a half?

Alvaro Del Pozo: Whether it's private contacts with family or friends, school, university or work: those who were already well positioned in this area came through the crisis much better. The last 18 months have clearly shown how important the topic of digital is for all of us. On a business level, it has become clear that companies that were already well positioned digitally before the Covid 19 pandemic have come through the crisis significantly better. For those, on the other hand, that have so far put their digital transformation on the back burner, the past year was a powerful wake-up call and also an incentive to decisively drive forward their own digitization. Digitization not only refers to internal processes, but primarily to the redefinition of customer relationships in a digital world. We are talking about experience business here - the customer experience is clearly at the center. Increasingly, business success can also be measured by this. Customers today have much higher expectations than ever before; they have become accustomed to the new digital standards. There will be no going back to the way things were before. Digitization should therefore be an absolute priority for every company.

What were the main challenges your customers faced - and what did you do to support them?

Our goal is to change the world through digital experiences. Of course, we also want to support our customers in this. With products and services in a wide range of areas such as creativity, document management, digital marketing and e-commerce, we make an important contribution to society and the economy alike. Accordingly, we have ensured from the outset that our cloud solutions are consistently and seamlessly available to all our customers. As part of our infrastructure program, we have monitored and operated our cloud solutions with multiple providers and clouds in different locations around the world.

Are there any other measures they have taken?

In the short term, we implemented a number of programs for employees, students, and businesses alike. For example, we temporarily made our web-based PDF services available for free on Adobe.com to enable seamless digital document workflows outside of regular offices. This also includes integrating our Document Cloud and Adobe Sign services. We also extended renewal periods and provided high-demand support for data and analytic web traffic to meet the huge demand from businesses for digital communication with their customers. We also provided 30 million Creative Cloud licenses for students to continue learning without access to university computer labs. And precisely because so much has happened in terms of digitization, especially in the past year, we have provided access to resources for companies and people around the world. For example, attendance at our flagship events, Adobe Summit and Adobe MAX, was free and access was entirely digital.

I remember the large-scale live events Adobe hosted in London, for example. These had been an important part of your marketing strategy for years. So how did you adapt when the pandemic hit?

When the full extent of the pandemic became apparent last year, the Adobe Summit, with an expected 23,000 attendees, was just around the corner. In just four weeks, we converted the conference to an all-digital event - with success: over 100,000 attendees from nearly 200 countries registered. This would not have been possible as a live event. This year, we successfully expanded on that with our Adobe Summit 2021. Inspiring guests like Albert Bourla, CEO at Pfizer, Michael Nilles, CDIO at Henkel, and tennis ace Serena Williams, as well as exciting innovations and insights, digital events can still inspire and bring people together from all over the world, even after more than a year of video conferencing.

Do you think "live" will come back?

I am convinced of that! Many people are looking forward to face-to-face exchanges again. However, I think that digital formats will not disappear again either. Companies can reach far more people with digital events than with live events alone - and they can do so worldwide. I can well imagine that many events will also be held hybrid in the future, in order to combine both worlds.

Do you think this pandemic will permanently change customer behavior?

Absolutely, there will be no going back. Our Digital Trends Report also shows this: 30 percent of respondents are now less loyal to brands and products. Companies are already feeling the effects of this in a very tangible way, with 47 percent of brands in the EMEA region noticing a change in their customers' buying behavior. Today, it is primarily the customer experience that counts in order to stay one step ahead of the competition.

Adobe has focused on your "peers" in the recent past - CMOs. Now I feel like there's a bit of a shift in attention in the industry. Towards CIOs and how they work with their peers in marketing. What's your take on that?

That is absolutely right. Digital transformation is inconceivable without IT. CIOs and IT teams are the enablers of digital customer experiences. The increasing focus on digital customer relationships is already having a significant impact on their areas of responsibility: According to our recent study on the role of CIOs in Europe, three quarters of CIOs have taken on significantly more responsibility in the past year. But it's also clear that, thanks to data and insights, CMOs and marketing teams are not only customer savvy, but also the creative driving force behind every company. Outstanding customer experiences therefore only succeed when marketing and IT work closely together.

What's in store for Adobe in the future? What areas will you focus on in the coming months and, let's say, in the "post-pandemic" years?

We want to continue to support our customers in being successful in the digital world. Today, digital customer communication is more important than ever; every company must be able to understand its customers' needs and offer them personalized digital experiences. With third-party cookies on the brink of extinction, we are now helping our customers successfully transition their business to a first-party data strategy with the right technology to best prepare for the post-cookie era.