Yesterday I had breakfast at the newly refurbished Savoy hotel on the Strand. Not something I do everyday, however I was invited to a seminar hosted by Adobe and Valtech on “Managing Brand Perception on a Global Stage”.
Adobe’s VP of Customer Experience Management, Kevin Cochrane, introduced the session and went through the benefits of the company’s products. In particular he focused on its new Social Media tool – SocialAnalytics – which is a product within the Adobe Online Marketing Suite, powered by Omniture.
Of course, we use many tools at Neoco (mixing third-party solutions and our own in-house tools) and monitor virtually every relevant metric that there is to monitor. However it was interesting to see Adobe move into the Social analytical space, as I’m sure that you – like me – associate Adobe with creative kit along the lines of Photoshop, After Effects and Dreamweaver etc.
Expanding on Adobe’s move into Social was Chris Journeay, Adobe’s EMEA Product Marketing Manager. He went to great lengths to explain the key traits of successful marketers and how leading brands rely on a few fundamentals when planning a successful campaign. I certainly identified with the point of “Measure Everything” and “Align Marketing Targets to KBO” (key business objectives) – again fundamental aspects of how we go about projects at our agency.
The seminar also had a guest speaker from French fashion house Chanel. Philippe Baumlin (the company’s Global Digital IT Program Director) went through how Chanel manages the multitude of assets it produces and the hectic workflow during the busy catwalk season. Philippe praised a bespoke tool created with consultants from Valtech, in which Chanel is able to streamline its entire distribution of both assets (including fashion show and advertising images) and product information to websites, journalists and internally. The use of this central platform in guiding all internal and external communications ensures that the Chanel brand is consistent across all territories.
All in all the breakfast seminar covered a lot of ground, giving an insight into how leading brands are adapting to Web 2.0 and selling in Social as a key player in the marketing mix.