Adobe and Figma have announced they are mutually terminating their merger agreement, which would have seen Adobe acquire Figma’s platform for $20 billion (£16 billion).

In a statement, the computer software company said both companies still believe in the merits of the deal but have “mutually agreed to terminate the transaction” as there is “no clear path” to getting approval from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the European Commission.

Subscribe to Mobile Marketing Magazine

Click here to get the latest marketing news free in your inbox every Thursday

As a result, Adobe has to pay Figma a reverse termination fee of $1 billion (£800 million) in cash.

The news comes as the CMA recently found that the proposed acquisition of Figma, could harm competition in the digital design sector, resulting in fewer choices for designers of digital apps, websites and other products.

Adobe CEO and Chair, Shantanu Narayen, said: “Adobe and Figma strongly disagree with the recent regulatory findings, but we believe it is in our respective best interests to move forward independently.

“While Adobe and Figma shared a vision to jointly redefine the future of creativity and productivity, we continue to be well positioned to capitalise on our massive market opportunity and mission to change the world through personalised digital experiences.”

Figma CEO and Co-Founder Dylan Field added: “Going through this process with Shantanu, David and the Adobe team has only reinforced my belief in the merits of this deal, but it’s become increasingly clear over the past few months that regulators don’t see things the same way.

“While we’re disappointed in the outcome, I am deeply grateful to everyone who has contributed to this effort and excited to find other ways to innovate on behalf of our respective communities with Adobe.”

The post Adobe and Figma terminate £16bn merger appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

VidMob will use the round – which takes the total it has raised across rounds to almost $100m – to support its global expansion, new eCommerce initiatives, ongoing investment into advanced technology, and data science.

“Every other area of enterprise operations has been positively impacted by software platforms – increasing efficiency and using data to bring intelligence to decision-making,” said Alex Collmer, Founder and CEO of VidMob. “This financing and these new relationships will be a powerful accelerant in our commitment to build and deploy a platform that helps marketers transform for the needs of the future, while respecting the irreplaceable role of human creativity and never losing sight of our mission to evolve creativity for the better.”

The round includes participation from Adobe; Shutterstock; Drive by DraftKings, the sports betting company’s venture capital firm; the Spruce House Partnership; Prefix Capital; BuildGroup; Interlock Partners; Macanta; and industry and tech leaders such as Michael Kassan, Nick Brien, and Thomas Tull.

César Melo, former president at Mondelez and PepsiCo, CEO at Foster Grant, and VP at Colgate-Palmolive, has also invested in VidMob and will join the company’s Board as an Advisor.

“As a commercial leader, I was always looking to create a more efficient content ecosystem in which faster, smarter, data-informed and more cost-effective content could be created to surround the consumer around the world and build brands differently,” said Melo. “When I discovered VidMob while trying to do this at PepsiCo, I was blown away by the combination of talented human creativity and technology.  And the more I see, the more I like.  VidMob is creating a new category, ‘Intelligent Creative’.”

The post VidMob picks up $50m in funding backed by Adobe and Shutterstock appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

Dentsu places Stagg in charge of CX and Merkle UK
Anne Stagg has been named as Chief Executive Officer of Customer Experience Management (CXM) for Dentsu UK & Ireland and UK Chief Executive Officer of Merkle. She will lead a business of 940 people at Merkle while also overseeing delivery across Dentsu’s CXM business which incorporates data and analytics, CRM, commerce, media, digital experience services, and B2B.

Stagg was previously Head of Client Services at Merkle, leading the creation of a fully integrated client services team across the company’s media, analytics, customer experience and technology service lines. She is also a former Managing Director of Indicia and Chief Client Officer at KMMS.

“This is a unique opportunity, to take on the role as Merkle’s first UK CEO in a time when we are reimagining the customer experience in the digital landscape,” said Stagg. “We are continuously improving our capabilities and the potential for our CXM line of businesses is tremendous when it comes to driving and supporting our clients’ digital transformations.”

Bondy rises to CEO at Vungle
Mobile ad platform Vungle has promoted Jeremy Bondy to Chief Executive Officer. He succeeds Rick Tallman, who moves into the role of Strategic Advisor.

Bondy, who joined Vungle in 2014, has held a number of senior sales and operational roles at the company, most recently as Chief Operating Officer. He has been responsible for setting up and scaling Vungle’s commercial organization, establishing teams in Berlin, London, Beijing, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo, New York, and Los Angeles.

“I am honoured to assume the role of CEO. Vungle has many exciting future growth opportunities, and I look forward to guiding our world-class team in creating the industry’s leading suite of tools to help mobile app developers maximise the value of their businesses,” said Bondy. “On behalf of the entire Vungle organisation, I want to express my gratitude to Rick for his invaluable contributions to the company’s historical success and, personally, for his mentorship in preparing me for this role. I look forward to his continued partnership with the company and wish him all the best.”

Salesforce names Bahrololoumi as UK CEO
Zahra Bahrololoumi has been chosen as Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer at Salesforce UK and Ireland. She will join the company in March 2021 to lead operations in both key markets.

Bahrololoumi will join Salesforce from Accenture, where she leads the Accenture Technology practice for the UK and Ireland with a particular focus on artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and platforms underpinning new applications. She also sits on the board of TechUK and is a Vice Chair of the Technology Leadership Group for the Prince’s Trust.

“I am excited to join a company with such an incredible track record of driving positive change and success for its customers,” said Bahrololoumi. “Salesforce provides outstanding technology to help businesses digitally transform and there is a unique opportunity for Salesforce to accelerate its growth in the UK and Ireland. Salesforce is also deeply committed to the role that businesses can play in society; I can’t wait to get started and support its game-changing work.”

Edwards to lead EMEA digital experience at Adobe
Adobe has appointed Lee Edwards as its Vice President for Northern Europe, Middle East and Africa. He will lead Adobe’s Digital Experience business across the region.

Edwards previously led Adobe’s Digital Strategy and Solutions business in EMEA, a position he had held since joining the company in January 2020 after 14 years at SAP. He will also take on the role of Managing Director for Adobe UK, helping to drive the company’s CSR and diversity and inclusion programmes.

“Earlier this year, Adobe was named the Best Workplace in Technology among large UK companies, but this is only the beginning. Now more than ever, it is crucial that our employees feel supported in their work, their career ambitions and their personal lives,” said Edwards.

“It’s not just good leadership, it’s also good business. Adobe’s global success this past quarter, including record overall revenue of $3.23bn and seven per cent growth year-on-year in our Digital Experience business, would not have been possible without the incredible engagement from our teams. I look forward to building on that momentum in Northern Europe and helping Adobe’s customers in every industry adapt to a new era in experience.” 

Group Nine selects Camara as DE&I head
Fanta Camara has been elevated to the role of Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at mobile video publisher Group Nine Media. She will design and lead a holistic DE&I strategy, identify growth opportunities, promote the adoption of inclusive practices and provide recommendations to senior leadership.

Camara most recently served as Human Resources Business Partner for Group Nine’s mobile news publisher, NowThis, where she developed tailored solutions for strategic workforce planning, change management and team building, in addition to serving as a Diversity and Inclusion Manager. Prior to Group Nine, she was Senior Human Resources Generalist at Snap Inc. Camara also held multiple human resources positions at The Estee Lauder Companies.

“Group Nine continues to lead the digital media space with its brands’ optimistic content that highlights diverse backgrounds, voices and opinions,” said Camara. “I am thrilled to bring my own personal and professional experience to further cement the company’s foundation as a safe place that is equitable, diverse and inclusive for every employee. We have ambitious goals and I am ready to tackle this crucial endeavour.”

Petranto to head up Kantar Analytics
Data and insights firm Kantar has appointed Chris Petranto as Global Head of Kantar Analytics. He replaces Fuentes who has taken on the role of Chief Operating Officer for the Insights division of Kantar.

Petranto, who will lead teams responsible for supporting client’s digital transformation, has been with Kantar since 2004. Before forming Kantar Analytics, he created and led Millward Brown Analytics.

“It’s a privilege to lead the team and further expand our solutions across the globe” said Petranto. “Since our launch in 2018, we have been on a mission to create the most advanced AI and machine learning tools, enabling our clients to make better business decisions, faster and at scale.” 

GroupM UK restructures
WPP’s media investment group GroupM UK has shifted Niel Bornman, Lisa Humphreys, Paul Rowlinson, Simon Willis, Charlotte Frijns, and Mark Collins into new roles as part of a restructure.

Bornman, currently Global Chief Technology Officer – Data, Product & AI at WPP, move to GroupM UK in January to lead its products and services squad as Chief Product and Services Officer.

Humphreys, current WPP UK Strategy Development Director, will begin a dual role leading the transformation and integration squad as Chief Transformation and Integration Officer, alongside her current WPP role.

Rowlinson moves from Managing Director of Group Digital UK to become Chief Customer Engagement and Growth Officer.

Willis will move from Managing Director of Investment to become Chief Investment Officer – leading the media investment management squad.

Finance and business operations will come together as one led by Frijns, Chief Financial Officer at Group M UK.

Collins will move from Chair of Investment to overall GroupM UK Chair.

“The changes announced today are the latest iteration of our goal to work in partnership with our clients to grow and create competitive advantage. By adopting a more agile way of working with these new overlapping squads we have the ability to adapt and shape our focus based solely on client needs,” said Karen Blackett OBE, GroupM UK CEO. “I am delighted with the new leadership at GroupM UK and thrilled to welcome both Niel and Lisa. Having worked with them for many years at WPP I am looking forward to having them as integral parts of this new era at GroupM UK.”

Tansill named transformation chief at Ogilvy
WPP’s Ogilvy New York has promoted Charlotte Tansill to the role of Chief Transformation Officer. She will lead an integrated strategy function for New York spanning all of the agency’s capabilities, while also partnering with Lauren Crampsie, President of Ogilvy New York, to drive the office’s business strategy and transformation.

Tansill has served in a range of roles across the Ogilvy network since joining in 2008, most recently serving as Executive Director of Ogilvy New York’s social media practice.

“I am grateful to Lauren and Ogilvy leadership for affording me this opportunity.  I am incredibly excited to accelerate growth at Ogilvy by leading our transformation and aligning our business practices with the evolving realities of our industry,” said Tansill. “Over my nearly 13 years at Ogilvy, I have fully embraced the strength of our culture and talent.  Our clients rightfully see us as thought-leaders, and we must innovate and deliver to maintain their trust.  I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure our leadership position sustains for years to come.”

DDB promotes Hesz and Rooney
Alex Hesz and Roisin Rooney have been elevated to the roles of Global Chief Strategy Officer and Global Chief People Officer at DDB Worldwide respectively.

Hesz will oversee the entirety of DDB’s global offerings and has work to harness the collective power of the global network. He most recently led strategy for the DDB’s Europe, Middle East & Africa and was Head of Strategy for Adam&Eve. He will continue to serve as Adam&EveDDBs Group Chief Strategy Officer for operations in both New York and London.

Rooney will lead recruitment, retention, leadership development and training and initiatives to ensure DDB talent is continuously advancing to stay ahead of client needs. She previously held the role of EMEA Chief People Officer at Adam&Eve.

“I am thrilled to elevate our current leaders from within the network into these roles,” said Worldwide CEO Marty OHalloran. “Things are changing rapidly, and were moving at pace to stay ahead. Alex brings an incredible track record from Adam&EveDDB, an agency known for its legendary work and clients. Ros experience in EMEA with growing the network, fostering our talent, and creating culture will ensure we are helping our people through this challenging time and into the future.”

Adams joins Kubient as partnerships SVP
Kubient, a cloud advertising marketplace, has hired Ryan Adams as Senior Vice President of Partnerships. He is charged with driving demand-side revenue and supporting supply-side inventory with the ultimate goal of growing partnerships and furthering Kubient’s development of relationships with brands, agencies, and publishers.

Adams has over 20 years’ experience as a sales and marketing professional at companies including Centro, where he was Head of Client Direct and Publisher Solutions in the East region.

“Kubient is a cutting-edge company driven by a passionate team of forward-thinking industry experts,” explained Adams. “I’m eager to join my new colleagues and work at a company that is bringing light to industry ad fraud and helping brands optimize their ad operations.”

FutureBrand turns to Esquivel as strategy chief
Eliza Yvette Esquivel has been announced as Chief Strategy Officer at brand transformation company FutureBrand North America. She will lead and build client teams across the agency, while developing and executing transformative strategic work for their global roster of clients.

Esquivel brings 20 years of marketing experience to the role, having previously served as the Senior Director of Global Brand Strategy at Microsoft, where she led a senior team of global strategists and partnership managers that managed the company’s productivity software portfolio. Before that, she served as Vice President of Global Brand Strategy at Mondelez International.

“I am excited to join a creative futures company,” said Esquivel. “I love thinking about and creating the future and see a huge opportunity to innovate the way thats done. I believe in the power of creativity to drive commerce and culture. With todays dynamic shifts in all areas of society, creativity is more crucial than ever.”

Lawson Johnston to manage partnerships at Hudson MX
Ad tech firm Hudson MX has named Sarah Lawson Johnston as Executive Vice President, Managing Director of Agency Partnerships EMEA.

Lawson Johnston joins Hudson MX after three years on the launch team of Covatic, where she will remain on the Board of Directors. Prior to this, she spent 22 years at Mediocean where, as Managing Director for Europe, she focused on new and existing revenue, oversaw the offices in London, France and Germany, and had full responsibility for the company’s European client relationships and business.

“I’m thrilled to be joining Hudson MX at such an exciting inflection point,” said Lawson Johnston. “They secured proof of concept through their work in local markets, they’ve established a fully comprehensive platform to replace legacy providers as the system of record, and they’re now breaking ground with the global agencies. The industry has been crying out for alternatives for years and Hudson MX has delivered a solution that far exceeds the original demand. I have great respect for JT Batson and I look forward to working with him and his team to develop the culture of the company and expand its reach.”

LivePerson adds Hamel and Higgins to exec team
Andrew Hamel has been hired as Executive Vice President of Operations and Emerging AI Businesses, while Shani Higgins has been appointed Senior Vice President of Global Partnerships, at conversational AI company LivePerson.

Hamel will oversee the daily operations of the company, help accelerate growth and scale, reimagine the future of work from a synchronous office-centric model to an asynchronous employee-centric workforce, and steer its business-to-consumer strategy and execution. Before joining LivePerson, he led the development of Amazon’s recommendation engines, search function, and other machine learning-powered experiences. Prior to that, he held leadership positions at Tacit Software, Infoseek, and Tumbleweed.

“Im proud to join LivePersons team as we build the new operating model to scale to the next level,” said Hamel. “Conversational AI is bringing about a shift as profound as search and social did, and its an exciting time to join the industry leader in this space.”

Higgins’ responsibilities include the selection and support of new global strategic alliances as well as the continued growth of existing partnerships. Prior to joining LivePerson, she gained over two decades of experience at companies including Mozilla, Infoseek, and Ziff Davis, as well as in her role as CEO of Technorati.

“Its an important time in LivePersons history to turbocharge growth,” said Higgins. “Im excited to join the companys team of experts as we distribute and integrate our industry-leading tech and inject even more value into our partner ecosystems.”

Ionita joins Organic dev team
Digital marketing agency Organic has appointed George-Andrei Ionita as Senior Developer. He will be focusing on leading back end development across multiple projects and his day-to-day responsibilities will include developing and maintaining cloud-based applications and APIs, ensuring efficiency and stability of backend code, working to design application architecture and helping to develop departmental processes.

Previously a developer at Prodo Digital, Ionita’s experience also includes stints at Fact Digital and Skiddle.

“I was blown away by the level of professionalism, expertise and knowledge at Organic,” said Ionita. “This role is every developer’s dream – being able to work with the latest tech and grow as part of a talented team, in a fun, relaxed environment.”

The post Movers and Shakers: Dentsu, Vungle, Salesforce, Adobe, Group Nine, and more appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

The Content Authenticity Initiative will look to develop an industry standard for digital content attribution. Adobe is developing an opt-in system to enable creators and publishers to attach attribution data to the content they share, which will enable content to be verified and reassure consumers that they are viewing authentic content.

“With the proliferation of digital content, people want to know the content they’re seeing is authentic,” said Dana Rao, executive vice president and general counsel at Adobe. “While this is a formidable challenge, we are thrilled to be championing the adoption of an industry-wide content attribution system, along with The New York Times Company and Twitter. It is critical for technology and media companies to come together now in order to empower consumers to better evaluate and understand content online.”

Adobe has unveiled a prototype of what the technology could look like within Photoshop. Plans are to launch the initiative at a summit in the ‘coming months’ alongside other companies.

“Discerning trusted news on the internet is one of the biggest challenges news consumers face today,” said Marc Lavallee, head of research & development at The New York Times Company. “Combating misinformation will require the entire ecosystem—creators, publishers and platforms—to work together. This initiative lays the groundwork for doing that through open standards and protocols.”

Del Harvey, vice president for global trust and safety at Twitter, added: “Were excited to work with Adobe and The New York Times Company to find new and innovative ways to support our existing efforts. Everyone has a role to play in information quality and media literacy. Collaboration on issues as complex as this is key—we welcome the partnership.”

The post Adobe, Twitter, New York Times join forces to fight fake content appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

Photoshop Camera will be powered through the artificial intelligence (AI) gathered through Adobe Sensei, its existing AI platform and framework. Photoshop Camera will allow users to capture, edit, add filters and share pictures straight from the app, and Adobe Sensei will automatically recommend edits to uploaded photos. Sensei’s platform will instantly recognize what type of photo was taken (portrait, landscape, selfie, food shot, etc.) and which technical settings could be improved.

“We built Photoshop Camera as a Sensei-first app on our journey to expand our focus to deliver creative tools, including Photoshop, for everyone. With Photoshop Camera and Photoshop Express, we’re increasing your choices for creating with the magic of Photoshop,” wrote Abhay Parasnis, executive vice president and chief technology officer, Adobe.

Exclusive to the app are lenses that were designed by celebrities and well-known influencers, which will continue to rollout as more personalities get involved with Adobe. To launch Photoshop Camera, Adobe has partnered with singer Billie Eilish to create her own collection of limited-edition lenses.

“Photoshop Camera is a major moment for us to broaden Adobe Creative Cloud as a creativity platform for all. We are committed to investing in accessible tools like Photoshop Camera built for the next generation of consumers and creatives. Innovation and pushing the limits of creative expression have always been core to Adobe’s DNA,” finished Parasnis.

The post Adobe unveils new AI-powered Photoshop Camera app appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

Mobile network provider Three is on a journey to transform the experience it delivers to customers, aiming to utilise technology to offer a more seamless service to those interacting with the brand – whether that’s online, in-store, or over the phone.

For Three’s website, the journey began not much more than half a year ago, with the focus on making the lives of customers easier rather than keeping an eye on what the competition is up to.

“We want to free the fun. And we don’t always have to look at our competitors. We look at how customers are interacting with our website, and where those friction points are, and overcome them to make it fun for the customer, to make it easier for customers. That means more engagement for us, more conversion for us, and ultimately the business is happy with that,” says Ruphinder Chahal, eCommerce execution consultant at Three.

“We’re either getting customers to engage with content when we want them to or getting them to buy. And that’s because it’s based on what the customer are telling us, not someone sitting in a room going ‘I think we should do this’. You really run with that mentality of ‘data is king, opinion is irrelevant’”

Three launched the first test of its website’s digital transformation in March and has since then launched 106 tests in total. Of the tests, which all go out to live traffic using A/B testing, there have been 10 that have achieved the desired results.

On occasion, there have been tests that Three completely believed would do well but found that wasn’t to be the case.

“We did a test where we thought that reducing the number of plans that we show to customers would increase our conversion – because we’re removing that complexity and almost making that choice for them by reducing the number of plans to three,” shares Darran Kolodziej, digital insight manager at Three, presenting an example. “We read in various places that three was the optimum number, so we thought we’d try it out. We thought that would propel conversion through the roof. But it had no effect.”

Moreover, some of Three’s tests have looked like they’re creating a more positive experience for the consumer but, instead, have had an undesired and unforeseen knock-on effect in other areas.

“It’s not just in one test, we’ve probably seen it in about eight or nine of our tests,” adds Chahal. “We think we’re optimising the journey for our customer, trying to remove those friction points, trying to make it clearer for the customer – then something else happens and we never would’ve imagined it.”

In order to run these tests and identify where it’s going wrong, Three placed Adobe’s Experience Cloud at the centre of its transformation – utilising Adobe Target and Analytics for Target in particular.

Three has been an Adobe Analytics customer for “a number of years” and “always found it to be the market leading product”, according to Kolodziej. As such, Three integrated Analytics for Target from the day that it had Target up-and-running, enabling it to “deep dive into the results of our tests to truly understand ‘is this working?’”, says Chahal.

With Target powering its transformation, the team has managed to achieve a 6.4 time return on investment, which far exceeds Three’s not quite as lofty expectations.

“The key outcomes for us at the end of the year were to get a return on investment – i.e. break even on our team – and also get some really good learnings,” explains Chahal. “Not only have we been able to achieve that, we’re also up 6.4 times and it’s been a phenomenal period of time from when we implemented it in mid-February. I don’t think any of us were expecting it but, for us to achieve it, is immense and something we’re really proud of at Three.”

Three is looking to build on the success it’s had so far by looking at moving toward one-to-one personalisation for customers.

It’s working to achieve this goal by working with Adobe partner Syntasa, which builds artificial intelligence (AI) models that push product recommendations, and its internal data science team to slowly edge toward providing that completed personalised experience for its customers. And this will be its main focus in the coming months.

Currently, Three aggregates customers into segments based on their similarities and interacts with them based on that.

“When we start doing the machine learning product recommendations, we’ll be able to understand how you behave with our site based on what the Adobe Target tool is telling us and push recommendations that are more relevant for you, and get immediate feedback as to if it is actually relevant to you,” states Chahal. “If you’re engaging with it, if you’re buying with it, if you’re just ignoring it, we can feed that back into the machine learning engine, which continuously improves on those recommendations. That, for me, is a massive piece. We’ll be getting it live before the end of the year but into 2020 is when we can really start revolutionising that shopping experience on the Three UK website.”

Beyond the website, the goal is to bring this digital transformation to the entire business, releasing developments in increments and targeting the middle of next year to have everything working seamlessly between all of its departments.

This will mean customers being reached with the same levels of personalisation whether they are on the website, in a retail store, opening up an email, or communicating with Three’s contact centre.

“It’s not just the online element of it. It’s tying this up with what other teams are doing as well,” explains Kolodziej. “What our customer comms teams are doing, our email, our SMS, etc. It’s about making sure the customer will see those offers across any channel.”

Three has already begun showing off some of the possibilities at its flagship store on London’s Oxford Street and there’s an initiative called ‘Three Store Now’, which displays the basics of what a seamless interaction between departments could look like.

“[With Three Store Now], Customers can start a chat with someone in their local retail store and at any point during that chat, if they feel like they want to come into store, they’ll go in and just pick up that conversation there,” adds Kolodziej. “It’s got the ability to do pictures and video as well. It’s a great way of engaging the retail staff and bringing the two channels together in quite a seamless experience, if the customer wants that. It’s all about letting them shop in the channel they want.”

Looking ahead, Three will be focused heavily on bringing forward this digital transformation across its business and implementing machine learning to create a true personalised experience. However, it’s still early days and it will be interesting to see how it all develops over the next few months and years.

“We’re quite aware that we’re only just scratching the surface with this product at the moment. So, looking toward the end of 2020, we want to be able to look back at ourselves as experts in the product and embed this as a culture across the whole team,” concludes Kolodziej.

The post “We want to free the fun”: Three on its digital transformation appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

According to an Adobe survey of 750 European business leaders, including 250 each in the UK, France, and Germany, 27 per cent of business leaders in the UK feel their ability to deliver engaging, personalised experiences is impacted by a lack of data skills within their organisation. Moreover, 22 per cent are being held back by the lack of a data-centric culture, and 24 don’t have a unified technology platform at their disposal.

At the same time, despite artificial intelligence (AI) being ideal for organising large amounts of data at speed, only 34 per cent of the companies surveyed are deploying AI to deliver personalised experiences, with 24 per cent having no plans to deploy AI. There’s also a point that only 15 per cent of respondents are confident that AI is effectively embedded into their tech stack, while 41 per cent say the platform they use cannot stitch together customer data in real-time.

The research did, however, find that UK business leaders are aware of the importance of delivering personalisation. 46 per cent identify gaining real-time customer intelligence, and 40 per cent identify improving customer segmentation and targeting, as the most important areas to improve. This is all well and good, but, back to the negatives, only 19 per cent are confident they can aggregate online and offline data and just 17 per cent are implementing good data hygiene practices.

“Today’s consumer is all about speed and convenience, and they share data with brands on the understanding that they will have a more personalised experience in future,” said Gavin Mee, vice president of Northern Europe and Middle East and Africa at Adobe. “Our figures should act as a wake-up call for businesses and encourage them to re-focus their efforts on delivering against the heightened expectations of their customers. Having the right skills to capture and analyse data are important, but so too, is instilling a data-centric culture across the business that means insights and technology platforms are used to create amazing, personalised experiences.”

The post Businesses aware of need for personalisation but suffer from data and tech shortcomings appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

According to an Adobe survey of 1,200 UK consumers distributed evenly across Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers, 43 per cent of people think that Gen Z are most likely to be influenced online, compared to just 17 per cent for Baby Boomers. Amongst Gen Z alone, 41 per cent agree they are the generation most likely to be influenced online.

Although Gen Z may be most susceptible to online influence, they are also more sophisticated online than other generations. 33 per cent of the age group take an active role in configuring data preferences on social networks, compared with 29 per cent across the other age groups. Furthermore, 69 per cent of them are willing to share data with brands versus 52 per cent of Baby Boomers. Despite this willingness to share data, 21 per cent of Gen Zers restrict the data they share with brands that don’t deliver on the experiences expected.

“As ‘Digital Natives’, Gen Z have developed relationships with brands from a very early age, meaning they’re much more familiar with data/experience value exchange,” said Gavin Mee, vice president of Northern Europe at Adobe. “But companies can’t take these relationships for granted – if a brand falls short of their high expectations, this data-savvy age group has no problem exercising choices and moving to a competitor that can deliver a personalised, relevant experience. Across all generations, and especially with older age groups, brands need to build trust by being open about how they use data, and clear about the added value it enables them to deliver.”

The research also found that 52 per cent of Gen Zers frequently engage with companies that place ads online, compared to 30 per cent cross other age groups. Moreover, they are most trusting with 28 per cent believing brands will ‘do the right thing’ with their data versus just 17 per cent of Baby Boomers.

Gen Z also value exclusive experiences the most, with 28 per cent willing to exchange their data to get one. On the other hand, Baby Boomers are most likely (73 per cent) to swap their data for a discount or special offer, while Gen Z are the least likely (47 per cent).

The post Gen Z are the most likely to be influenced online appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

Yext has launched integrations with Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe Campaign, Adobe Analytics, and Adobe Target. These integrations mean Adobe customers can leverage Yext’s data for use across websites, mobile apps, email systems, and Internet of Things.

“In the context of a changing customer journey fuelled by changing technology, businesses need to think strategically about how to structure the facts that consumers seek out about them in order to make themselves discoverable,” said Cody Crnkovich, head of platform partners and strategy for Adobe Experience Cloud. “We’re excited to bring the power of Yext knowledge to Adobe customers so that even more people can discover the compelling digital experiences they build with us.”

Howard Lerman, founder and CEO of Yext, added: “As search transforms from results to answers, the importance of structuring critical brand information to supply verified, direct answers to consumers is only continuing to grow. We are proud to collaborate with Adobe to provide new ways for brands to provide an excellent customer experience powered by intelligence.”

The post Adobe links up with Yext to drive discoverability for businesses appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

Check out more coverage surrounding our Programmatic Lunch event and how the industry is evolving here.

The post Programmatic Lunch 2018 – Adobe appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.