ADOBE SUMMIT 2021: The Digital Experience Conference | Jack Yu

  

Living through the pandemic
Amidst the pandemic and quarantine, Adobe’s Summit 2021 holds conversations around innovating through digital experiences, mentioning its partnerships with e-commerce partners such as FedEx and other front-line medical innovators like Pfizer.

Rajesh Subramaniam, President and COO at FedEx (picture above), mentions that consumers and industry leaders have not stopped innovations no matter in physical or digital forms. As a result of the pandemic, the audience expects every experience is digitally optimized. Seeing how FedEx is incorporating data technologies into their day to day job tasks, from scanning, data storing, signing to many other aspects. Like FedEx, many small businesses are adopting technology as a side effect of pandemic. What we see most are contactless payment. In many other countries, contactless payment has been implemented for years. However, it was not until the pandemic, the US businesses started widely implementing contactless payment such as Apple Pay or Google Pay. Now that a user can take a subway ride without purchasing a MetroCard on the machine, do they need to touch a dirty screen that’s contacted by hundreds of people daily. Through Subramaniam’s speech, we learn that technology changes people's lives yet time changes how people interact with technology. Adobe’s Chairman, President & CEO Shantanu Narayen said in the Adobe Summit that “we have gone from a world with digital to a digital first world, and there is no going back.” Adobe’s new goal is to help businesses provide personal digital experiences and connect with consumers in today’s setting (during & post pandemic). As time changes, consumer’s needs have been evolving as well, we have gone from a conventional mass advertising method to more customized and experience-focused advertising method. Businesses nowadays not only need to understand their consumer’s needs but also to seek ways to maintain their attention and build a connection with them by focusing on each consumer group’s unique identities in order to curate memorable brand experiences/engagement. Like Dara Treseder, SVP, Global Head of Marketing and Communications at Peloton, mentioned, “Diversity makes us better, it helps us deliver better business results.” Whether a brand really cares about diversity and inclusion from the brand’s core values, undebatable this is an issue consumers care about more and more, especially in this digital first world.


This year’s conference also invited Serena Williams as a guest speaker. Starting with her father’s quote, “You never know, something could happen anytime and you need a plan to fall back on,” Serena introduced herself as a professional tennis player but also a woman fashion business owner who invests in funds. She shared her experience working as a minority leader, as a woman and person of colors. Serena is open to being fierceful, making mistakes and taking risks and how these experiences have transformed her success. When talking about her own clothes line, Serena, Williams brought up the uniqueness of the Gen Z shoppers, who focus on shopping with a cause, such as sustainable fabrics and fairly sourced labors. Gen Z as a newcomer in the business cares about different subject matters than any previous generations. Social issues such as gender equality, environments, and rights of people of color are more prominent factors when it comes to Gen Z’s decision making process.


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