Adobe Max 2024 insights: Preparing for the future of marketing in 2025

Over the last few days I tuned in remotely to a few of the adobe talks at their Adobe Max event in Miami, here are some key takeaways from the event.

Beating algorithms: Social strategies for driving growth

My favourite talk by far was by Lia Haberman, (Founder of the ICYMI Newsletter) Beating Algorithms: Social Strategies for Driving Growth. Lia delivered a fascinating talk on the state of social media and how to optimise each platform for your business. The talk discussed some impactful and measurable outcomes for social media managers and businesses who are looking to focus on social media expansion.

Listen, analyse and react to what your audiences want and demand from you. One company that did this really well was Tirtir, a Korean beauty brand, who responded to a complaint that they do not have a wide enough variety of shades by launching 40+ new shades and sending the influencer PR of the new shades.

“In 2024 there is no distinction between screens … it's just screens”. This quote has never been so true, we need to move towards flexible pieces of content that work across a variety of screens as the user demand for different content changes across platforms, “when in doubt, re-size and repost”.

Lia also explained how Meta are making a variety of changes to their feed to keep winning over Gen Z by making their platform more Gen Z friendly. These changes include improving shareability (a KPI that brands are focusing on more and more) and monetisation of content. Lia touched on the idea that whilst in the past, wisdom has trickled down from parent to child, in the Gen Z era, wisdom seems to be shared evenly across all generations, both up and down. In essence, if you reach Gen Z, you can reach Millenials, Gen X, Boomers and even Gen Alpha.

“Adapt or become irrelevant” was a key message throughout her talk. Gen Z is disrupting the way social media has been used previously, and personally, I am here for it (although I may be a little biassed being Gen Z myself).

AI and creativity

As expected, AI was a huge and incredibly relevant topic at Adobe Max. Adobe Gen AI was mentioned frequently, and Heather Freeland (Chief Brand Officer at Adobe) and Clayton Ruebensaal (Chief Creative Officer at Comcast) delivered an eye-opening talk about creativity being at the core of everything we do.

Generative expansion within Photoshop can be used to create better-quality expanded videos with room for text and captions - helping increase accessibility. Adobe Gen AI can also be used to assist marketers, but the keyword there is assist. “Technology is quick to change but people are not” - this message is one we are hearing a lot, and one we ourselves have touched on in our Marketers of the Universe podcast. Similarly to Lia’s talk where she mentioned “Adapt or become irrelevant”, it seems one thing is key: for businesses to stay relevant, they will need to try and keep up with the ever-changing world of technology. However, this does not remove the need for designers. In fact, Clayton Ruebensaal even stated that when it comes to blog posts, human-designed work creates more traffic than the AI alternative, emphasising that working alongside AI is best when it comes to achieving optimal results.

Other talks also addressed the occasional need for speed over perfection when it comes to the turnaround of creative assets, and learning to be okay with a lack of perfection where speed is the priority. Visual stimulation is also key when it comes to creating compelling ad campaigns. Don’t shy away from curiosity and bold ideas, but remember you're working on one concept, not three, and make sure to keep it consistent.

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As I continue to develop my work in social media, I plan to incorporate various AI methods to enhance our content's accessibility. Currently, I use Chat-GPT to help with grammar checks and to rephrase sentences that don't quite match the desired tone. However, I have yet to explore AI's potential to improve the quality of my edits. New tools, such as generative AI and AI audio enhancers, have the potential to be game-changers for the quality of my work.

Recent discussions have underscored the importance of adapting to new technologies and keeping pace with technological evolution. While I have always understood the need to learn and adapt to new tools, I now realise how crucial this is for the longevity of my career in digital marketing. The adage "Adapt or become irrelevant" has never felt more true.