Ann Lewnes | B2B People Top Digital Marketers

Ann Lewnes

By By Pat Riedman

June 11, 2012 - 6:01 am EDT

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Title: Senior VP-global marketing

Company: Adobe Systems

Years in current job: 5

Five years ago, Adobe Systems dabbled in digital marketing. Now, 74% of its budget is digital, thanks largely to Ann Lewnes, senior VP-global marketing, who oversees the company's corporate brand and integrated marketing efforts.

When Adobe unveiled its Creative Cloud and Creative Suite 6 design software recently, for example, it tapped Twitter and YouTube to promote sneak-peek videos of CS6 Photoshop, available in both product offerings. It also staged virtual and live events in six cities around the world.

People tuned in. The webcast of the Creative Cloud launch generated more than 1.2 million website visits on launch day, and more than 32 million visits to date.

The sneak-peeks garnered more than 2.3 million views and, depending on which gained the most traction, Adobe shifted its marketing for the launch accordingly, Lewnes said. The most popular sneak-peeks highlight the features “that people are super-psyched about,” she said. “We're dashboarding every day to make sure [the campaign] is getting out to the right people.”

Lewnes said several acquisitions, such as that of analytics company Omniture, gave Adobe “a chance to be a guinea pig” in employing measurement tools across all its marketing. When it launched its new software services last month, it tested several home pages on Adobe.com, as well as the CS6 product page.

In the end, Lewnes said, the attention to metrics helps Adobe achieve its ROI goals and helps justify her marketing budget. Sure, creativity helps a brand be successful, she added, but “now we can quantify that success.”