At this year’s Adobe Summit, Adobe announced an exciting list of innovative capabilities that tap into the power of Generative AI, made popular by OpenAI and its revolutionary ChatGPT app. These new capabilities promise to enhance several of the company’s products – Adobe Experience Cloud, Adobe Real-Time Customer Data Platform, Adobe Marketo Engage, Adobe Marketo Measure (formerly Bizible), Adobe Commerce, and others – and make life easier for Marketers.  

While we provided a quick summary of some of the capabilities in a recent blog post, let’s take a closer look at what was announced: 

• Adobe Firefly, a family of creative AI models intended to assist with creative expression. A collection of advanced machine-learning models work to generate content based on natural-language descriptions, the first of which handles image and text creation.  

• Advanced AI modeling in Marketo Measure, which enables AI-powered attribution models, a better understanding of the performance and impact of various marketing and sales tactics, and the ability to customize AI models per conversion points and segments. 

• Integrated workflows between Adobe Marketo Engage and Adobe Workfront, which streamlines campaign planning and development, from intake and creation, to proofing and approvals, reporting and auditing, and more. 

• A premium offering of Dynamic Chat, that automates conversations and facilitates personalized Live Chat between Adobe and customers throughout the buying journey. Adobe Sensei GenAI enables generated responses that leverage company-owned knowledge and resources for automated conversations. Other features include conversation summaries generated from Live Chat conversations and the ability to fine tune Generated Responses by tone and style. Adobe Sensei GenAI also provides Live Streams for interactive lead capture and advanced lead routing. 

• Interactive webinars, with Adobe Connect, enable end-to-end webinar creations and management in Marketo Engage, providing immediate access to data collected during live polls and surveys, Q&As, and hand-raising to enrich lead scoring, alerting, and other automated marketing workflows.  

• The ability to personalize content and offers in Adobe Commerce in real time, leveraging customer data across Adobe Experience Cloud and beyond. 

• Journeys in Marketo Engage, which visualize connected campaigns and help uncover ways of improving the customer experience and moving customers along on their journey. Marketers can visualize relationships and easily share journeys to stakeholders. 
   

At BDO Digital, we’re excited about these new capabilities, especially Adobe Firefly, and the numerous benefits it can offer Marketers interested in generating creative images and deliverables faster than ever before.  

Here’s a closer look at Firefly and why we think Generative AI is becoming an indispensable and qualified co-pilot for Marketing teams in 2023 and beyond. 
 

Firefly: Job Thief or Co-Pilot? 

Using Firefly, Marketers can simply describe an image they’d like to see, and the models generate content based on data from a vast amount of professional, licensed images already part of Adobe Stock. The models are also trained on content that is openly licensed, as well as open-domain content. A powerful style engine enables users to take the images that are generated and configure different aspects such as color, tone, lighting and more.  

Sounds pretty cool, right? What’s even better is that it works with existing workflows across many of Adobe’s products, such as Creative Cloud, Document Cloud, Experience Cloud and Adobe Express. Eventually, you’ll even be able to leverage APIs to integrate the capabilities into your own custom workflows.  

But wait! If Firefly can generate unique and original images, what will become of the creative professionals whose job it is to design them? According to Adobe, it’s not a threat to their jobs; it’s a huge enabler. 

“We believe that Firefly can help people grow their creative confidence by removing barriers between creative vision and blank page,” wrote David Wadhwani, President of Digital Media Business at Adobe. “It puts hours back into the lives of creators at a moment when both the demand for content and the demands on their time have exploded. We want Firefly to realize the power of generative AI and amplify human creativity and intelligence without replacing the beauty and power of human imagination.”  
 

We Agree! 

Creative tasks often require a high level of creativity, originality, and subjective judgment, which can be challenging for AI systems to replicate fully – at least for the foreseeable future. While generative AI can assist in generating content, it may struggle with the nuanced decision-making and aesthetic choices that creative professionals bring to their work. 

Creative professionals excel in bringing a human touch and emotional connection to their work, because they understand the intricacies of human experiences and cultural contexts, and can tailor their creations to resonate with specific audiences. AI cannot replicate this depth of understanding and connection. Our ability to adapt, learn new techniques, and push the boundaries of our craft enables marketers to generate truly novel and groundbreaking ideas. 

What’s more, creative work often involves collaboration with clients, colleagues and other stakeholders. It requires effective communication, understanding client needs, and iterating on ideas based on feedback. These interpersonal skills and the ability to work collaboratively are essential in creative professions and are not easily replaceable by AI. Particularly when customization and a deep understanding of specific domains is required, humans are an indispensable part of the creative process.  
 

The Benefits of Generative AI for Marketers  

Leveraging the new capabilities enabled by Generative AI technology, Adobe customers can save time and resources via automation saves, and have more time to focus on higher-level tasks such as strategy, analysis, and creative direction.  

By analyzing vast amounts of data, generative AI algorithms can achieve a level of personalization previously impossible, improving customer engagement, increasing conversion rates, and enhancing customer satisfaction. And, they can analyze patterns, trends, and consumer preferences to suggest novel campaign concepts, messaging strategies, or product ideas and help marketers unlock fresh perspectives and discover untapped opportunities.  

In the end, the collaboration between humans and AI can lead to synergistic outcomes, where AI enhances the creative process, improves productivity, and frees up time for professionals to focus on higher-level tasks that require their expertise and creative intuition.