Podcast Summary: Uncensored CMO – "Why AI will be a creative game changer" Featuring Simon Morris, Adobe
Introduction
In the July 7, 2025 release of Uncensored CMO, host Jon Evans engages in a revealing conversation with Simon Morris, Vice President of Marketing at Adobe. The episode explores the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in enhancing human creativity within the marketing landscape.
Simon Morris’s Journey to Adobe
Simon Morris shares his extensive marketing career, highlighting his tenure at a small Israeli software startup where he honed his skills in various facets of business development and marketing. “[...] I quickly realized that I really enjoyed influencing and persuading people. And so I went down the marketing route” (01:47). After 14 years at Adobe, Simon has witnessed and contributed to the company's significant shifts, including the transition to a subscription-based model and the acquisition of Omniture, which expanded Adobe’s footprint into the enterprise and analytics sectors.
Adobe’s Transformation and Industry Recognition
Jon Evans congratulates Adobe’s CEO, Shantanu Narayen, on being named Creative Champion of the Year. Simon emphasizes Adobe's longstanding commitment to empowering creators and businesses with tools that foster creativity and storytelling. “[...] we've been doing it over such a long time, continue to reinvent, continue to look around the corner” (05:46).
AI as an Enabler of Creativity
Simon Morris elucidates Adobe’s perspective on AI, describing it as "augmented intelligence" aimed at enhancing human creativity rather than replacing it. “[AI is] a technology that's going to enhance and amplify human creativity, not replace it” (06:20). He highlights how AI tools like Adobe Express and Firefly streamline time-consuming tasks, allowing creatives to focus on developing impactful and emotionally resonant campaigns. This approach mitigates the fear of the "blank page" by providing initial ideas to build upon.
AI’s Impact on the Marketing Landscape
Simon discusses the profound influence of AI on marketing practices, particularly in generating content variations and enabling personalized experiences at scale. “The biggest thing they crave is time [...] AI allows them to focus on bringing their creative vision to life” (07:10). He cites Adobe’s Gen Studio for performance marketing as a pivotal tool that addresses the challenges of producing vast amounts of content required for effective performance marketing campaigns.
Scaling AI in Marketing: Challenges and Solutions
Scaling AI tools across larger teams presents challenges, such as maintaining brand consistency and ensuring effective use. Simon explains the initial success with a select group of creatives and performance marketers who understood both the creative and analytical aspects of marketing (13:22). To address scalability, Adobe implemented training programs and established brand guardrails within their tools, ensuring that broader teams could effectively leverage AI without compromising on quality or brand integrity.
Adobe as Its Own Customer: Campaign Creation
Adobe leverages its own tools to create and manage marketing campaigns, ensuring they meet real-world needs. For instance, Adobe’s UK campaign for Adobe Express targeted solopreneurs and small businesses, utilizing real local businesses to showcase authentic use cases. “[...] we manage all the assets through Gen Studio so we've got the kind of single view of all the assets” (15:19). This internal usage helps Adobe refine its tools based on firsthand feedback and practical application.
Collaborating with Creators: Best Practices
Simon offers valuable insights into working with creators, emphasizing the importance of long-term, authentic partnerships. “We see more success when you have longer term [...] genuine, authentic use of our tools” (16:32). Adobe fosters these relationships by allowing creators the freedom to produce content that resonates with their audiences while adhering to a consistent measurement framework that categorizes content into "entertain, educate, inspire, or inform."
Effective Product Launch Strategies
Successful product launches at Adobe are characterized by seamless collaboration between marketing and product teams and active involvement from the creative community. Simon highlights the launch of Adobe Firefly on mobile as an example, where collaborative development with creators and rigorous beta testing ensured the product met customer needs. “We have a very tight relationship with our product teams [...] creating a lot of our own content” (19:33).
Ensuring Trust and Data Quality in AI
Addressing concerns about data quality, intellectual property (IP), and trust, Simon emphasizes Adobe’s commitment to responsible AI usage. Referencing Spider-Man’s famous quote, “With great power comes great responsibility,” he underscores Adobe’s dedication to transparency, accountability, and commercial safety in their AI models. “[...] we wanted to make sure that creators were compensated, we wanted to make sure that it was a commercially safe solution” (24:03).
Future Trends: AI and Search Behavior
Looking ahead, Simon identifies the rise of large language models (LLMs) and their impact on search behavior as pivotal trends. Brands must adapt by optimizing their presence within LLM-driven searches to remain relevant. “How do I influence those LLM engines? How do I create the right content that's going to show up” (26:19).
Building Brands Amidst Attention Competition
In an era where marketing resembles “day trading attention,” Simon advocates for foundational principles in brand building. Citing Sir John Hegarty, “Principles remain, practices change,” he stresses the importance of understanding and consistently conveying what a brand stands for while leveraging innovative storytelling methods to cut through the noise.
Leadership in Marketing: Customer-Centric Approach
Concluding the discussion, Simon emphasizes that great marketing leaders prioritize a deep understanding of their customers. “Start with the customer [...] deeply understand your customer, the pain points, what matters to them” (30:06). This customer-centric mindset ensures that marketing strategies and campaigns effectively address real needs, driving sustainable growth.
Conclusion
Jon Evans wraps up the episode by thanking Simon Morris for his insightful contributions and congratulating Adobe on their remarkable presence at Cannes. Listeners are encouraged to subscribe and leave reviews to support the Uncensored CMO podcast.
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