Wavemaker | Agency Profile, Contacts, AOR, Client Relationships

• The agencies will initially work together on a new center of excellence (COE).
• Their teams will reportedly work to align regional teams with a streamlined overarching advertising strategy.
• This is an expansion of Adobe's relationship with Wavemaker, which previously handled brand marketing initiatives but now also leads the company's full-funnel strategy.
• Previously, Adobe worked with a slew of agencies such as Bamboo, Stagwell, and Stickeyes.
• Now that it has "only" two media agency partners, Adobe's leaders hope the company will more easily deliver consistent messaging among its regional marketing teams.
• Adobe is especially working to bolster audience awareness in the US, which includes "a larger transformation happening around media and marketing within Adobe," which former CMO Ann Lewnes said before retiring last month.
• These shifts are part of a marketing transformation that will include Adobe leaving its typical campaign-driven marketing efforts in favor of "fewer, bigger media plans," reportedly.
• I had thought that an agency review would likely follow Lewnes's departure.
• The company will likely:
  • Launch some of those "bigger media plans"
  • Shift its strategy
  • Continue increasing digital spend
  • Seek additional new agency partners
• Target demographic: 
  • ​​​​​​​Male millennials and Gen-X
  • Business DMs

Additional spending insights:

• Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: So far this year, Adobe has spent around $8.6m on national TV commercials, down 5% from when it spent around $9.1k within the same 2022 timeframe.
  • Last year: The company spent approximately $33.6m on national TV commercials in 2022 after having spent less than half of this, approximately $14.3m, in 2021.
  • 2023 ad programming: Adobe's 2023 commercials have targeted male sports enthusiasts watching shows such as NFL Football, NBA Basketball, Next Level Chef, Friends, and PGA Tour Golf.
• Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: The company's YTD digital spend has reached $29.1m, 20% more than the roughly $24.3m allocated by this point last year.
  • YTD data: So far in 2022, Adobe has earned about 3.4b digital impressions via YouTube (37%), Facebook (30%), Instagram (17%), desktop display (9%), and desktop video (7%) ads.
  • Last year: In 2022, the company allocated roughly $214.5m on digital ads, 17% more than the roughly $184m allocated in 2021. 
• Additional channel insights  
  • Adobe utilizes OOH, local broadcast, and Google Ads.
  • The company sponsors podcasts such as The Totally Football Show with James Richardson and The Unmistakable Creative Podcast.

Additional agency insights:

• Opportunity: Agency reviews often follow one another closely, so get in touch soon to offer PR, creative, social media management, digital analytics, multicultural, influencer, and/or experiential services.
• Current agency roster:
  • ​​​​​​​Wavemaker: Media AOR  
  • Publicis Media: Media AOR
  • : Creative AOR
  • : Digital agency partner

Insight Sources: Broadcast insights estimated by Podchaser.