1. © 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Adobe State of Creative and Marketing Collaboration Survey
1

2. © 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Executive Summary
2
Adobe’s State of Creative and Marketing Collaboration survey set out to uncover how creatives, marketers,
advertisers and IT are working together to keep up with the fast pace of content creation and deliver exceptional
customer experiences.
What we discovered:
The driving force of personalization is causing brands to struggle with content creation. While a large majority of
marketers, advertisers, creatives and IT professionals communicate with each other at least on a weekly basis, they
don’t feel their processes for content creation and delivery are as efficient or as effective as they should be.
Marketers and advertisers would like to see creatives brought into the development process earlier and everyone
prioritizes content quality above cost and personalization. The challenge remains on how to collectively accomplish
personalization at scale.

3. © 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Methodology
3
WHO WHERE WHEN HOW
1,037 creative,
marketing, advertising
and IT professionals;
majority from brands
with more than 500
employees*
North
America (U.S.
and Canada)
Aug. 7-31, 2018 Online survey
conducted via
Advanis
*2% of respondents from companies with less than 500 employees and 20% of creatives work at an agency

4. © 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Time investment on content creation
0-10 HOURS
11-20 HOURS
21-30 HOURS
31-40 HOURS
41-50 HOURS
50+ HOURS
LONG FORMSHORT FORM
NUMBER OF HOURS TO CREATE A SINGLE PIECE OF
CONTENT OR AD FORMAT
Mean # of
hours: 17
Mean # of
hours: 27
42%
26%
16%
9%
4%
2%
16%
23%
25%
16%
10%
10%
Brands are struggling to keep up with content creation. Part of the struggle is the length of time it currently takes
to turn personalized content around.
12DAYS TO TAKE
A SINGLE PIECE OF
CONTENT TO MARKET
ON AVERAGE

5. © 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential. 5
Many brand creatives, marketers and advertisers believe their companies can do more to personalize; however,
many state they find it difficult to personalize content at scale.
BELIEVE THEIR COMPANY’S CONTENT
PERSONALIZATION IS VERY EXTENSIVE
59%
MARKETERS
52%
ADVERTISERS
41%
AGENCY CREATIVES
53%
BRAND CREATIVES
AGREE THEY FIND IT DIFFICULT TO
PERSONALIZE CONTENT AT SCALE
Personalization remains a struggle
MARKETING
ADVERTISING
BRAND
CREATIVES
AGENCY
CREATIVES
37%
25%
22%
24%

6. © 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential. 6
Marketers, advertisers and creatives say the time investment needed to create and iterate content is
the top barrier to personalization.
Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3
BIGGEST BARRIERS TO PERSONALIZING CONTENT AND DIGITAL AD CREATIVE
2%
4%
5%
3%
10%
10%
12%
20%
33%
5%
9%
8%
11%
11%
10%
12%
23%
11%
6%
14%
15%
12%
15%
10%
11%
7%
9%
LACK OF ACCESS TO AI
LACK OF CONNECTING DATA TO CREATIVE
HARD TO TRACK FEEDBACK ABOUT EACH VERSION CREATED
NO EFFICIENT WAY TO MOVE FROM TEMPLATE TO UNIQUE VERSIONS
TOO MANY MINOR CHANGES REQUESTED
INSUFFICIENT SEGMENT INSIGHTS
INSUFFICIENT DETAIL ABOUT THE DIFFERENT NEEDS OF EACH VERSION
COST OF CREATING / ITERATION
TIME TO CREATE / ITERATE
Personalization barriers for content and advertising creative

7. © 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential. 7
HOW OFTEN EACH INTERACTS WITH
DESIGN/CREATIVE TEAMS
HOW OFTEN EACH INTERACTS WITH
MARKETING/AD TEAMS
18%
74%
26%29%
78%
22%
38%
92%
8%
DAILY WEEKLY LESS THAN WEEKLY
39%
91%
9%
30%
91%
9%
31%
85%
15%
DAILY WEEKLY LESS THAN WEEKLY
MARKETERS ADVERTISERS IT
The large majority of marketers, advertisers, creatives and IT pros communicate with each other at least on a
weekly basis.
BRAND CREATIVES AGENCY CREATIVES IT
Strong communication between teams
© 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

8. © 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential. 8
Despite creatives, marketers, advertisers and IT communicating often, content creation and delivery isn’t
as connected as it should be. Complexity in the content creation landscape continues to increase.
14%11%8%7%6%
25%26%26%
19%20%
60%63%66%
75%75%
MARKETERSADVERTISERSBRAND
CREATIVES
AGENCY
CREATIVES
IT
PEOPLE INVOLVED IN CONTENT CREATION &
DELIVERY COMPARED TO A FEW YEARS AGO
NET MORE SAME NET LESS
BELIEVE CONTENT CREATION AND DELIVERY ARE VERY
WELL-COORDINATED
MARKETING
ADVERTISING
BRAND
CREATIVES
IT 54%
30%
32%
28%
Content delivery & creation isn’t as connected as it should be
© 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

9. © 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential. 9
More than 1/4 of brand creatives and marketers aren’t receiving the feedback they need to determine
the effectiveness of content.
27%
MARKETERS
14%
ADVERTISERS
28%
BRAND CREATIVES
9%
AGENCY CREATIVES
DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO CRITERIA USED TO DETERMINE
EFFECTIVENESS OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE EFFORTS
ALL MARKETERS ADVERTISERS
BRAND
CREATIVES
AGENCY
CREATIVES
47%
60%
53%
44%
63%
49%
52%
60%
55%
46%
54%
53%
74%
57%
REVENUE IMPACT
DIRECT CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
CONVERSION METRICS
CRITERIA USED TO DETERMINE EFFECTIVENESS OF
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE EFFORTS
48%
Disconnect with content feedback

10. © 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Majority of creatives, marketers and advertisers want creatives to be involved in the pre-planning stage as well as
in the creation and production of content. Creatives should have a seat at the strategy table.
Creatives’ role in content strategy
© 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
STAGES CREATIVES ARE INVOLVED IN CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
CURRENT WANT
40%
49%
60%
66%
71%
24%
41%
59%
77%
52%
CUSTOMER FEEDBACKPOST-PRODUCTIONPRODUCTIONCREATIONPRE-PLANNING

11. © 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
42
47
41
45
30
27
32
30
27
25
27
25
AGENCY CREATIVES
BRAND CREATIVES
ADVERTISERS
MARKETERS
CONTENT PRIORITIES (OUT OF 100 POINTS)
Creatives, marketers and advertisers report content quality as the top priority, indicating they’re not willing to
sacrifice quality for speed and volume.
CONTENT QUALITY PERSONALIZATION CONTENT COST
Content quality over volume of output

12. © 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Digital maturity matters
12
OF DIGITALLY ADVANCED ORGANIZATIONS
SAY THEIR CONTENT CREATION & DELIVERY
ARE VERY WELL COORDINATED
OF DIGITALLY ADVANCED
ORGANIZATIONS SAY THEIR CONTENT
PERSONALIZATION IS EXTENSIVE
COMPANIES THAT SAY THEY ARE
OUTPERFORMING THEIR COMPETITION
COMPANIES THAT SAY MARKETING HAS
DIFFERENTIATED THEIR ORGANIZATION
50%
73%
59%
35%
DIGITALLY ADVANCED COMPANIES
ALL OTHER COMPANIES
56%
34%
DIGITALLY ADVANCED COMPANIES
ALL OTHER COMPANIES
Digitally mature companies are more likely to say they are outperforming the competition, their
content creation and delivery is very well coordinated, and their personalization is extensive.
© 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

14. © 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential. 14
9%
7%
9%
17%
22%
27%
9%
9%
10%
10%
26%
26%
8%
8%
8%
14%
24%
29%
10%
7%
9%
20%
19%
26%
4%
3%
7%
24%
23%
30%
MORE THAN 4 WEEKS
4 WEEKS
3 WEEKS
2 WEEKS
1 WEEK
2-4 DAYS
LENGTH OF TIME TO GET A SINGLE PIECE
OF CONTENT TO MARKET
MEAN
12
DAYS
12
DAYS
11
DAYS
12
DAYS
10
DAYS
ALL MARKETERS ADVERTISERS BRAND CREATIVES AGENCY CREATIVES
Appendix Charts
© 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

15. © 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
ALL MARKETERS ADVERTISERS BRAND CREATIVES AGENCY CREATIVES
3%
13%
49%
35%
2%
15%
55%
28%
5%
16%
48%
32%
4%
15%
52%
30%
7%
36%
57%
VERY UNCOORDINATED
SOMEWHAT UNCOORDINATED
SOMEWHAT COORDINATED
VERY WELL COORDINATED
LEVEL OF COORDINATION BETWEEN CONTENT CREATION AND DELIVERY
Appendix Charts

16. © 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
2%
4%
9%
16%
26%
42%
3%
3%
17%
14%
27%
38%
3%
4%
6%
18%
31%
37%
2%
3%
6%
14%
24%
52%
2%
6%
15%
30%
27%
20%
50 OR MORE HOURS
41-50 HOURS
31-40 HOURS
21-30 HOURS
11-20 HOURS
0-10 HOURS
10%
10%
16%
25%
23%
16%
11%
13%
13%
22%
22%
19%
9%
5%
14%
26%
29%
16%
11%
9%
18%
24%
22%
16%
6%
11%
18%
31%
18%
15%
50 OR MORE HOURS
41-50 HOURS
31-40 HOURS
21-30 HOURS
11-20 HOURS
0-10 HOURS
16
MEAN
17
HOURS
18
HOURS
17
HOURS
14
HOURS
22
HOURS
NUMBER OF HOURS TO CREATE A SINGLE
PIECE OF SHORT-FORM CONTENT
NUMBER OF HOURS TO CREATE A SINGLE
PIECE OF LONG-FORM CONTENT
MEAN
27
HOURS
27
HOURS
25
HOURS
28
HOURS
27
HOURS
TOTAL MARKETERS ADVERTISERS
BRAND
CREATIVES
AGENCY
CREATIVES
TOTAL MARKETERS ADVERTISERS
BRAND
CREATIVES
AGENCY
CREATIVES
Appendix Charts
© 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

17. © 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
TOTAL MARKETERS ADVERTISERS BRAND CREATIVES AGENCY CREATIVES
42%
49%
59%
9%
41%
46%
62%
9%
40%
53%
59%
11%
45%
48%
55%
10%
36%
50%
71%
3%
VARIATIONS ARE CREATED FOR DIFFERENT
CAMPAIGNS
VARIATIONS ARE CREATED FOR DIFFERENT DIGITAL
CHANNELS
VARIATIONS ARE CREATED TO TARGET DIFFERENT
SEGMENTS OF THE MARKET
NO VARIATIONS ARE CREATED
TYPES OF CONTENT VARIATIONS CREATED
Appendix Charts

18. © 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Appendix Charts
MARKETERS
77%
AGENCY CREATIVES
83%
IT
83%
ADVERTISERS
85%
BRAND CREATIVES
81%
BELIEVE MORE TOOLS ARE INVOLVED IN CONTENT
CREATION & DELIVERY COMPARED TO A FEW YEARS AGO

19. © 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Appendix Charts
7%
6%
7%
9%
15%
16%
14%
24%
28%
26%
35%
29%
25%
30%
21%
37%
25%
22%
24%
AGENCY CREATIVES
BRAND CREATIVES
ADVERTISERS
MARKETERS
EXTENT OF COMPANY’S CONTENT
AND DIGITAL AD CREATIVE PERSONALIZATION
NOT
EXTENSIVE
AT ALL
4 3 2 VERY
EXTENSIVE