In an exclusive interview with the World Federation of Advertisers' Global Marketer Week, Jonathan Adashek, IBM's senior vice president of marketing and communications, spoke about IBM's dedication to pioneering technologies such as AI and hybrid cloud solutions, and how these tools are It highlights the potential to redefine marketing and marketing. business in the near future.
At the World Federation of Advertisers' Global Marketer Week in Toronto, Jonathan Adashek, IBM's senior vice president of marketing and communications, spoke about the evolving landscape of marketing and the essential role technology plays in IBM's strategic direction. shared their insights about.
Adashek's focus on aligning marketing and sales, leveraging AI and exploring future technologies such as quantum AI provides a roadmap for IBM's future growth, innovation and leadership in the computing industry.
Strengthening the bond between sales and marketing
At the heart of Adashek's strategic approach is the sense that marketing and sales are merging, with each party increasingly creating a symbiotic relationship.
“Marketing organizations are expected to work more closely with sales than ever before,” he explains, pointing to the complexity of modern sales processes that involve diverse buying groups and complex cycles. Masu.
It's clear that Adashek sees it as his responsibility to ensure that IBM's marketing efforts are always intrinsically linked to the company's business needs: Every campaign he leads is designed to support IBM's sales and business growth goals: “If it helps us sell another instance of Watsonx, then it's fine.” [a commercial generative AI and scientific data platform]”Whether it's software, mainframes, whatever it may be, we need to make sure that all the work we're doing is driving those business objectives,” he says.
The brand's “Trust What You Create” campaign, led by Ogilvy and launched at the Adobe Summit in March, exemplifies this approach. The project transformed the Las Vegas sphere into a fishbowl containing various fish symbolizing data problems, including the “missing data fish” and the “mirror ball fish” representing data drift. This creative execution not only grabbed attention, but also emphasized the importance of trusting your data.
In Adashek's view, the campaign served as a masterclass in modern B2B marketing. “The execution was very precise,” he recalls. “We wanted to tell a story that was meaningful to the audience that was there, tied to our business goals, and tied to the goals of our partner Adobe to make it successful. .”
At the same time, the brand's marketing efforts must always resonate with IBM's longstanding reputation for innovation and excellence — ideas that are central to the 113-year-old brand's identity, Adashek said.
“We have the principles that make us IBM, and we can't deviate from them,” he says. “People engage with us because of what we bring to the table and who we are.”
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The convergence of cloud computing and AI as a competitive differentiator
Adashek, like many modern marketers, believes that AI is the most potentially transformative technology for today's marketing world.
The impact of AI on marketing will be “far-reaching,” he argues.
“AI is changing the way we approach everything,” he says. Specifically, Adashek suggests that marketers who leverage AI will enjoy more accurate data analysis, better personalized content creation, and more efficient content delivery.
Looking ahead to the next few years, Adashek echoes the words of IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, who has articulated IBM's vision to be a leading hybrid cloud and AI company.
Adashek acknowledged that the hybrid cloud industry is still in its infancy, but says, “That's where we're focused and I think we're making great progress.” He also expects the continued exploration of open source methodologies and models to drive further innovation in these areas.
Beyond these investments, Adashek is optimistic about the potential of quantum AI, the intersection of quantum computing and artificial intelligence. “I’m excited to see what the future holds when quantum AI becomes commercially available in the coming years.”
For more insights from top marketers, check out Nissan CMO Allison Witherspoon's perspective on automotive marketing in the age of connectivity and automation.
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