Marketing Vanguard at Cannes: How IBM Became Its Own AI Case Study ft. Jonathan Adashek of IBM

We do half the number of events today that we did 2 years ago and we get 10 to 20% more leads and interest out of those events because we're using AI to better target, to have better, more personalized, more relevant content. It's not just about a cost takeout. It's about how do you get more effective? How do you drive more growth? >> [music] >> Hi everyone and welcome to the Marketing Vanguard podcast live from Cannes. This is our special vidcast series right along the Croisette. I'm Jenny Rooney with Adweek and I'm thrilled today to be joined by Jonathan Adashek. He's the CMO of IBM. Jonathan, welcome. >> me, Jenny. >> Thanks for being part of Marketing Vanguard. >> Excited, very excited to join. >> I am very excited to have you. We are excited to have you. We have so many things planned for the year ahead that we're extraordinarily excited about. Um but I really want to use this time here as we sit here in Cannes um to have you share a little bit of your story. I always ask CMOs on my podcast, you know, every brand has a backstory, an origin story, but so too do CMOs. So I'd love for you to start there. >> I I've been at IBM since January of 2020. And I came into IBM as the Chief Communications Officer and I'd never done marketing before. And in January of 2022, Arvind Krishna, our CEO, asked me to take on the marketing portfolio as well. So it has been a steady and steep climb and curve to learn and to understand the world of marketing in a way I hadn't understood it before and I love it. >> Literally, how do you do that? >> Um >> How do you learn it on the job? >> I was I'm very lucky. I've got an amazing team and when I took on the role, Arvind gave me three very specific things he wanted me to focus on to start with and the fourth was learn from your four direct reports. Figure out how how things are working, what's going on, and learn the expertise of the industry and business from them. And that's what I had to do. I had to ask lots of questions. I had to be really uncomfortable. I had to make sure that I got, you know, the the feedback I needed from people that was very candid and direct. And I needed to lean into places that I just hadn't been before. >> How do you think about that pivot for you from communications to marketing? And you still own the communications remit within the organization. >> Communications is still in my world. I lead marketing, communications, CSR. We call it MCC internally. I think bringing them together has been really important because at the end of the day, it's we're all advocating for the same thing. In this case, I look at it from a political point of view, which is my background. We're running for office, and the candidate is candidate IBM. And we're trying to tell a story and take people on a journey that's going to get them engaged with our our company, our products, our services. And so, I think the the complement of the two together is really important. And the other thing that this has done is it pulled the coms team closer to the business, as well. Marketing's so much more tied into the dollars and cents on a day-to-day basis of the business and how our revenue and profit and all those things are moving. Coms usually isn't that as close, and this has allowed us to bring them together and get the coms team even more integrated into those pieces. >> Yeah, no, I think that's really important. In fact, we're here in Can, Adweek is launching our Communications Vanguard, which is yet another uh Vanguard program for communications executives, chief communications officers, who who solely own that remit within the organizations. Yes, there's a lot of combination happening here and there in pockets, but um you know, the conversation there was all about the evolving role of the CCO, and I think we've long spent time talking about the evolving role of the CMO in this industry, but I do think that they are coming into a moment of inflection and change as well. Needing to connect dollars and and metrics to what they do in the same way that CMOs have had to do that >> for >> Without a doubt. >> Without a doubt. And it's happened in our organization. I we named Sarah Miron as a chief communications officer. She reports to me, but she also recently got um brand responsibilities, too. So, she's chief communications and brand officer, and it's tying all of it together. And how do you get more efficient? How do you get more integrated into the business? Because when you have that deeper understanding and you go talk to the business, they're much more receptive to what you're talking about. >> Totally. So, let's talk about IBM. Obviously, such an like I mean, goes without saying. Uh you don't get more iconic of a company or a brand than IBM. Um where company right now in 2026, such a storied history, but how would you define it right now? >> We've been fortunate. We just turned 115 years old uh this month. And we have had to reinvent ourselves many times. >> Yes. >> When Arvind Krishna became CEO in Ap- in April of 2020, he said, "We're going to be the leading hybrid cloud and platform company in the world. I hybrid cloud and AI platform company in the world." And that's where we have really focused. Um our big focus in being an open source world and making sure we can work across and work with everybody else's technology is really fundamental to what we do, but we're still grounded in the trust, in the security, and the confidence that people get working with IBM. >> Yeah. I mean, in that scenario, how much of the equity of the brand do not just lean on, but tap into, you know, as you reinvent the company. I mean, listen, it was it was it was mainframe computers. It was large tech like physical technologies um for for decades. Um And the trust element was there. The narrative, the being part of cultural narrative in the way that a lot of brands these days tried tried to attain. Um you know, you have the company has been there in cycles so many times before. So, how do you sort of like take that legacy, but pull it through into a new era? >> Staying true to the brand has been really important for for us. And some of the things that we've done are still there. Some of the historical things like you reference mainframes, mainframes are still a big part of our business. But to be clear, we also sort of got I would argue too wide in what we were trying to do. And sometimes then it becomes what is IBM stand for? >> Yep. >> When I um got the job offer, I called one of my best friends and he said to me, I got He was thrilled for me and he said, I got one question for you. What does IBM do? And he's in the tech space and he was a chief of staff to a a CEO of a major tech company. And the fact that he said that, I was like, okay, we got to reposition ourselves and and get grounded in what do we do? So, people understand it and make sure that the trust, the the history of IBM can still come along, but people understand I know I'm going to I I trust them and I know they do great work, but I know what I need to ask them for, where I when I need to go to IBM. Um and that's really been important for us. >> So, we're here in Can. How many times have you been here before? >> It's your fourth, okay. >> lucky that it's only four cuz I talked to a lot of people who have been here a lot more. >> What are you seeing, hearing, feeling this this year? >> Um I'm I'm feeling really hot as I think a lot of people are cuz it's been a hot one here. Um but I'm seeing a lot of conversations, participating a lot of conversations, hearing a a of conversations of people actually starting to take that significant step into AI. >> Yep. >> AI has been a talked about topic for several years [clears throat] and a lot of I think last year a lot of people were like, "I'm not sure how to do it." I think there's still some of that. We still have some of those conversations. Um but I'm hearing a lot more people who are saying, "Okay, I'm doing this. How do you What did you do in this space or have you done this and how do we move it forward?" >> Yeah, I totally agree with that. I've also picked up on that. I think last year it was about it's here, it's a little bit scary. We're going to do stuff. Not sure we haven't done anything yet. This year I'm hearing more actual real case studies. And by the way, it's not just application to creativity. It's it's application to processes or resources or things like that. And so I think now we actually have some things to sink our teeth into in terms of examples of brands do actually doing things. >> 100%. I mean in my organization we've looked across all the processes in the organization and mapped those to understand where can we put AI, where can we automate, how do you how do you simplify a process, how do you eliminate a process cuz maybe it's been there for a long time and it's still there because it's been there for a long time. I think the other thing that people are really I'm talking to people a lot about right now is the training that you have to do with your teams and understanding that um the creating the time, carving the time out for people to learn how to use the tools and how to operate in an organization that has AI because I might use a tool that you're not using, but that's going to that could change the way we're interacting. That doesn't mean you have to know how to use the tool that I'm on. And then how do you also limit the number of tools because the worst thing you can do is go create thousands and thousands of agents that are just running wild around your organization >> Yeah. >> that A don't interact with each other and then B you've got a small group of people on of those agents, and then that data gets siloed and it doesn't get pulled through. And then lastly, you're going to have a token bill that you're going to go, "Oh my gosh, what happened there?" >> Yeah. Yeah, so there's something interesting when I think about it and hearing you talk, pardon the word choice, but it's the right one, there's something very meta about what you do because like you are you have to sort of be your own best case study for any clients that you're working with. And it's been the case for IBM for all kinds of technology, every technological revolution that you've not just been a part of but driven, right? >> We we call it client zero right now. Client zero started out as how do you look at processes, how do you drive efficiencies, how do you get better results? There's been a cost take-out that's come with that, four and a half billion dollars in three years with AI and automation, and we've committed to take out another billion this year. So it's massive, and that's off of about a 50 billion dollar spend. But it's happening everywhere and it's focused on the results. And it is how do we get more effective, more efficient? We do half the number of events today that we did two years ago, and we get 10 to 20% more leads and interests out of those events because we're using AI to better target, to have better, more personalized, more relevant content coming out of it and going into it. I look at, you know, the way we're the way we're targeting and handing off to our partners. We're putting AI in there to help make that more efficient. It's not just about a cost take-out, it's about how do you get more effective, how do you drive more growth? >> People do lose their jobs though in that scenario, there's no doubt. And it across across the industry. >> Some people are going to lose jobs but have opportunities to go into jobs that are different. Yeah. I mean, that's part of the thing. When you look at technology, the average life of a of a technology skill today is under three years. Yeah. So we as a company continue to hire >> Yeah. >> as as we make these changes. >> reframing the jobs. >> You're reframing the jobs and you've got to do that. You've got to do that. >> Um last couple quick questions, you know, here in Cannes it's interesting a lot of people talk about sort of like where's the center of power or gravity or control meaning like um it's evident on the beach, you know, over the years and you've been here coming here four years. I've been coming for about a little over a decade like it's interesting to see the migration of like where agencies who have then moved off, you know, media companies that have moved off, platforms and technology players that now seem to have risen in dominance here at Cannes. What are you seeing just holistically from like the the kind of the power grab that's happening at Cannes? >> I you know, I think it's really a blend of what's going on. I think technology players, some of them have taken a bigger space and are really at the heart of this. And I think candidly those that have moved off the beach and are in nice air conditioned locations >> probably >> They get the way. I >> You go see them. >> Yeah. >> Um but I think it's interesting. Some of the companies have really figured out how do they grab a hold of something and everybody goes there because they want to do they they understand what's going there, right? >> Yeah. >> So I think Sport Beach was a massive shift for Stagwell and it re-engaged people in a different way with Stagwell. Microsoft has Microsoft Gardens this year and it's been a different shift. Apple's got a different perspective. Omnicom's got a great spot that they're engaging people with. So there's I mean Adweek has you've got Adweek house and people that are regularly coming here. I think it's so much about it's it's so much about the location but it's also the content that you're offering. Yeah. And it's candidly also about getting out there early enough cuz I the the other power shift that's happening if you ask me is planning for Cannes is starting earlier and earlier and earlier. And when you get the things at the last minute you're like, I I can't do it. >> Such a good point. Is it the Coachella of marketing? Is it the Oscars of marketing? How do you sort of what's your what's your go-to? >> go to Coachella. I don't go to the Oscars. We do do the Grammys, so I'll call it the Grammys of marketing. >> go. Awesome. Um >> But but at the same time, how important, I might be committing blasphemy here, but the awards and the palet, how often do you see people going there? I think it's unless you're shortlisted for an award. >> Yeah. >> They're few and far between that I'm talking to somebody who says, "I'm going to the award." And it's few and far between that I'm hearing people going to the palet as much as they used to. >> Yeah. >> Even 4 years ago, people were spending more time there. I think if there's something we've got to do to get more people engaged in that great content in the great material that's that's winning awards and shortlisting for awards. >> What's one decision you've made in the last year that you're particularly proud of because of the way it perhaps changed trajectory for um an element of your work, brand, the business? >> A big shift that we made recently was we started looking at customer segmentation differently inside the company. And last September, um we divided my team up. We reorganized and we put um one leader in charge of what we would call our named accounts, top top accounts, biggest accounts. And then the select accounts, which are are that long tail. Very important accounts in there, but some of those are places we just haven't engaged as much over the years. And shifting how we go after that segment of the of the market has been really important and put two great leaders on top of that. And to really have one person at a global level who is looking at each one of those segments has shifted how we've gone after the business and the success we've been able to have. But we also have a lot more to do to get even better. >> Who's next? Who's a CMO I should have on the podcast? This can be somebody you know really well or it can be somebody you just haven't met, but you admire from afar because they're putting extraordinary work out into the world. >> Craig Brommers, I think he's doing great work, but I know I'm willing to bet Craig has been on my >> I can't even believe it, but I love Craig. He's fantastic. He's not been on the show yet, so I'll get him on. >> There we go. >> If he's listening. >> Fantastic. >> Um in the meantime, Jonathan, thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for as I said for being part of Marketing Vanguard. By the way, your universe of people you can go to to to kind of like ramp up your your marketing expertise quickly has just expanded from four, your four direct report, to the entire community of Marketing Vanguard. So we're thrilled to have you part of it. Um I look forward to our next conversation and enjoy the rest of Cannes. >> Thank you. Thanks for having me on. Thanks for having me as part of Marketing Vanguard. I'm excited to um be part of the community and thanks for all you do, Jenny. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for listening to Marketing Vanguard, part of the Adweek Podcast Network and Acast Creator Network. [music] You can listen and subscribe to all of Adweek's podcasts by visiting adweek.com/podcasts. Stay updated on all things Adweek Podcast Network by following us on Twitter at Adweek Podcast. And if you have a question or suggestion for the show, send us an email at podcast@adweek.com. Thanks for listening.