Heather Freeland
Chief Brand Officer, Adobe

Adobe, a brand globally renowned for its creative software products and synonymous with innovation, is on a mission to make creativity accessible to all. 

“We want everyone to be able to express their ideas in powerful ways,” Adobe Chief Brand Officer Heather Freeland said.  

In working toward this goal, Adobe has recently added several products to its suite, including Adobe Firefly, Adobe’s family of creative generative AI models; Adobe Express, the AI-first content creation app; and Adobe Gen Studio, a solution accelerating enterprise content supply chains with gen AI. These tools are designed to empower user expression, enabling creativity to flow.

“Anyone, regardless of skill level, now has the ability to express their ideas in inspiring ways,” Freeland said. 

Adobe continuously supports the next generation of creatives, investing in creator campuses and actively providing scholarships for students in need. More than 56 million students and educators around the world already have access to Adobe Express to collaborate in real-time and create standout content.   

“It isn’t creativity for all unless you’re lifting up the voices of those who might not normally have one,” Freeland said. 

With initiatives like the Diverse Voices program, Adobe uplifts the creativity of underrepresented communities. It also plays a role in amplifying diverse films and filmmakers through a long-standing partnership with Sundance Film Festival, building relevance in creative spaces.  

“Building a brand is not just about advertising—it’s about creating that relevance and connection with your customers,” Freeland said. 

Additional appearances at Lollapalooza, the Major League Baseball’s All-Star event and a collaboration with the National Women’s Soccer League showcase a commitment to living Adobe’s brand values. 

These values–create the future, own the outcome, raise the bar and be genuine–are at the heart of Adobe’s innovative experiences. The company also adheres strongly to its mission—changing the world through digital experiences. These values and mission are baked into the Adobe brand and guide marketing executions, ensuring that they are felt by employees and consumers alike throughout the brand experience. 

“A strategy is not just to provide direction, but to give you the answer yes or no to where you should invest your time and efforts,” Freeland said.

Adobe’s commitment to nurturing creativity is at the core of its strategy. In a time when gen AI has the potential to revolutionize not only business models but also customer interactions, Adobe harnesses AI to eliminate repetitive tasks, enabling users to bring their creative visions to life swiftly while safeguarding the creative process. In addition to measures like Content Credentials and Do Not Train tags, Adobe established the Content Authenticity Initiative and is dedicated to providing new AI creation tools to consumers in a safe way, allowing users to focus less on security concerns and more on the creative process. 

When it comes to the widely varied creative endeavors of consumers, Adobe’s cohesive product ecosystem allows users to easily take a project through the creative process from start to finish, regardless of the medium. 

“We’ve never had more fluidity across our clouds, documents, experience and creativity than we do now,” Freeland said. 

This, coupled with the adaptive nature of the Adobe suite, creates an environment in which marketing can thrive. 

“I think we are blessed with amazing products that can be much more easily integrated into the experiences that our customers always care about,” Freeland said.  

As Adobe looks to the future and continues to rapidly expand its AI capabilities, the brand continues to hold true to its values and strong commitment that regardless of existing barriers, creativity is for everyone. 

 “At the center of everything we do is this principle of creativity for all,” Freeland said.