Comments on: Adobe adds customer functionality, receives criticism from partners

Adobe tried to expand its customers' choices, and ended up getting toasted by its partners. What's a company to do?

[ckon3]

easier ways than making software!

that button could have been turned into a link to all the printers, Fedex/kinkos and local companies, in the person's local area... then the printers could compete on price and service. i think that's all the small local shops were seeking, a chance to compete. you don't need to build software to make that happen... and Adobe could have probably made even more money by getting printers to sign up for being a part of their new printing marketplace! i'm just afraid this is another example of how Adobe doesn't really understand how ecommerce works.

[mriffey]

Complaining doesnt help the customer

Even if Adobe produced an open marketplace in CS3, there would still be whiners who wouldnt like it for some reason. In every market, there are whiners, and there are people who get things done despite having mud on their shoes.

Case in point: While all the complaining is going on about the Kinko's button, nothing has or continues to prevent the printing industry or the small printers trade association from coming up with an open standard that the entire industry can use that Adobe (etc) would be nuts to ignore. Sure, a little bit of software would be necessary - but not much.

Add the marketplace concept to that - along with amazon/ebay-esque feedback ratings (oh no, not that, says the printers, lets keep that a secret...) and you have something really useful.

But have they done this? Nope. Perhaps it is easier to rattle sabers, call the lawyers and whine to the press, as opposed to doing a little work, a little marketing and making the Kinko's button an afterthought - or at least a version 1.0.

Funny thing is, this button isnt even competition to REAL printers. How many people staffing a Kinkos are industry experts, cognizant of what CMYK, full bleed, perfect binding, 4 color process (much less 5...), etc are? People using Illustrator are not the types to run out to the nearest Kinkos to get their 4 color work done.

But do you see any marketing from the printers hammering these points home? Nope.

Adobe isnt the bad guy here. They were simply doing something that is common sense. Could it be better? Absolutely, but something has to be 1.0.

Mark Riffey
http://www.rescuemarketing.com/blog/

[Jonathansalembaskin]

Good branding done badly

I'm a marketer, so I see this as a case of Adobe improving its product functionality, which is a good way to strengthen its brand. Imagine if we were getting some inert, pointless brand advertising from them instead...at least they're trying to improve their consumers' actual experience of the product and service. That's good branding.

It seems that the immediate problem can be fixed by making the button customizable for any printer -- I doubt few of the complaining entities would ever bother to make work that much easier for their clients, but if they did, good for them! -- and then for Adobe to go back to the planning table and look at what other innovations are on tap that might influence the experience of its brand.

This entire shebang was a communications error more than one of strategy: it was planned poorly, and announced worse. Where were the marketers? Wrapping branding blather around the news wasn't 'branding' done well...they could have gotten a lot more, and a lot more positive, mileage out of it.

I've written a bit about it from a branding perspective on my blog, Dim Bulb, if you'd like to check it out. http://dimbulb.typepad.com