About Lara Balazs
Lara Balazs, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of Global Marketing at Adobe, spoke on a panel at the Cannes Lions festival about the evolution of the marketing funnel. She stated that the funnel is no longer linear or conical, but still provides a useful mental model for marketers. Balazs noted that touch points traditionally associated with the bottom of the funnel, such as product reviews or comparisons on TikTok, are now functioning at the top of the funnel, and that earned media can now operate at both brand and demand generation levels.
Balazs argued that focusing solely on bottom-of-funnel metrics would "mortgage your future" and that marketers should also invest in brand-building, which she described as "demand creation." She said that using this terminology helps marketers advocate for budgets and demonstrate value in boardroom settings because "it sounds more concrete." Balazs concluded that despite the funnel's non-linear nature, it remains a useful tool for budget advocacy and that creativity continues to matter.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Lara Balazs's recent appearances.
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Transcript (6 segments)
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Unknown0:00
Oh my god, I just met the CMO of Adobe. What is my life?
Talk to me. I'm heading to the female photo shoot lounge right now and I'm going to go listen to the Adobe CMO speak on a panel about why matters.
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Lara Balazs0:22
Is the funnel today all around? It is not a linear funnel. It is not a conical funnel, but it does give people a mental model to help a marketer think through it, right? What got you to buy a lipstick? What got you to buy a mascara? The answer's right there.
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Unknown0:38
So many great insights from that panel and getting confirmation that the funnel is no longer linear. How many times do you see a TikTok video that's a review or comparison of a lip gloss that causes you to then purchase it even though you had never heard about the brand before?
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Lara Balazs0:51
There used to be a bottom of funnel and a top of funnel. Actually now you'll find that some of the touch points that traditionally would have sat at the bottom of the funnel are playing top of funnel. Yes, absolutely. Back in the day, linear TV was sitting at the top. Now it's like if you do great earned, you're going to be at brand level, demand generation level. So remember that there's so many things that impact your decision. Thinking about how we have to then go in and justify budget. You will mortgage your future if you're only at the bottom of the funnel and you're not looking at driving and understanding brand, which you can call demand creation actually and it helps you when you're sitting at the boardroom table 'cause it sounds more concrete.
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Unknown1:29
So even though the funnel as we know it is no longer linear, still a good way to advocate for our budgets and our value and creativity still matters. First,
