The Marketing Vanguard Cannes series continues as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Jonathan Adashek, SVP of marketing and communications at IBM, to unpack how marketers should be treating AI today.
He breaks down how AI is becoming a way to rethink processes and drive measurable growth at IBM, their “client zero” approach, $4.5 billion in savings over three years, and why the company now does half the number of events it did two years ago.
What you’ll learn:
- Why AI should be measured by effectiveness and growth, not just cost reduction
- How IBM uses AI to improve event targeting, personalization and lead generation
- Why training, workflow design and tool discipline matter in AI adoption
- How to avoid runaway AI agents and fragmented tools inside a large organization
- Why unifying marketing and communications can bring brand narrative closer to revenue
- How IBM balances 115 years of brand equity with sharper hybrid cloud and AI positioning
- Why customer segmentation and team structure can change go-to-market effectiveness
This episode is part of a special vidcast series that was recorded at Cannes Lions 2026 and presented in partnership with Edelman.
About our guest:
Jonathan Adashek is SVP of marketing and communications at IBM, where he leads marketing, communications, and CSR. He joined IBM in January 2020 as Chief Communications Officer and took on the marketing portfolio in January 2022.
In his role, Jonathan helps shape IBM’s global narrative as the company sharpens its focus around hybrid cloud, AI and open technology. His background in communications and politics gives him a distinct view of marketing: build a clear story, bring people on the journey and connect brand work more closely to business outcomes.
At IBM, he has helped drive AI adoption across processes, event strategy, customer segmentation and internal operations through the company’s “client zero” approach.
Episode Highlights:
[06:37] Why “What Does IBM Do?” Became a Brand Wake-Up Call — When Jonathan got the IBM job offer, one of his best friends, a tech executive, asked him a blunt question: “What does IBM do?” That moment crystallized the repositioning challenge. If someone in the tech space could not answer clearly, the brand needed sharper focus. Jonathan’s takeaway was not to abandon IBM’s history, but to ground the company more clearly in what it does today so people know when and why to come to IBM.
