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Adam W. Morgan  

Executive Creative Director at Adobe & Author

Adam Morgan is an Executive Creative Director at Adobe, with experience in creativity, strategy, and storytelling for more than 23 years. He’s a keynote speaker at conferences and events—and was named an Adobe MAX Master speaker for the past two years.

Before Adobe, he was a creative director at several international ad agencies, delivering award-winning advertising and campaigns. He was named a 40 under 40 business leader by Utah Business Magazine, and Utah Ad Professional of the Year in 2014. Adam is the author of the recent book, “Sorry Spock, Emotion Drives Business,” that proves the value of creativity and design to your clients and stakeholders.

Speech Topics

Headlines Deconstructed—How To Get The Right Attention With Your Stories

We often joke that a picture is worth a thousand words. But in reality, the most important element in your marketing content is your headline. Unfortunately, most of the guidance on headline writing found on the web only teaches you how to write click bait. And that practice has reached a tipping point where consumers are pushing back. Which begs the question, what really makes a good or a bad headline?

As a writer and creative leader, I’ve been deconstructing headlines for the past 24 years. In this presentation, I share stories of early headlines in yellow journalism to lessons learned for today’s marketers and writers. I walk through all the basic headline patterns, studies on what takes to write good headlines, and review the four truths that good headlines follow.

This presentation will share the following:

  • Why most headlines are simply click bait
  • The 29 basic headline patterns
  • How to write good headlines that connect emotionally

The New Creative Landscape In Business

In the mid 1990s, I was introduced to a secret truth—that advertising agencies owned creative marketing. Since those years, the relationship between creativity and business has changed. Going in-house is not creative suicide. In fact, thanks to the design-led movement, creative leadership at brands has grown and we have a greater opportunity to influence big ideas from within the company.

In this presentation, I’ll walk you through some of the biggest changes and trends in creative leadership. I’ll discuss new studies that prove how emotional marketing boosts sales, how the relationship between brands and agencies are transforming, and how this new landscape affects creative careers.

This presentation focuses on:

  • New trends for creativity in business
  • Updated models of creative leadership
  • How the new landscape affects creative careers

The Science Behind Content Creation—Becoming A More Creative Influencer

Many of the trends in content marketing are linked to phrases we all have heard. “Headlines should be short and punchy.” “Make sure all your web content is above the fold.” “People don’t watch videos past two minutes.” Much of this is focused on the idea that attention spans are shrinking so we have to make content fast and snackable to succeed.

I disagree. And I will use science to prove why many of these marketing tactics are flawed. I’ll show you what you need to really focus on with your content to make a deeper connection with customers and provide real value. It’s not about speed, or length, or time. It’s all about finding the right data and using the right creative ideas to succeed.

In this presentation you will learn:

  • Why many marketing myths are wrong
  • What you need to increase consumption of your marketing content
  • How to provide real value to your customers

Real Lessons On Creative Leadership

For years, we’ve all talked about giving creative leadership a seat at the table. But most of it has just been a rallying cry for change. It’s time to figure out practical models of what works and get into the nitty gritty of making this happen. Some companies say they believe in creative leadership, but still treat the creative class like a set of hands without a voice.

Join Adam to get real experience on how you can establish more creative leadership in your company. Get support on who should be making creative decisions. And discover if your company is even capable of supporting more creativity. The world needs better creative leadership, and in this session, you’ll learn how to best make it a reality. Our industry has a major lack of guidance on creative leadership. There isn't a masters degree in creative leadership, like the MBA for CEOs. But this presentation is the beginning of real guidance and practical models for creative leadership.

In this presentation you will learn:

  • Best practices to balance strategic and creative leadership.
  • Proven models on how to give creative leadership more authority.
  • Which of the three types of business strategy will support more creativity.

Proving The Value Of Creativity And Design—With Science (Based on Adam’s book, Sorry Spock, Emotions Drive Business)

One of the endless debates in marketing is focused on a simple question—do creative ideas work better? Creative teams approach business with emotions, while many leaders focus on financial numbers and logic. Some think that creative ideas are just window dressing, others see design as a secret weapon. And while this debate has continued for decades, thanks to new studies in science, we now have an unbiased answer.

In this presentation, Adam uses hard science to prove why creative ideas are better for the bottom line. It’s no longer a subjective topic. He explains what's happening in the brain when we are exposed to creative ideas and offers real-world examples of how business can better balance logic and emotion to grow. For creatives, this gives ammo to prove why their ideas are valuable. And for logical leaders, this helps remove the fear and uncertainty around emotions in marketing. Join Adam as he presents his five-year epic quest to prove how emotional ideas impact income more than a straightforward message.

Takeaways from this presentation:

  • Proof that creative ideas work better than boring, straightforward messages
  • How the brain is designed to process creative ideas
  • Real-world examples to better integrate creativity into business processes

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