To market Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3) to creative professionals, we had to advertise to an audience that really only listens to itself. So to get them talking, we created a new sport that tapped into two unmet desires we observed. First, creatives only show their finished work, never their mastery of the software that led to that work. Second, although they are competitive, they never have the chance to compete against each other head to head, live, in front of an audience. So we let them do just that with Adobe software as the playing field.

Player One had 15 minutes to create a single layer of art. This first image was then posted to our Web stadium, where Player Two had 15 minutes to creatively manipulate it, (of course using only Adobe tools). Player Two volleyed back the manipulated image to Player One, who re-manipulated it. Each side volleyed 5 times, creating a 10-volley match. We employed a commentator to provide a play-by-play analysis and explain what Adobe features were being used, but we also encouraged the online audience to participate by posting comments, talking trash and ultimately, deciding which player deserved to win each matchup.On the Web stadium where the match was played, we featured rich interactive banners that played off the central Adobe Creative License themes.The entire match was a live demonstration of the speed, power and capabilities of the CS3 suite, wrapped up in an engaging, immersive event.

We spent $0 advertising Layer Tennis, relying instead on word-of-mouth. A staggering 50,000 creatives viewed match one; 500,000 watched across the season. CS3 sales were +36% over the comparable CS2 launch, driving Adobe’s 2007 revenue +113% over 2006. Adobe’s CFO stated the upturn was “…driven primarily by CS3…”.