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AdobeMedia & PublishingVIP Marketplace2024 Engagement

Adobe VIP rebuilt on Marketplace. $1.8M saved over three years.

A global media and publishing group renewed its Adobe Creative Cloud, Acrobat Pro and Workfront footprint as one consolidated VIP Marketplace agreement. Adobe's account team had positioned a uniform per-seat uplift and a Workfront extension. The renegotiated structure delivered a flat per-seat price, a Workfront step-down to actual users, and full Marketplace pricing transparency.

Editorial production studio with creative software in use
$1.8M
Three-year saving
22%
Reduction vs. uniform-uplift quote
9 wk
From kick-off to signature
0%
Per-seat uplift in year one
The contract going in

Three Adobe lines. One mixed VIP renewal.

The client renewed Creative Cloud All Apps, Acrobat Pro for Enterprise and Workfront on three separate but adjacent anniversaries. The opening Adobe proposal consolidated all three into VIP Marketplace with the same per-seat rate carried forward plus a 9% uplift.

  • Three Adobe SKUs across the estate, each with its own true-up history.
  • Workfront entitlement exceeded active users by roughly a third.
  • Marketplace pricing visibility was being treated as a courtesy rather than a contractual right.
Adobe's opening position

One bundle. One uplift.

Adobe's proposal was a single VIP Marketplace agreement with a 9% uplift across all lines and a Workfront extension at the original tier. The simplicity was deliberate. So was the cost.

What we flagged

VIP Marketplace gives the buyer enforceable transparency on per-seat pricing through the reseller. The uplift was being presented as policy. It is not. Marketplace lets the price hold flat where consumption hasn't grown.

The work

Nine weeks. Three product lines.

Each Adobe line had its own consumption reality and its own commercial lever.

1. Creative Cloud per-seat truth

We pulled six quarters of activity reports and matched them against the entitlement. The result: active-use ratio above 95% but no licensed-seat growth. The basis for a flat price.

2. Workfront step-down

Workfront entitlement exceeded active named users by 31%. We modelled the step-down against documented attrition and a written growth assumption for the next three years.

3. Marketplace transparency

We negotiated the contractual right to per-seat list and discount visibility through the reseller, with annual benchmark reviews tied to enterprise tiering.

Lesson

VIP Marketplace is not a billing change. It is a transparency change. Treating it as the latter is what turns the renewal into a real negotiation.

The contract going out

Flat year one. Right-sized Workfront.

The renegotiated agreement consolidated the three Adobe lines onto Marketplace with no per-seat uplift in year one, capped uplifts in years two and three, a Workfront step-down to current active users, and contractual benchmark visibility.

$1.8M
Saved
Versus the uniform 9% uplift proposal, measured over the three-year term.
31%
Workfront step-down
Entitlement aligned to active users, with a documented growth glide-path.
3 yr
Capped uplifts
Years two and three uplift capped against Marketplace tier movement.
“We assumed the uplift was procedural. The advisor walked into the second round with the consumption file and walked out with a flat price. The Workfront work was bigger in dollar terms but the precedent on uplift mattered more.”
VP Procurement · Global media group · Anonymised by client request
Related resources

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White paper

Adobe VIP Marketplace Guide

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Adobe Negotiation Practice

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Independent representation through the renewal window for any major vendor.
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