The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®: Expert Mode Marketing Technology, AI, & CX

If you think commerce media is just a buzzword or a trend, think again. It’s reshaping the ad landscape—fueled by AI, first-party data, and sector-specific solutions that leave the legacy one-size-fits-all approach in the dust. What’s coming next? Grocery? Autos? Quick commerce? If your brand isn’t already exploring commerce media, it’s probably falling behind. Today I’m joined by Eric Brackmann,...

Agility requires marketing leaders to evolve from campaign-based thinking to relationship-based strategy—especially when working with creators who influence not just clicks, but for a meaningful connection with customers. Today we’re going to talk about the creator economy and how brands like PepsiCo, Unilever, and more are leaning into long-term creator partnerships to drive relevance, resonance,...

If the web is no longer one-size-fits-all and instead geared towards segments of one, how do brands avoid creating a thousand disconnected experiences, and manage each experience effectively? Agility requires embracing both technology and customer behavior shifts at the same time—without losing your brand voice. Today we’re going to talk about how AI and more connected digital experiences are shap...

Customer lifetime value is a critical KPI, but with customer acquisition costs rapidly rising, what can brands do to successfully build long-term value for the business? Agility requires seeing past vanity metrics to the durable value hidden in customer relationships. When customer acquisition costs climb and privacy affects easy targeting, only nimble brands—those that align teams, data, and KPIs...

With all the data at our fingertips, why do so many companies still struggle to deliver truly personalized experiences at scale? Agility requires being able to cut through the noise of data and culture shifts to deliver experiences that truly resonate with each individual. Today we’re going to talk about personalization maturity, the role of machine learning, deep learning, and generative AI in dr...

Are we on the brink of advertising becoming too smart for its own good, or is Deep Learning finally getting us closer to what customers actually want? Agility requires us to constantly evaluate how technology like AI reshapes the relationships between brands and consumers—sometimes for better, sometimes for far more complex. The advertising landscape is shifting under our feet, with new rules, new...

Does your brand deliver answers faster than your customer can send a text message? Agility in CX is about answering customers before they finish the thought. If you can’t evolve at that pace, you’re already behind. Today we’re going to talk about what Verint’s brand‑new 2025 State of Customer Experience report tells us about loyalty, automation, and the thin line between keeping and losing a custo...

If your team spends half its days searching for documents and filling out spreadsheets you built years ago, how long will it be before your competitors automate you out of business? Agility requires turning busywork into bandwidth so people can collaborate and think strategically instead of shuffling pixels. Today we’re exploring how no-code platforms and AI-driven automation make that possible. T...

If your brand can’t hold a consumer’s focus for eight seconds, what makes you think you deserve nine? We are here at Forrester CX in Nashville, TN and hearing all about the latest insights and ideas for brands to create better experiences for their customers. Agility isn’t speed for speed’s sake; it’s the discipline of staying useful while everything—and everyone—spins. In an era when consumers sw...

Marketers spend a fortune trying to understand their audience, conducting surveys, focus groups, and market research—but what if they could just ask their ideal customer directly? With synthetic personas, that’s now possible. But how reliable are they? And how far can we really take this technology? Joining me today is Narek Vardanyan, CEO of Prelaunch.com, a platform focused on helping businesses...

We are here at Forrester CX in Nashville, TN and hearing all about the latest insights and ideas for brands to create better experiences for their customers. If your AI roadmap doesn’t include your customer, is it really a roadmap—or just a bridge to nowhere? Agility requires remembering who pays the bills: the customer. When shiny new tech shows up, it’s tempting to sprint after it—often leaving...

Does your AI-based interface talk to customers the way a real person would or is it tech for tech’s sake? We are here at Forrester CX in Nashville, TN and hearing all about the latest insights and ideas for brands to create better experiences for their customers. Agility is less about bolting on new features just because the tech is available and more about making tomorrow’s experiences feel intui...

If AI can amplify every employee’s reach ten-fold, how ready is your organization to harness that network effect? We are here at Forrester CX in Nashville, TN and hearing all about the latest insights and ideas for brands to create better experiences for their customers. Agility isn’t about adding more tech; it’s about multiplying human impact. Today we’re exploring the network effect of AI and ho...

If nearly half of consumers spend more with brands they trust, why aren’t more companies making trust a core business strategy instead of just a tagline? To help me explore this question, I’m joined by Dana Bodine, U.S. Vice President of Marketing at Trustpilot, the world’s largest independent platform for customer feedback. About Dana Bodine Dana is an experienced marketing executive and currentl...

What if your most profitable campaign window isn’t Black Friday or Cyber Monday… but after the holidays, when everyone else is quiet? While most marketers are winding down, savvy brands are doubling down—tapping into the “Q5” period between Christmas and early January, when ad prices drop, engagement spikes, and consumers are laser-focused on their New Year goals. Today we’re digging into how AI i...

What if your biggest customer experience problem isn’t your marketing… but your inventory spreadsheet? In the era of one-click checkouts, Prime delivery expectations, and endless online channels, brands are pouring millions into customer acquisition—only to lose customers post-purchase. Why? Because they can’t deliver what they just sold. Today’s guest says the future of e-commerce success doesn’t...

Agility can often get framed as driving massive transformation—but sometimes it’s the milliseconds that matter. When every digital moment counts, small gains in speed and efficiency can have a disproportionately large impact on customer lifetime value and brand loyalty. If you could speed up every digital interaction your customers have with your brand by a full second, what would that be worth to...

Is your CMS holding your creativity—and marketing growth—hostage? When speed and agility are everything, most marketing teams are still stuck in the slow lane—waiting on developers to publish updates, launch campaigns, or even fix a typo. Sound familiar? Today’s guest says it’s time for marketers to take the wheel. Mark Wheeler, Chief Marketing Officer at Storyblok is here to talk about redefining...

What if your most loyal customers are the ones you helped spend less? Agility in marketing isn't just about moving faster — it's about aligning brand intentions with customer outcomes in real-time, even when that means giving up short-term gains to earn long-term trust. Today we are here at PegaWorld 2025 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and we’re going to talk about how Telenet is transforming cust...

Welcome to this episode, brought to you by Reka, a developer of industry-leading, multimodal, AI models that enable individuals and organizations to deploy generative AI applications. Agility requires an attention to process and a commitment to continuous improvement. It also requires a culture of agility. Today we’re going to talk about talent in an AI environment, and the critical role that huma...

Agility at enterprise scale means building systems that not only make millions of micro-decisions, but also keep humans at the center — creating experiences that are timely, relevant, and respectful of the customer. What if your data knew your customers better than your frontline employees — and used that insight to serve, not sell? Today we are here at PegaWorld 2025 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas...

What if you could test drive your entire customer experience — before even writing a line of code? Agility isn’t just about reacting fast — it’s about thinking ahead, designing deliberately, and testing before committing. In an age where customer expectations shift by the minute, businesses can’t afford to just “build and hope.” Today we are here at PegaWorld 2025 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, an...

What if your agentic AI could innovate autonomously—and still follow your business rules? Agility in the age of AI doesn't just mean speed. It means predictability, accountability, and the ability to innovate autonomously without businesses losing control of what is important, and what their customers value. Today we are here at PegaWorld 2025 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and we’re going to talk...

Agility requires finding ways to stay one step ahead of the competition, as well as in anticipating customers’ needs. So how does a brand maintain this speed and agility in the area of UX design, where it has often taken a considerable amount of time, effort, and testing to get to a better result? Today we’re going to talk about using AI strategically in UX research, design, and testing. To help m...

When consumers can get AI-generated designs completely customized to their needs, what does this mean for the future of brands and the customer experience? I have two guests on my show today: one is the founder of one of the world’s most iconic shoe brands, and the other is the co-creator of the first AI-designed commercial shoe. Today we’re going to talk about what it takes to innovate and grow a...