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

What if the biggest risk to your next global campaign isn’t the market, but the months you’ll spend waiting for research to tell you what the market wants? Agility requires not just moving quickly, but making high-confidence decisions at the speed of the market. It demands that our ability to learn and validate is no longer the primary bottleneck to our ability to act. We are in Seattle at the Qua...

What if the biggest risk in the AI era isn't falling behind the technology, but getting ahead of your customers' trust? Agility requires a constant feedback loop between technological innovation and customer sentiment. It demands that we not only deploy new tools like AI, but also actively listen and adapt to how our customers are actually experiencing them. Today, we're going to talk about the de...

What if the ultimate goal of customer experience isn't to create a memorable moment, but to deliver an outcome so seamless and intuitive that the customer doesn't remember the experience at all? Agility requires brands to pivot from building complex, memorable journeys to engineering simple, almost invisible pathways to customer outcomes. Today, we're going to talk about a counterintuitive but pow...

If your brand guide is a book of laws that everyone ignores, how do you create a shared belief that people both follow and actually want to embrace? Agility requires a shared understanding that’s more than a set of rules; it's a way of thinking that allows teams to make consistent decisions, even when they’re not in the same room. Today, we're going to talk about Design Systems and Systems Thinkin...

If you had to start your business over from scratch today, would you build it the same way, or would you build it entirely around an AI core? Agility requires more than just adapting to change; it demands a willingness to proactively dismantle what's working today in order to build what's necessary for tomorrow. It’s about challenging the very playbook that brought you success, especially when a f...

In a world of fleeting social trends, how do you build a creator strategy that drives measurable, long-term revenue instead of just chasing momentary spikes in engagement? Agility requires not just launching campaigns, but building systems that can learn and adapt in real-time based on actual consumer behavior and sales data. Today, we're going to talk about the evolution from influencer marketing...

We’re all being told to "embrace AI or be left behind," but what if the biggest risk isn't ignoring AI, but implementing it poorly and alienating the very customers we're trying to attract? Agility requires not just the speed to adopt new technologies like AI, but the wisdom to discern where they create genuine value versus where they simply add complexity. It’s about constantly testing, learning,...

WIth consumers increasingly skeptical of advertising, what's the real difference between a brand that's being genuinely helpful and one that's just being creepy? Agility requires brands to not just react to consumer behavior, but to anticipate it with smarter technology. It’s about shifting from broad assumptions to a nuanced understanding of intent, especially when economic uncertainty changes th...

As a marketing leader, is your primary job to persuade human customers, or are you now preparing to negotiate directly with their AI agents? Agility requires marketing leaders to not only react to market changes, but to become the primary architects of that change within the enterprise. It’s about transforming the marketing function from a cost center into the accountable growth engine for the ent...

What if the biggest friction point in your customer's journey isn't your checkout page, but the overwhelming paradox of choice you’ve intentionally created for them? Agility requires not just reacting to consumer behavior, but proactively re-architecting the entire purchase journey based on what the data tells you they *truly* need, even before they know it themselves. Today, we are here at eTail...

Agility requires a business to both react to market shifts while also building a foundational platform that allows it to scale globally without losing its local touch. It's about having the core infrastructure in place to seize opportunity, wherever it appears. Today, we're going to talk about the principles of scaling a business from a local player to a global force. We'll explore how the role of...

Most brands are investing millions in creating seamless, generous customer experiences. But what if a small fraction of your customers are exploiting that generosity, forcing your best, most loyal customers to unknowingly pay an 'abuse tax' through higher prices or stricter policies? Agility requires moving beyond static, one-size-fits-all policies and embedding real-time intelligence into the mom...

What if the biggest bottleneck in your commerce strategy isn't the strategy itself, but the time it takes your team to actually perform the actions to execute it? Agility requires not just having the right insights, but also the operational capacity to act on them at the speed the market demands. Today, we're going to talk about a critical bottleneck many brands face: the delay between data-driven...

Consumers aren’t lacking for choice. Instead, they’re usually drowning in a sea of options, and it’s up to brands to find ways to go beyond simply removing friction and bring back the joy in shopping. Adding AI, and agentic AI into the mix can unlock new opportunities, but also brings with it new challenges. We’re going to talk a little about all of it. We are recording here at eTail Palm Springs,...

With over a billion creators projected to be active in the next decade, is the traditional distinction between a brand, a publisher, and a creator in need of an updated definition? Agility requires not just reacting to new platforms, but fundamentally rethinking who creates your content and how you build an authentic community around it. It's about moving from a campaign mindset to an ecosystem mi...

What if the biggest barrier to your AI-powered future isn't the algorithm, but the state of your data from five years ago? Agility requires more than just fast decision-making; it demands a foundational trust in the data that fuels those decisions. It’s about having the right information, accessible and reliable, to pivot not just your campaigns, but your entire strategy. Today, we're going to tal...

With B2B marketers drowning in data and automation, have we forgotten that our buyers are still human beings who are moved more by compelling visuals than by another line on a spreadsheet? Agility requires not just the speed to react, but the insight to know what to react with. It demands a seamless connection between creative ideation and performance data, allowing teams to not only launch campai...

What if your most persistent customer complaint wasn't a flaw to be fixed, but a key that could unlock an entirely new business model? Agility requires not just the ability to pivot, but the organizational courage to act on customer insights—even when those insights challenge your most fundamental business assumptions. It’s about being willing to dismantle something that works in order to build so...

What happens when you tie a quarter of every employee’s variable compensation not to sales targets, but to customer experience metrics? Agility requires more than just speed; it demands a shared purpose that translates into a unified system for listening, learning, and acting at an enterprise scale. It's about connecting every function of the business to the client's reality in real-time. Today, w...

What if one of your most valuable CX analysts isn't even a person? Agility requires not just collecting data, but closing the gap between insight and action at scale. This means empowering every level of the organization, from the frontline to the C-suite, with the right information at the right time to make smarter, faster decisions. Today, we're going to talk about moving beyond the score. We'll...

Did your brand just spend $7 million on a 30-second ad that alienated or ignored half its potential audience? Agility requires a willingness to challenge long-held assumptions—like the idea that a celebrity and a massive budget are all you need for a winning Super Bowl ad. It demands that brands move from gut feelings to data-driven insights to understand what truly resonates with their audience....

In a world without third-party cookies, is your customer loyalty program your most valuable asset, or your biggest missed opportunity? Agility requires a fundamental shift from viewing loyalty as a transactional rewards program to embracing it as a dynamic, data-driven engine for the entire customer experience. It demands that brands are able to listen, predict, and adapt to customer needs in real...

Is your brand's biggest vulnerability a traditional competitor, or your organization’s inability to execute your strategy consistently across every single customer touchpoint? Agility requires more than just a fast-moving central team. It requires creating a resilient system that empowers distributed teams to execute flawlessly while adapting to local needs. Today, we're going to talk about that c...

What if the biggest threat to your brand’s integrity isn't a competitor, but the sheer volume of unmanaged, ungoverned, and untraceable content your own teams are creating every single day? Agility requires more than just speed; it demands a solid foundation of control and intelligence. It's the ability to create, adapt, and deploy content at the pace of the market without sacrificing governance,...

As every brand rushes to adopt generative AI, what if the greatest competitive advantage is no longer about speed and scale, but about sounding uniquely, verifiably human? Agility requires moving beyond the hype of new technology to strategically apply it for true differentiation. It’s about being smart and selective, not just fast. Today, we're going to talk about a paradox at the heart of modern...