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Ken Stillwell, CFO and COO at Pega, says most enterprise AI business cases fund a label rather than a specific capability — and that the gap shows up later, on the P&L. He and Greg Kihlström get into what financial discipline around AI actually looks like. "AI" is not a budget category. A rules engine, a predictive model, and a system that acts on its own carry different costs, risks, and payback periods. Stillwell on making teams say which one they're asking for. The benefit gets modeled; the operational change doesn't. Where AI business cases reliably break down, and what tells you a case is going to miss before you fund it. Scaling a pilot is a coherence problem, not a technology problem. What it takes to let many teams decide faster without the enterprise ceasing to behave like one company — and who owns that. About Ken Stillwell As Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Ken Stillwell is responsible for finance, investor relations, legal, facilities, information technology, Pega Cloud, global client support, and business operations, overseeing more than one thousand employees globally. His leadership has been central to Pega’s transformation to an as-a-Service business through Pega’s Cloud transition. Recognized as incisive, transparent, clear, and empathetic, his opinions and counsel are sought after by peers, clients, and media. Ken is a regular contributor to numerous industry publications regarding financial and operational leadership. Ken has nearly 30 years of financial leadership experience in high-growth organizations in the technology sector. He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned his undergraduate degree in business and economics, and the University of South Carolina, where he earned a Master's in accounting and finance. Ken is also a certified public accountant. Ken Stillwell on LinkedIn ---------- Resources ---------- Pega delivers the platform to reimagine, run, and evolve the processes and decisions an enterprise can't afford to get wrong. We combine AI with proven architecture to keep mission-critical operations governed, scalable, and continuously adaptable. Since 1983, the world's largest organizations have trusted Pega to turn transformation ambition into durable results. The hardest part of martech right now is telling which tools are actually earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. If you want to join, the code AGILE15 saves you 15%. We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms. Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days). Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off. Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show. Connect with Greg on LinkedIn Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology. The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Kaneshige, Chief Content Officer at the CMO Council, says there is no best martech stack — only a best-aligned one. New research on 988 enterprise stacks shows why more functionality rarely means more value. Alignment beats functionality, and the data says so. The Apex Martech Matrix compares real deployments against companies in the top 30% for revenue per employee in their industry. The same investment that correlates with outperformance in one industry shows nothing in another. "Overbuilt" is the most common failure, not underinvestment. Kaneshige and Greg Kihlström get into what separates a stack whose capabilities exceed the organization's ability to use them from one that's genuinely aligned — and why maturity investment doesn't always pay off either. AI amplifies whatever foundation it's given. With 85% of organizations layering AI onto existing stacks and 30% replacing SaaS functionality outright, a misaligned foundation compounds fragmentation and technology debt instead of fixing it. About Tom Kaneshige Tom Kaneshige is the Chief Content Officer at CMO Council. He creates all forms of digital thought leadership content that helps chief marketers, line of business leaders, as well as growth and revenue officers succeed in their rapidly evolving roles. As a content marketing strategist, he helps vendors shape and influence demand for their products and services. His pre-sales role is to gain brand influence, prominence and trust, as well as source qualified leads and customer opportunities. A Silicon Valley native, he has covered the intersection of business and technology for 20 years as an award-winning journalist at IDG (CIO Magazine, InfoWorld), Informa/Penton and TechTarget, and as a senior analyst at Forrester Research. He is immersed in the expanding marketing and sales technology landscape, disruptive trends impacting business leaders, and game-changing technology such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. Kaneshige heads a team that produces research reports, articles, white papers, strategic briefs, news releases, social media and web site information. He also edits monthly journals, digital magazines, newsletters, blogs and web content for CMO Council’s executive networks. These include the Business Performance Innovation Network, and the newly formed Growth Officer Council and Growth Guidance Center. Tom Kaneshige on LinkedIn. ---------- Resources ---------- CMO Council The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Read the CMO Council Report. The hardest part of martech is telling which tools are earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. So join and use code AGILE15 to save 15%. We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms. Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days). Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off. Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show. Connect with Greg on LinkedIn. Get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology. The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jon Hyman, Co-Founder & CTO of Braze, joins Greg Kihlström live at Braze Forge 2026 in Las Vegas on what's left for marketers when AI handles experimentation, verification, and execution. Recorded at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, the conversation gets into where the line sits between what AI decides on its own and what still needs a person. 1:1 decisioning needs guardrails, not just more tests. Decisioning Studio Go moves teams beyond A/B testing toward continuous 1:1 optimization. Hyman on how brands keep thousands of automated decisions aligned with one set of priorities. Quality assurance becomes an automated control. Agentic Standards targets the operational risk that comes with moving faster, which raises the question of who defines the standard the system checks against. The platform goes headless. Operator Connect brings Braze into ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, and Conversational Agents extend two-way engagement to WhatsApp and SMS. Hyman on where governance lives when the work happens outside the platform. About Jon Hyman Jon Hyman is the Chief Technology Officer and Cofounder of Braze, and has been at the direct forefront of the company’s growth in the last 15 years, more recently leading the engineering organization through a rapid transformation in how it builds software with AI. He’s become an influential, practitioner-level voice on what it actually takes to move an established engineering organization, not an early-stage startup, into the agentic era. Jon Hyman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-hyman/ ---------- Resources ---------- Braze: https://www.braze.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703 The hardest part of martech right now is telling which tools are actually earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. If you want to join, the code AGILE15 saves you 15%. https://aglbrnd.co/r/c70c250b8d52dff3 We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! https://aglbrnd.co/r/7fe458ced0f04658 Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms. See more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f76be3a33cc491bb Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/491818c79fb1873f Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days). Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/93531742a7625a20 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f1782ab12211f765 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We spend a lot of time asking how brands can be memorable. We spend almost none asking what happens when the memory is the product. Agility gets talked about as moving fast with new tools. It's really the ability to change repeatedly without losing what makes you recognizable — and that gets harder when what you sell is something a customer plans to keep for twenty years. Today, we're going to talk about: - Why designing for permanence is a strategic choice, not a nostalgic one - Getting specific about what AI is actually doing inside a creative product — and where the customer stays the author - What has to hold steady across a brand as volume, automation, and channels all multiply To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome, Andrew Laffoon, CEO & Co-Founder at Mixbook. About Andrew Laffoon Andrew Laffoon is the CEO and co‑founder of Mixbook, a leading photo storytelling platform that helps people transform meaningful moments into beautifully crafted memories. Since founding the company in 2006, he has led Mixbook’s growth into a creative technology platform that makes it easier for people to tell, preserve, and share their stories. Andrew brings nearly three decades of experience in software development, product design, and entrepreneurship. His career began in the earliest days of the web, when he founded a web consultancy while still in high school. Prior to Mixbook, he built deep, cross‑functional expertise across engineering, design, operations, and go‑to‑market leadership. In addition to his entrepreneurial work, Andrew has been deeply engaged in education and community leadership. He has served as a Lecturer at UC Berkeley’s Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology since 2012 and was a member of the UC Berkeley Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR) Advisory Board from 2015 to 2025. He is also the Founding Board Chair of the Bay Area Center for Faith, Work and Tech, helping explore the intersection of purpose, vocation, and innovation. Andrew Laffoon on LinkedIn ---------- Resources ---------- Mixbook The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. The hardest part of martech right now is telling which tools are actually earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. If you want to join, the code AGILE15 saves you 15%. We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms. Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days). Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off. Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show. Connect with Greg on LinkedIn Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology. The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Rockhold, VP Market Engagement at Spotlight, says AI answer engines treat a company's own content as a ceiling — the citations that move buyers come from sources it doesn't control. He and Greg Kihlström get into what replaces the old B2B influence playbook. Self-citation is a ceiling, not a strategy. Publishing more owned content doesn't raise AI visibility past a point; third-party validation does the lifting. Analysts shape the vocabulary, peer platforms get the citation. The two do different jobs, and budget allocated as if they were the same tends to underperform. Influence is owned by everybody and therefore nobody. Rockhold on what has to change week to week across analyst relations, comms, and customer marketing — not just who it reports to. By the time a buyer contacts you, the influencing already happened. What that does to a marketing organization still structured around lead generation and MQLs. About John Rockhold John Rockhold is VP of Market Engagement at Spotlight, an influence orchestration agency rooted in analyst relations. His background spans journalism, analyst relations, and years of close collaboration with industry analysts. His work focuses on how influence, visibility, and trust are earned in the modern B2B buyer journey, synthesizing signals from analysts, buyer research, and market behavior, and helping B2B brands understand how experts, customers, vendors, partners, and employees shape visibility and credibility. Spotlight calls this coordinated approach to earning trust across analysts, customers, and AI systems Influence Orchestration. John Rockhold on LinkedIn Resources This episode is brought to you by Spotlight. Spotlight is pioneering the future of influence orchestration in the B2B buyer journey. Trusted by over 165 teams globally, Spotlight is the world’s leading analyst relations consultancy and industry platform. The hardest part of martech right now is telling which tools are actually earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. If you want to join, the code AGILE15 saves you 15%. We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms. Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days). Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off. View the Spotlight Influence Orchestration report. Learn more about the Spotlight Future of Influence Awards. Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show. Connect with Greg on LinkedIn. Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology. The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging & informative content. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brands have spent millions building out customer experience platforms — so why does the experience so often fall apart at the exact moment it matters most? Agility isn't just about moving faster or scaling up. It's about staying recognizably yourself when the pressure is highest — so the experience still holds together when every system is under strain. Today we're going to talk about what happens when the experience you designed on paper collides with the reality of peak customer demand. Specifically, we'll cover: - The idea of "experience debt" — and why high-traffic moments are where the hidden fractures in a customer journey finally show up. - Turning digital intelligence into actual decisions, not just dashboards, so friction gets fixed at the root instead of patched at the surface. - Where AI should predict and flag a problem versus act on its own — and what has to change across teams to own the experience end to end. To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome, Jonathan Moran, Senior Manager, Horizontal Solutions Marketing at SAS. About Jonathan Moran Jonathan Moran is responsible for global marketing activities for SAS’ marketing solutions. He has more than 20 years of marketing technology and customer analytics industry experience. Jonathan has designed, developed and implemented analytical software solutions that helped Fortune 500 customers solve unique analytics business issues. Jonathan Moran on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanmoran/ ---------- Resources ---------- SAS: The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703 The hardest part of martech right now is telling which tools are actually earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. If you want to join, the code AGILE15 saves you 15%. https://aglbrnd.co/r/c70c250b8d52dff3 We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! https://aglbrnd.co/r/7fe458ced0f04658 Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms. See more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f76be3a33cc491bb Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/491818c79fb1873f Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days). Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/93531742a7625a20 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f1782ab12211f765 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when an organization's AI ambition moves faster than its frontline's ability to absorb it? Agility isn't just deploying new technology quickly. It's whether the people and processes closest to the customer can change alongside it without the experience coming apart at the seams. Today we're going to talk about the friction between enterprise AI deployment and frontline readiness — and why the last mile of service is where AI investment either proves out or quietly falls apart. We'll get into: - What actually breaks between a strategic AI decision and the moment a technician has to act on it - Why fragmented data access is so costly when the person standing in front of the customer can't see the whole picture - How to measure success in field service when closing tickets faster isn't the same thing as a better outcome To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome Taksina Eammano, EVP and GM of Agentforce Field Service at Salesforce. About Taksina Eammano Taksina Eammano is the Executive Vice President & General Manager of Field Service at Salesforce. She is responsible for the overall strategy and vision, product and innovation narrative, and financial performance of Field Service. Taksina Eammano on LinkedIn ---------- Resources ---------- Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703 The hardest part of martech right now is telling which tools are actually earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. If you want to join, the code AGILE15 saves you 15%. https://aglbrnd.co/r/c70c250b8d52dff3 We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! https://aglbrnd.co/r/7fe458ced0f04658 Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms. See more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f76be3a33cc491bb Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/491818c79fb1873f Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days). Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/93531742a7625a20 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f1782ab12211f765 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matt Spiegel, EVP of TruAudience Growth Strategy at TransUnion, says AI is not a shortcut around your data problems — it's a force multiplier that makes them bigger. New TransUnion research found 89% of marketers are increasing AI investment while only 13% have fully scaled it. Adoption is not the same as scale. Nearly half of surveyed leaders say AI now spans multiple core marketing functions, but only 13% have scaled it fully. Spiegel on what stalls organizations between a working pilot and enterprise integration. Confidence is running ahead of readiness. 64% are confident they'll hit their AI goals, yet just 42% rate their people readiness as high and only 36% say the same of data and process. Spiegel on what "data ready" actually requires — unification, identity resolution, or governance. Efficiency metrics are hiding the real question. 65% of marketers measure AI success primarily through time and cost savings, while fewer than half use marketing mix modeling, multi-touch attribution, or incrementality testing. Spiegel on building a measurement framework a board will accept. About Matt Spiegel At TransUnion, Matt drives the growth strategy for TruAudience, the company’s suite of marketing data products. He partners with product and market leaders to align client needs with innovation, ensuring strategic synergy across teams. His leadership stems from deep experience: he previously led TransUnion’s Marketing Solutions and Media & Entertainment businesses, and has spent decades at the intersection of marketing, media, data, and technology. Before joining TransUnion in 2018, Matt was SVP at MediaLink, where he managed Fortune 100 client relationships and built their Data and Technology Practice. Earlier, he founded Resolution Media, Omnicom’s search marketing agency, and as Global Digital CEO of Omnicom Media Group, he launched the company’s programmatic buying capabilities. A recognized business builder and change agent, Matt has held roles as an entrepreneur, agency executive, and strategic consultant. He’s a Crain’s Chicago Business 40 Under 40 honoree and currently advises startups and young entrepreneurs. He also serves on the board of The KWOE Foundation. Matt lives in Chicago with his wife, Marnie, and their two children, Leo and Penny. Matt Spiegel on LinkedIn ---------- Resources ---------- TruAudience by TransUnion: https://www.transunion.com/solution/truaudience The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. The hardest part of martech right now is telling which tools are actually earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. If you want to join, the code AGILE15 saves you 15%. We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms. Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show. Connect with Greg on LinkedIn. Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology. The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If your best marketing people feel like they're doing the work of three, is that a workload problem or a structure problem? Agility isn't just moving faster. It's being able to change how your team is built, repeatedly, without the work coming apart in the process. Today we're talking about the architecture of the marketing team itself. Budget pressure, a tight talent market, and rising expectations for output have a lot of leaders asking people to do more inside a structure that was designed for a different set of demands. We'll get into: - What actually belongs on the core team — and what doesn't. - How to bring in outside talent without the brand behaving differently depending on who's doing the work. - What to measure when the team is no longer all in one place, or all human. To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome, Pranav Dalal, CEO & Founder at Office Beacon. About Pranav Dalal Meet Pranav Dalal, a Harvard Business School alumnus with decades of global business experience. A visionary entrepreneur, Pranav has successfully scaled companies from small teams to operations with thousands of employees. A published writer in prestigious publications like Forbes and Entrepreneur.com, he has been honored with the Vistage Business Impact Award and is a Member of The Forbes Business Council. As Chairman and CEO of Office Beacon, Pranav leads the company to new heights, expanding its presence across the USA, India, the Philippines, Mexico, and South Africa, with even greater growth on the horizon. Pranav Dalal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pranavdalal/ ---------- Resources ---------- Office Beacon: https://www.officebeacon.com/ The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703 The hardest part of martech right now is telling which tools are actually earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. If you want to join, the code AGILE15 saves you 15%. https://aglbrnd.co/r/c70c250b8d52dff3 We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! https://aglbrnd.co/r/7fe458ced0f04658 Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms. See more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f76be3a33cc491bb Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/491818c79fb1873f Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days). Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/93531742a7625a20 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f1782ab12211f765 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Deena Zenyk, VP of Customer Engagement, Service Delivery at Spotlight, argues that customer advocacy stopped being a content quota the moment AI tools started assembling B2B shortlists from analyst research, peer reviews, and community threads. She and Greg Kihlström get into what that changes. The first reader of your customer's testimonial may not be a buyer. Zenyk co-wrote The Messenger is the Message on the premise that a credible messenger carries the message — and revisits whether that holds when a model summarizes the messenger first. Scaling authentic voices can fragment the company they describe. More reference calls, review posts, and analyst conversations running in parallel produce plenty of credible stories that don't add up to one recognizable company. Zenyk on what holds them together. Advocacy earns standing through measures a CFO recognizes. Deal velocity, expansion, and competitive win rate versus the roadmap changes and early objections that never land in a number — and how to argue for both. About Deena Zenyk Deena Zenyk is VP, Customer Engagement at Spotlight. With more than 10 years' experience in advocate marketing, she is a world-leading expert and pioneer in advocate marketing. Her guiding professional principle is to make leading-edge marketing philosophies and practices accessible and actionable for the everyday marketer. Deena Zenyk on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dzenyk/ ---------- Resources ---------- Spotlight: https://www.spotlight-io.com View the Spotlight Influence Orchestration report: spotlight-io.com/agile-report Learn more about the Spotlight Future of Influence Awards: spotlight-io.com/agile-awards This episode is brought to you by Spotlight. Spotlight is pioneering the future of influence orchestration in the B2B buyer journey. Trusted by over 165 teams globally, Spotlight is the world’s leading analyst relations consultancy and industry platform. Learn more at www.spotlight-io.com We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! https://aglbrnd.co/r/7fe458ced0f04658 Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://advertalize.com/r/491818c79fb1873f Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days). The most influential minds in software, AI, and engineering leadership will be at WeAreDevelopers World Congress North America, September 23-25 in San Jose. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/60a7299222a7bcf1 Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/93531742a7625a20 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f1782ab12211f765 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Airstream CMO Mollie Hansen and Nomadics founder Chris Pendl built Camp Airstream as a product owners pay to attend, not a campaign — then had to prove to the business what that community is actually worth. An experience becomes a product when people come back to it. Camp Airstream runs as an ongoing program rather than a campaign moment, which changes who owns it, how it's staffed, and what "finished" means. The hard part is internal. Hansen and Pendl on the people, processes, and technology behind a consistent experience, and on making the investment case when the return doesn't land on a quarterly dashboard. Trust has real economics behind it. How brand affinity and community connect to loyalty, lifetime value, and acquisition — and what the team decided was a credible stand-in for community health. About Mollie Hansen Mollie Hansen is CMO at Airstream, where she leads the brand’s approach to marketing, experience and community. Since joining Airstream’s executive team in 2011, Mollie has helped guide the brand through a period of sustained growth and renewed cultural relevance by focusing on the complete customer journey from inspiration to ownership. Her work emphasizes experience as a driver of loyalty and long-term value, while staying grounded in Airstream’s enduring promise of exploration, craftsmanship and connection. Mollie Hansen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mollie-hansen-5678185/ About Chris Pendl Chris Pendl is the founder and principal of Nomadics, a strategy and experience design agency working at the intersection of brand, loyalty and live experiences. He partners with premium outdoor, travel and lifestyle companies to turn experiential marketing into measurable growth, designing membership programs, experiential platforms and brand-led communities that drive retention, advocacy and revenue. Nomadics’ work combines strategic insight with real-world execution, enabling brands to move beyond one-off moments and build lasting customer relationships. Chris Pendl on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrispendl/ ---------- Resources ---------- Airstream: https://www.airstream.com Nomadics: https://www.nomadics.work The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703 We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! https://aglbrnd.co/r/7fe458ced0f04658 Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://advertalize.com/r/491818c79fb1873f Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days). The most influential minds in software, AI, and engineering leadership will be at WeAreDevelopers World Congress North America, September 23-25 in San Jose. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/60a7299222a7bcf1 Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/93531742a7625a20 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f1782ab12211f765 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter Giordano, Head of DoorDash Ads at DoorDash, argues that retail media stopped being an ad channel the moment the gap between an impression and a delivered order collapsed to minutes. He and Greg Kihlström get into what that changes for enterprise brands. Commerce platforms are becoming full-funnel media, not a lower-funnel add-on. DoorDash isn't a traditional retailer, and Espinosa explains what its data shows about consumer intent that a retailer's doesn't — and what strains first in an enterprise media plan built around flighting and frequency when the purchase happens in minutes. "AI" hides very different decisions inside an ad system. Giordano draws the line between where a model is genuinely making the call — bidding, ranking, creative assembly — and where a person is still setting rules that a system simply executes faster. Retail media's credibility problem is that the network grades its own homework. On the LiveRamp partnership, what an advertiser has to be able to verify independently before an incrementality number means anything, and where DoorDash draws the line on data collaboration. When an AI agent places the order, there's no creative to persuade it. What has to be true about a brand's product data, pricing, and availability to get selected by a machine acting on the customer's behalf. About Peter Giordano Peter Giordano is GM of Platform & Growth Services for DoorDash Ads. In this role, he is responsible for a variety of initiatives including global expansion; agency partnerships; scaling platform operations and productivity; and developing external integrations and offsite expansion. Previously he was COO at Seva, a venture-backed enterprise software business, where he led go-to-market for their early stage knowledge automation SaaS platform. Before Seva, he held various positions in Revenue Operations and Marketing at Simulmedia, a video advertising technology company, eventually serving as SVP of Sales Operations & Strategy. He started his career in various facets of the media industry in New York – including positions in strategy and marketing at Time Inc.; and roles in the network news division at NBC Universal, including that of producer on the “TODAY” Show.  Peter received his undergraduate degree in Government cum laude from Harvard University, and an MBA with honors from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. He lives outside of New York City with his wife and two daughters. Peter Giordano on LinkedIn ---------- Resources ---------- https://www.doordash.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days). The most influential minds in software, AI, and engineering leadership will be at WeAreDevelopers World Congress North America, September 23-25 in San Jose. Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off. Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show. Connect with Greg on LinkedIn Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology. The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if, by the time a B2B buyer ever talks to your sales team, the decision is already mostly made, and somewhere you can't see and can't measure? For years, agility meant being quick with the latest tools. Now it means something harder: letting go of long-held assumptions about the buyer's journey and accepting that influence has scattered across a decentralized network of peers, creators, and AI — much of it happening in places brands don't control and can't track. Today we're digging into a fundamental shift in how B2B buyers, especially the next generation, actually make decisions. We'll explore: How generational change, led by the most AI-forward buyers yet, is reshaping the B2B buying landscape.Why linear demand-gen models strain in an era of communal buying and AI-driven discovery.The rising pull of peer reviews, independent creators, and AI-generated answers, and what that does to your brand's credibility.To help me dig in, I'd like to welcome Katie Allison, Senior Manager of Research and Insights at TrustRadius by HG Insights. About Katie Allison Katie Allison, Senior Manager of Research and Insights at TrustRadius, HG Insights, looked into how generational behavior is reshaping go-to-market strategy. She brings a data-backed perspective on how AI, social proof, and digital-native expectations are colliding to change who buyers trust, with recent findings from the From Boomers to Zoomers report. Katie Allison on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kathryn-allison ---------- Resources ---------- TrustRadius by HG Insights: The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703 We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! https://aglbrnd.co/r/7fe458ced0f04658 Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://advertalize.com/r/491818c79fb1873f Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days). The most influential minds in software, AI, and engineering leadership will be at WeAreDevelopers World Congress North America, September 23-25 in San Jose. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/60a7299222a7bcf1 Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/93531742a7625a20 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f1782ab12211f765 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If a growing share of your customers now begin their shopping journey on a platform you don't own — and can't see into — is your website still your most important marketing asset? Agility here isn't just about reacting to new customer behavior. It's about building an infrastructure that can meet customers wherever they show up, and still have the brand behave like one company when it gets there. Today, we're going to talk about: - The great fragmentation of product discovery and why traditional marketing funnels are becoming obsolete. - Strategies for maintaining brand and data consistency across countless channels when only 14% of consumers say it's done well today. - The role of AI and automation in not just personalizing experiences, but optimizing for new discovery engines. To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome, Gary Lombardo, CMO at Athos Commerce. About Gary Lombardo Gary Lombardo is Chief Marketing Officer at Athos Commerce, where he leads marketing, brand strategy, communications, and thought leadership. With more than 20 years of experience in retail technology, ecommerce, and SaaS, he helps retailers navigate the rapidly evolving world of AI-powered commerce. Gary is a frequent speaker on topics including artificial intelligence, digital merchandising, product discovery, customer experience, and the future of retail. Gary Lombardo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garylombardo ---------- Resources ---------- Athos Commerce: athoscommerce.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703 We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! https://aglbrnd.co/r/7fe458ced0f04658 Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://advertalize.com/r/491818c79fb1873f Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days). The most influential minds in software, AI, and engineering leadership will be at WeAreDevelopers World Congress North America, September 23-25 in San Jose. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/60a7299222a7bcf1 Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/93531742a7625a20 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more at and give us a rating so others can find the show at: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hilary Smith, CMO at Linnworks, argues that most ecommerce brands believe their operations are already automated — and that the manual work quietly grows as they scale. She and Greg Kihlström get into where it hides and what it costs. AI's most consequential move in retail is happening in the back office, not the front end. After years of chatbots and personalization, the investment is shifting into inventory, fulfillment, and order management — where being wrong is expensive and visible. Peak season is a volume-and-velocity problem, not a basket-size problem. Smith on which parts of the traditional peak playbook break first when order throughput climbs, and how a tech freeze changes what a brand can realistically fix in-season. A stockout is a brand moment. Operational failures are where customers decide what a company is actually like — which puts a CMO on the hook for outcomes they don't directly own. About Hilary Smith Hilary Smith is Chief Marketing Officer at Linnworks. She brings 12+ years of experience driving growth through data-informed strategy across supply chain, ecommerce and FinTech. Hilary thrives at the intersection of brand, product and demand, translating complex customer and commercial data into campaigns that drive revenue, sharpen positioning and move the business forward. Her leadership style is grounded in empathy, curiosity and a deep understanding of how customers discover, convert and keep coming back. Hilary Smith on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilarypaigesmith/ ---------- Resources ---------- Linnworks: https://www.linworks.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703 The hardest part of martech right now is telling which tools are actually earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. If you want to join, the code AGILE15 saves you 15%. https://aglbrnd.co/r/c70c250b8d52dff3 We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! https://aglbrnd.co/r/7fe458ced0f04658 Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms. See more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f76be3a33cc491bb Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/491818c79fb1873f Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days). Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/93531742a7625a20 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f1782ab12211f765 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.