Prose + Comms Engagement Unplugged
A marketing, branding, and customer experience podcast sponsored by BrightSign.
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The Competitor Obsession Trap
Watching competitors is smart. Letting every campaign, product launch, or viral post derail your marketing strategy is not.
In this episode, Brian and Laura unpack the difference between competitive awareness and competitive obsession. They explore why leadership pressure can push marketing teams into reactive decisions and how constant monitoring can create more noise than insight. Most importantly, they make the case for listening to customers and staying focused on the value only your brand can deliver.
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Personal Attention in an Automated World: Why Human Connection Still Wins Marketing
Customers are drowning in messages, and most brands are responding by sending more. But breaking through is not always about being louder, faster, or more personalized. Sometimes it is about making people feel like the interaction was meant for them.
In this episode, Laura Smith and Brian Rowley talk with David Wachs, founder and CEO of Handwrytten, about why customer experience still depends on making people feel seen. David shares how handwritten notes can cut through marketing noise and bring personal attention back into brand communication. The conversation explores where automation helps and why a simple thank you can matter more than another “personalized” message no one asked for.
If you’d like to hear more from David Wachs, you can find him on LinkedIn.
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Back to Office, Remote, Hybrid: What Does It Mean for Marketing Culture?
Return to office is back in the spotlight, but for marketing teams, the real question is bigger than where people sit. It’s about trust, creativity, collaboration, and whether great work actually depends on being in the same room.
In this episode of Prose + Comms: Engagement, Unplugged, Brian Rowley and Laura Smith unpack this tension through the lens of modern marketing leadership. They explore why “collaboration” is often used as a blanket argument for return-to-office mandates, when in-person time can truly accelerate creative work, and how remote teams can build stronger communication without sacrificing flexibility.
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The Customer Experience Gap: What Brands Promise vs. What Customers Remember
Every brand says it cares about customer experience, but customers remember what actually happens, not what the campaign promised. This episode of Prose + Comms: Engagement, Unplugged explores why customer centricity is harder to achieve than most companies think.
Brian Rowley and Laura Smith are joined by Katie Stabler, a certified CX leader known for helping organizations drive growth through better customer experiences. Katie breaks down the psychology behind CX, from the everyday interactions that create emotion to the memories that shape long-term brand perception. The conversation explores why CX must be embedded across culture, operations, technology, and measurement, rather than treated as a single metric or customer service function. They also discuss the promise-delivery gap in B2B, the limitations of NPS, the role of customer effort and conversational analytics, and how companies can use AI to improve experiences without losing the human element.
If you’d like to hear more from Katie Stabler, you can find her on LinkedIn.
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The Marketing Jargon Hall of Shame
Marketing loves a good buzzword. But somewhere between “omnichannel,” “synergy,” and “authentic storytelling,” the words we use to sound strategic can start to lose all meaning.
In this episode of Prose + Comms: Engagement, Unplugged, Brian and Laura share their Marketing Jargon Hall of Shame nominees, calling out the phrases marketers love, hate, and maybe secretly still use. From overused industry terms to the words that make colleagues and customers tune out, they unpack why jargon happens and how marketers can communicate with more clarity, personality, and purpose.
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Distinctive or Likable? What Actually Makes a Brand Memorable
Brands want to be liked, but being liked does not always mean being remembered. On this episode of Prose + Comms: Engagement, Unplugged, Brian and Laura unpack the tension between distinctiveness and likability, and why the strongest brands know how to balance both.
From Tiffany blue and the Intel sound to Liquid Death, Coca-Cola, Amazon, Nike, and Patagonia, the conversation explores how brands create recognition, earn affinity, and take creative risks without losing sight of their audience. Brian and Laura also dig into how marketers should think about risk and why AI-generated content makes brand distinctiveness even more important in a world where everything can start to sound the same.
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Rebrands: What Separates the Ones That Work?
Rebrands have a way of looking simple from the outside, but inside the business, they touch everything. This episode digs into what it really takes to get it right.
Laura and Brian sit down with Sarah Moss, who has led multiple global rebrands, to unpack the strategy and instincts behind a successful transformation. From earning stakeholder buy-in and mapping every brand touchpoint to recognizing success through behavior change, Sarah shares a candid look at what it takes to evolve a brand and bring an entire organization with you.
To hear more from Sarah Moss, find her on LinkedIn.
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AI & Creativity: Tool or Threat?
AI is changing creative work, but maybe not in the ways people expected. On this episode of Prose + Comms: Engagement, Unplugged, the team explores how AI is actually showing up for creatives today: speeding things up, unlocking new possibilities, and raising real questions about what defines strong work.
The mic flips to a familiar voice behind the scenes as Producer Joey Whipp joins Brian Rowley and Laura Smith on the other side of the table. It’s a candid, fun conversation that pulls back the curtain on how creatives are using AI day-to-day, from brainstorming and mockups to voice and music generation. Joey shares some go-to tools and why “good taste” might be the one thing AI can’t replicate. Along the way, they unpack how marketing is evolving, where AI helps (and where it falls short), and what it all means for the future of creative work.
You can find Joey Whipp on LinkedIn.
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The Meetings That Waste Marketing’s Time
Why are marketers losing so much time in conversations that go nowhere, and what can you do about it?
From flying across the world for a two-hour meeting to sitting through brainstorms with no ideas, Laura Smith and Brian Rowley share real stories and frustrations that every marketer will recognize. They break down the habits that drain teams like too many meeting attendees, unclear roles, lack of agendas, and the myth of multitasking. They also talk solutions: how to structure meetings for outcomes and how reclaiming even a few hours can unlock more impactful work. If your calendar is full but your to-do list isn’t getting done, this one will hit close to home.
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Are Marketers Becoming AI Editors Instead of Creators?
AI is now every marketer’s always-on intern. But if everyone has access to the same tools, what actually sets great work apart?
In this episode of Prose + Comms: Engagement, Unplugged, Brian Rowley and Laura Smith dig into how AI is reshaping marketing in real time. From speeding up research to raising big questions about creativity, they explore whether AI is making marketers better, or just faster. The conversation tackles the rise of “AI slop” and how over-reliance on AI tools can dilute brand voice and authenticity. They also get practical, sharing how they actually use AI day-to-day, why prompting is becoming a critical skill, and how to avoid turning it into a crutch. Because in a world of AI-generated everything, the real differentiator is still human thinking.
About The Podcast
This is your go-to podcast for all things marketing, branding, and customer experience. We’re bringing you honest and fun conversations with bite-sized insights.
Hosted by BrightSign’s CMO Brian Rowley and Head of Integrated Marketing Laura Smith, you’ll hear from industry pros, creatives, and innovators about what’s actually working in today’s evolving, digital-first world. No fluff — just real insights on how brands are connecting with audiences and driving growth.
Tune in for fresh ideas, big thinking, and all the tips you need to take your marketing game to the next level.
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