Prose + Comms Engagement Unplugged
A marketing, branding, and customer experience podcast sponsored by BrightSign.
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Your Customers Are Not Your Content Strategy
Brands want loyal customers who trust them enough to advocate on their behalf. But when the relationship only seems to matter at renewal time or when the brand needs something, customers notice.
In this episode, Brian and Laura talk with customer experience strategist and fractional Chief Customer Officer Christina Garnett about what it takes to build trust over time. They explore why customer advocacy should feel like a partnership, why NPS can miss the customers most at risk, and how shared ownership can improve the customer experience. Christina also gets into “mid” marketing, the role AI should play in customer communications, and why brands that show genuine care have an opportunity to stand out.
If you’d like to hear more from Christina Garnett, you can find her on LinkedIn. Check out her book, Transforming Customer-Brand Relationships, and keep an eye out for her next one coming soon.
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Gen Z in the Workplace: Managing the Next Generation of Marketers
Every generation brings a different set of expectations to the workplace, and Gen Z is no exception. The real challenge for leaders is separating stereotypes from meaningful shifts in how people think about ambition and career growth.
On this episode, Laura and Brian examine where Gen Z’s workplace priorities differ from those of previous generations, and where the gaps may be more about management style than motivation. They discuss feedback, work-life balance, job mobility, and company culture, along with Gen Z’s growing fluency with AI. They also look at the marketing fundamentals that still matter across generations, including curiosity and a willingness to keep learning.
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The Creative Model Is Broken. What Comes Next?
Creative teams face constant pressure to move faster while working with tighter budgets. As the demand for content grows, brands need a creative process that gives strong ideas room to emerge and develop.
In this episode, Laura and Brian talk with Will Burns, founder and CEO of Ideasicle X, about how that process is evolving. They discuss why in-house teams can become trapped in familiar thinking and how outside perspectives can open new creative possibilities. Will also shares how virtual collaboration changes the way ideas take shape, where AI can strengthen production, and why the future of brand creativity may depend on choosing work that people will actually remember.
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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.
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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