Articles Archives

Expert Mode: The Infinite Channel Problem and Why Your Supply Chain is Your New Best Marketer

Agile Brand Guide on January 3, 2026

We are entering an era where the brand is less defined by its advertising and more by its operational excellence. The consumer, now accustomed to near-instant gratification, has little patience for supply chain disruptions, delayed orders, or poor communication. The paradox we face is that as AI potentially atomizes the customer journey across infinite touchpoints, it also provides the tools for unprecedented levels of personalization and proactive service.

A Look Forward to 2026, Part 3: Why Humanity Wins in the Age of AI

Greg Kihlström on January 1, 2026

As we enter 2026, the omnipresence of artificial intelligence will continue to transform it from a cutting-edge advantage into a mere operational baseline. As every competitor integrates the same autonomous agents, generative tools, and optimization engines, the race for the “fastest algorithm” will become irrelevant. Industry leaders agree: the brands poised to win in this saturated environment will bypass the technology arms race entirely.

Expert Mode: Beyond the Click—Navigating the B2B Dark Funnel with AI

Agile Brand Guide on January 1, 2026

For years, we’ve relied on the comforting, if slightly misleading, glow of a healthy click-through rate to justify spend and demonstrate momentum. But we also know, with the certainty that comes from experience, that this is an incomplete story. The B2B buyer’s journey has never been a straight line from ad to click to form-fill. It’s a winding, complex path of discovery, influence, and consideration that mostly happens out of sight.

Expert Mode: From HiPPO to Hypothesis: Building a Culture of Continuous Optimization

Agile Brand Guide on December 30, 2025

In enterprise marketing, there are few forces as powerful, or as potentially misguided, as the “great idea” that emerges from a senior leadership meeting. It often arrives with conviction, a sense of urgency, and a complete lack of supporting user data. We’ve all been there.

Expert Mode: Democratizing AI: How UserTesting Empowers Every Employee to Drive Innovation

Agile Brand Guide on December 28, 2025

The integration of artificial intelligence into business operations is no longer a futuristic vision but a present reality. However, the true potential of AI lies not just in its adoption, but in its democratization within an organization. Empowering every employee, regardless of their technical expertise, to leverage AI can unlock unprecedented levels of innovation and efficiency.

Expert Mode: The Global-Local Tightrope: Balancing Brand Consistency and Hyper-Relevance

Agile Brand Guide on December 27, 2025

For any enterprise marketing leader, the tension between global brand consistency and local market relevance is a familiar, and often fraught, balancing act. On one hand, the power of a global brand lies in its recognizable standards, its operational efficiencies, and the trust it has built at scale. On the other hand, we know that true customer connection—the kind that drives loyalty and lifetime value—is forged in the fires of local nuance, cultural understanding, and personalized relevance.

A Look Forward to 2026, Part 2: Silos’ Last Stand, Agents Rise, and Governance Rules

Greg Kihlström on December 25, 2025

While consumers demand authenticity and emotion in 2026, the engine room of the enterprise is undergoing a ruthless architectural overhaul. The old Silicon Valley mandate to “move fast and break things” is being replaced by an urgent need for disciplined integration, modular infrastructure, and the complete demolition of operational silos.

Expert Mode: Beyond the MQL: A Reality Check on B2B Lead Quality

Agile Brand Guide on December 25, 2025

In an era overflowing with data, analytics platforms, and AI-powered tools promising to solve this very problem, it’s a paradox that the challenge of lead quality not only remains but has, in some ways, become more complex.

CMSWire: The CX Teams Moving Fastest Are Rewriting How AI Research Works

Greg Kihlström on December 24, 2025

This article was written by Greg Kihlström for CMSWire. As customer
expectations accelerate, CX leaders are turning to synthetic research and
agentic AI to test experiences before customers ever feel the friction.

Expert Mode: Closing the Gap Between Brand Promise and Customer Reality with AI

Agile Brand Guide on December 23, 2025

The distance between the brand voice meticulously crafted in a boardroom and the way it’s perceived in the wild can be vast and treacherous. Marketing leaders spend fortunes defining their brand promise, only to see it refracted, distorted, or sometimes completely ignored across a chaotic landscape of customer reviews, social media commentary, and support tickets.