The Customer Experience Gap: What Brands Promise vs. What Customers Remember

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 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-stabler-ccxp/].

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.

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.

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 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahhigginsonmoss/].

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 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/joey-whipp-ab40b512/].