#764: Closing the gap between brand promise and brand experience with Mark Wagner, Horizontal Digital

The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®: Expert Mode Marketing Technology, AI, & CX

The Agile Brand

Business, Marketing

5 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What if your brand's voice is drifting off-key in the ears of your customers, and you're the last one to know? Agility requires more than just rapid execution; it demands a real-time, nuanced understanding of customer sentiment and the ability to translate that intelligence directly into action. We are here at Sitecore Symposium in Orlando, Florida, and today we're going to talk about closing the gap between brand promise and customer perception. In an era of endless customer reviews, social media posts, and feedback channels, how can a large organization truly listen at scale and ensure its voice remains consistent and effective? To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome Mark Wagner, Senior Director of Strategy at Horizontal Digital. About Mark Wagner With over 20 years of experience in digital product strategy, design, and innovation, I am a Senior Digital Experience and Product Strategist at Horizontal Digital, a leading digital consultancy specializing in serving and delivering amazing solutions for clients, their customers, and their employees. I am a highly collaborative, strategic client partner tirelessly focused on helping solve the things that keep our clients up at night.My core competencies include digital experience and product strategy, customer experience strategy, Lean UX, agile product design and delivery, service design, and user research. I specialize in financial services, diversified, commerce, and B2B products and services that are people-centered and purpose-built for both business and customer value. As part of my large portfolio of noteworthy accomplishments, I am most passionate about solving complex digital transformation challenges, delivering needle-moving digital products, and fostering collaboration and inclusion. Mark Wagner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrkwgnr/ Resources Horizontal Digital: https://www.horizontal.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow Catch the future of e-commerce at eTail Palm Springs, Feb 23-26 in Palm Springs, CA. Go here for more details: https://etailwest.wbresearch.com/ Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.showCheck 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

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Agile brand.
0:03.0	Welcome to Season 7 of the Agile brand, where we discuss the trends and topics marketing leaders need to know.
0:15.0	Stay curious, stay agile, and join the top enterprise brands and MARTEC platforms as we explore marketing technology, AI, e-commerce, and join the top enterprise brands and Martec platforms as we explore marketing technology,
0:23.1	AI, e-commerce, and whatever's next for the Omnichannel customer experience.
0:27.8	Together we'll discover what it takes to create an agile brand, built for today and tomorrow,
0:32.1	and built for customers, employees, and continued business growth.
0:36.9	I'm your host, Greg Kilstrom, advising Fortune 1,000 brands on Martec, employees, and continued business growth. I'm your host, Greg Kilstrom, advising Fortune 1000 brands on Martec, AI, and marketing operations.
0:43.3	The Agile Brand Podcast is brought to you by Tech Systems, an industry leader in full-stack technology services,
0:49.3	talent services, and real-world application. For more information, go to T-E-K to teK systems.com. To make sure you
0:56.9	always get the latest episodes, please hit subscribe on the app you listen to podcasts on, and leave
1:01.7	us a rating so others can find us as well. And now on to the show. What if your brand's voice is
1:09.9	drifting off-key in the ears of your customers, and you're the last one to know?
1:13.6	Agility requires more than just rapid execution.
1:16.6	It demands a real-time, nuanced understanding of customer sentiment and the ability to translate that intelligence directly into action.
1:24.6	We're here at SiteCore Symposium in Orlando, Florida, and today we're
1:28.4	going to talk about closing the gap between brand promise and customer perception. In an era of
1:34.2	endless customer reviews, social media posts, and feedback channels, how can a large organization
1:39.5	truly listen at scale and ensure its voice remains consistent and effective. To help me discuss this topic,
1:46.1	I'd like to welcome Mark Wagner, Senior Director of Strategy at Horizontal Digital. Mark, welcome to the show.
1:52.2	Greg, thank you for having me. It's awesome to be here. Yeah, looking forward to talking about all
1:57.3	of this with you. And yeah, I always love doing these interviews at shows like this.
2:01.3	So I'm excited to be here as well. Before we dive in, though, why don't you give a little
	...

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