Today, more than ever, consumers are not only looking for brands that communicate well, but also for those that deliver on their promises. This challenge, affecting both large and small organizations, is leading marketing departments to reconsider their role in designing the Customer Experience (CEX).

For years, some of us have been advocating for marketing departments, with their CMOs at the helm, to adopt customer experience as a strategic lever for brand building, and to co-lead or take a more proactive role in its management. To co-design, together with other areas that impact the customer, both in the front and back office, an experience that aligns with the brand promise.

This is reflected in our Manifest for a 2024 Full of Experiences twelve months ago. This approach is key to avoid falling behind in the wave of Customer Centricity, something we pointed out back in 2021, which led to a concerning phenomenon: the low regard of CEOs regarding the role of the CMO in customer management and experience. A McKinsey study in 2023 highlighted this loss of influence of the CMO, especially in the area of customer experience (CEX).

Well, we begin 2025 with the realization that the message is finally starting to resonate among marketing professionals. Something must be changing when international entities like WARC or Gartner highlight the relevance of this new role:

• In its newly published report "The Marketer's Toolkit 2025," WARC points out the gap between the Brand Promise and the Experience delivered to its Customers. This analysis highlights the need for greater involvement of marketing departments in designing the experience, fostering more memorable and differentiating interactions throughout the Customer Journey and at key touchpoints.
• Similarly, Gartner in its report "Top 3 Strategic Priorities for CMOs" from its "Leadership Vision for 2025" series urges the assumption of greater responsibilities in enhancing the Customer Experience and prioritizing investments in the Customer Journey by training marketing teams, improving their understanding of customer needs, and developing initiatives that drive significant change.

In this new context, customer experience represents a great opportunity to improve marketing effectiveness and regain its strategic relevance:

On one hand, it is essential to align the attributes communicated by the Brand Image with those that emanate from the customer experience and together form the brand footprint. Both must align around the chosen positioning for the brand to be built. If both communication and experience are not aligned, their contributions will tend to cancel each other out. Like a boat with two rowers, if they don't act in the same direction and in sync, the boat won't move forward.

On the other hand, it is crucial to align the expectations generated by communication and the brand promise with the realities that materialize through the experiences offered at each key moment of the Customer Journey. This alignment is the essential condition to fulfill what is promised. If expectation and reality are not synchronized, and specifically if reality does not meet the expectation, the brand destroys its accumulated value, its Equity.

In light of this reality, we are convinced that by 2025 we will see a turning point in which marketing departments will take the definitive step to embrace customer experience as a strategic brand lever:

Diagnosing the gap between brand image and brand footprint, and establishing practical and feasible action plans to close the existing gap.

Identifying opportunities and areas for improvement based on the degree of fulfillment of customer expectations in relation to their key needs, and designing strategies that address these challenges.

Fostering interdepartmental collaboration in the design and management of a Customer Experience aligned with the brand, its purpose, and its distinctive attributes.

We trust that this commitment to Customer Experience will help enhance brands that provide differentiated experiences that meet the functional, social, and emotional needs of their target customers.

As a result, brands will achieve greater consideration and preference from consumers, which will translate into higher conversion rates, an increase in market share, and ultimately, an improvement in profitability.

Additionally, this approach will strengthen their influence and relevance in the Executive Committees, consolidating their strategic role within organizations.