Greg Kihlström— A Capitol Communicator Profile
Editor’s Note: Capitol Communicators is a profile series spotlighting the people shaping the present and future of advertising, digital, marketing and public relations in the Mid-Atlantic. This profile features Greg Kihlström, creator of The Agile Brand Guide & Podcast.
Greg Kihlström is clearly tireless. And prolific. If there was a TV commercial about him (think Dos Equis’ most interesting man series), perhaps the last line would be “Stay agile, my friends.” Greg developed the concept of The Agile Brand, and from that came a long line of marketing books (more than 20!) and the award-winning podcast The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®, which discusses marketing technology and its role in the customer experience with some of the world’s leading experts and leaders. His best-selling The Agile Brand Guide® series dives into marketing technology platforms and practices. He is also a sought-after speaker, serial entrepreneur, and consultant to major national companies.
He holds an MBA, is working on a doctorate in Business Intelligence, and teaches as a member of the School of Marketing Faculty at the Association of National Advertisers. He was named by Thinkers 360 as #1 on its list of the Top Global Marketing Thought Leaders, one of ICMI’s Top 25 CX Thought Leaders two years in a row, and a DC Inno 50 on Fire. For Greg, “agile” is both a brand and a way of life.
Greg, tell us about yourself.
My first job out of college was as a Webmaster at an Internet startup. These are two things that didn’t exist when I started high school. I went to school for architecture and then photography (the darkroom, chemicals, etc. kind of photography not digital photography which was at about 2 Megapixels at most when I was in school). About halfway through I heard about this thing called HTML and taught myself to write it.
Fast forward a few years, I am a recovering agency owner, having started a company called Carousel30 back in 2003 which sold to what is now Yes& in 2017. Since that acquisition, I co-founded a few startups, and work as a consultant and advisor to Fortune 1000 companies and have had the privilege to work with some of the world’s largest brands like Adidas, Fedex, GM, HP, Marriott, Nationwide Insurance, Victoria’s Secret, and more.
I also host a podcast called The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®, which is seven years and 750+ episodes in, and one of the highest-ranked enterprise marketing podcasts in the world. This, combined with writing for some industry publications like CMSWire and MarTech, and having written several books on marketing and CX, keeps me busy.
What are the things you are most proud of?
I’m proud that I’ve been part of some amazing teams that have done everything from R&D for a Fortune 50 related to journey orchestration, to creating some forward-thinking AI-based software tools to solve some of the biggest challenges that brands face. I’ve played many roles on those teams, but the common thread is that feeling when things just work well and you’ve got a group of individuals who can work in a 1+1=3 way. That feeling is the best and it’s the human partnership of those times that are what stick with me the most.
What are the most significant changes or trends you see happening/ coming in the communications industry in 2026?
I think that we are at (or will be soon) peak AI hype. Thus, by the end of 2026, I think we’re going to stop appending “AI” to everything, and soon “AI-driven marketing” will just be “marketing” again. Like it was for many years before! That said, the ubiquity of AI in marketing also means that the successful brands and companies will be those that utilize it in seamless ways and drive real value and gains rather than just creating more.
What are the skills that are necessary to be successful today?
I talk a lot about agility on my podcast, in books, and in my other work. I believe that the ability to adapt and apply skills and learnings across disciplines becomes more necessary the more change that our professions face. I encourage everyone to look beyond their “vertical” skills like social media marketing, copywriting, or web design, and to start looking at their “horizontal” skills like adaptability, management, critical thinking, and others.
What tools should we be using to be successful?
I’m going to give an “AI” recommendation here, but I won’t be specific. Instead, it’s more a mindset recommendation. Any time you perform a task more than once in the same way, and that you will likely have to perform again soon, take a minute to figure out how to automate at least one part of it so you don’t have to do the same thing end-to-end again. The tools you use for that will completely vary, but the mindset shift will save you days of your life in the long run.
What advice helped you most in your career, and is that advice still relevant today?
The best advice I ever got as a leader was this: leaders don’t need to have all the answers, but instead the best thing they can do is surround themselves with smart people that can contribute to great ideas.
What professional advice do you have for others?
I think it comes back to agility, but also to the fundamentals of strategy. First, understand that the job you are doing now will so different between 2-4 years from now that it may not either exist, or it will occupy a different place in the org structure and importance. Learn not to dread this, but instead try to understand what you like to focus on and move your career in that direction over time.
Second, having been in the industry for nearly 30 years at this point, I’ve seen a few things change, but there are a few things that remain. Solid marketing strategy and approaches continue to be important to understand, regardless of the technologies, channels, customer preferences, and cultural norms that come and go. How they are applied may look and feel very different, but we are still in the business of acquiring and retaining customers, three decades on, and I can’t imagine things will be too different a few decades from now either.
Are you involved in any professional organizations and do you find them to be valuable?
While my involvement in professional organizations has fluctuated, I can honestly say that one of the best things I ever did in my career was to get involved with what was then called the DC Ad Club (now AAF DC). Before joining, I barely knew anyone in the industry, and several years in, I had the honor of serving as President, gaining access to both local and national contacts, and it opened my world well beyond the four walls that contained my agency at the time.
I think that professional organizations evolve quite a bit over time, and COVID had a big impact on our relationship to in-person events, but I recommend that anyone should find a group of people that can form a larger network that you can contribute to and participate in dialogues with. This is very different than work friends, or coworkers, because these are people that likely have different perspectives, client or marketing experiences, and that diversity of ideas and thought are incredibly valuable down the road.
What brings you joy, professionally?
The thing that brings me joy is doing something new—and valuable—for the first time. Plus, working with new teams, solving new challenges, and thinking of things in new ways. The common thread here is “new.”
What are the social media tools and platforms that you find most valuable now and expect to use in 2026?
I’m most active on LinkedIn, and despite some changes from time to time that make it either slightly better or slightly not better, I continue to find it valuable.
Is there anything about you that most people do not know?
I took nearly 12 years of classical piano lessons, though I do not recommend listening to me play at this point. Playing piano is not like riding a bike, unfortunately.
What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever done?
I’ll keep this in the realm of my professional life (because marrying my wife Lindsey was pretty darn cool as well) and just say that I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to work independently with some of the brands I love, and to travel the world meeting and talking with some of the leaders in my industry. So, the coolest thing would be to have carved out a way of working that gives me the flexibility to continue to learn, see and hear new things, and share some of the things I learn along the way. Between consulting, the podcast, and the writing, I feel continually energized and continually challenged to do more, and that’s exactly the place I want to be.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Stay agile, and stay curious. Everything else is liable to change, but curiosity and a thirst for knowledge help you manage all manner of things.
Capitol Communicators profiles will allow you to meet some of the most interesting and insightful pros in our region, learn how they stay ahead of the curve and pick up practical wisdom during a time of constant change.
Capitol Communicator is a sister company of CommPRO.
