Today’s episode of the Punk CX podcast is with Phil Regnault, Marketing Transformation Partner at PwC & PwC’s Adobe Alliance Leader.

Phil and I talk about the recently published results of PwC’s 2025 US Customer Experience Survey, and a recently released fresh cut of their survey featuring exclusive insights from Adobe users. We also talk about how many organisations are still struggling to scale their AI projects, generate meaningful commercial returns, or drive improvements in customer outcomes, and what he sees the most successful companies doing to overcome these challenges. We finish off with Phil’s best advice, his Punk CX brand and his very own good news story.

This interview follows on from my recent interview – Douglas Adams’ Babelfish concept just got much closer – Interview with Sharath Keshava Narayana of Sanas – and is number 567 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders who are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.

Here are the highlights of my chat with Phil:

• PwC’s survey reveals a 50% gap between C-suite perception of brand loyalty and the consumer’s actual sentiment. This underscores a critical blind spot that must be addressed before any CX initiative can succeed.
• 70% of executives acknowledge that customer expectations are evolving faster than their companies can adapt. Senior leaders must move beyond desire and identify the specific organizational and technological bottlenecks—like data silos—that are directly “hindering their ability to keep up.”
• The next evolution in great marketing and CX requires moving beyond the singular focus on the Customer Data Graph. Executives must integrate content and cultural knowledge with core customer data to provide context and align employee actions with company values.
• Brands should supplement traditional metrics like NPS and CSAT with a new operational KPI: Time to Understanding. The goal is to dramatically reduce the time it takes for the business to be responsive, validate the customer’s need, and deliver a tailored, immediate experience.
• Brands should reverse the current data strategy. Instead of accumulating all data and then figuring out what to do with it, leaders must start with the desired customer experience and strategically identify only the “lean data” and tools required to deliver that specific outcome. Experience must come first.
• Executives must master the difficult balance of improving the customer experience today while simultaneously building the technological and cultural foundation for the future (e.g., embracing AI). Forgetting the “here and now” in favor of the “maelstrom of evolving technology” is a path to failure.
• Customer loyalty is a return favor. Brands must first demonstrate loyalty to the customer—treating them as an individual within a tribe, not a segment in a predefined CRM journey—to earn their sustained business or willingness to pay a premium.
• Brands should resist the temptation to default to generative AI or chatbots as the exclusive front line. While AI enhances operations, customer service must retain a human connection. Over-indexing on self-service is failing, with low success rates (e.g., only 30% for simple queries).
• Companies at the “leading edge” (e.g., users of Adobe Experience Cloud products) demonstrate better results because they invest in foundational practices. This includes robust journey mapping, social media listening, and enhanced use of Customer Service Management systems.
• Great marketing drives enterprise value. Data from leading marketers (Cannes Lions winners) shows a 79% higher shareholder value return than laggards. CX executives should use this “bigger picture” metric to justify investments and claim the strategic importance of the function within the C-suite.
• Phil referenced a report (Marketing in the AI era: To matter more or cost less) during our conversation. The report was developed in collaboration with the Association of National Advertisers (ANA).
• Phil’s best advice:
  • If you optimize for your internal operations then you’re virtually guaranteeing that you are waving the white flag because what you are saying is that your operational efficiency matters more to you than delivering a great customer experience. Now for some businesses that may be the right thing to do but if you espouse to be a great CX company you have to get over yourself.
• Phil’s Punk CX brand:
  • Ten years ago, Phil got a note from the CEO of a firm that he was doing business with, thanking him for his business. The note included the CEO’s phone number. Phil tried to call the number, and the CEO picked up. Phil respected his time and took just 60 seconds of his time to really express his appreciation and admiration for what he did. Phil thought it was a pretty punk move and that experience has stuck with him ever since. There’s a nice lesson for us all to take away from that, which is ultimately the, the magic is made through the human to human connection. And everything else is just noise.

About Phil

Phil Regnault is a Principal at PwC and serves as the US & Global Adobe Alliance Leader, where he helps clients design meaningful experiences for customers and marketers. His current work centers on establishing trust-based foundations for modern marketing, enabling organizations to transform how they engage through customer data platforms, AI, content management, and journey management solutions.

A recognized voice in the industry, Phil has spoken at leading events including Adobe Summit, Adweek’s Brandweek, ASAP, the MIT CIO Symposium, and Oracle OpenWorld.

Phil is a dual US/Netherlands citizen, has lived in four countries across three continents, and once waved the green flag at the IndyCar race at Watkins Glen.

Check out PwC’s 2025 Customer Experience Survey, and the recently released fresh cut of their survey featuring exclusive insights from Adobe users. Say Hi to them on X (Twitter) @PwCUS and feel free to connect with Phil on LinkedIn here.

Credit: Photo by James Orr on Unsplash