#676: The consumer is no longer navigating the map—they are the map, with Ken Hughes, the King of CX

The consumer is no longer navigating the map—they are the map.Welcome to the era of the Blue Dot Consumer: always centered, always scrolling, and always expecting the world to orbit around them. What does that mean for your brand? Everything. From the rise of instant gratification to the evolution of seven—yes, seven—active generations, the customer experience game has changed forever. Today’s guest is Ken Hughes, also known as The King of CX—is a consumer behavioralist, futurist, and one of the world’s leading authorities on customer experience. He’s here to break down how digital evolution, generational shifts, and consumer expectations are reshaping the rules of engagement for brands of all sizes. About Ken HughesKen Hughes is one of the World's Leading CX Strategists and Consumer Behavioralists in Customer Experience, Marketing, Branding, Innovation and AI. Known internationally as The King of Customer Experience.Author of the marketing blog ‘The Blue Dot Consumer’, with tens of thousands of readers exploring his content on consumer values, marketing, branding and customer experience every month.His research and work is utilized by global brands, industry associations and universities across all six continents. His client list is a who’s who of global brands, from Google, Starbucks, the NFL, and TikTok, to Walmart, Coca-Cola, IKEA and PayPal) to understand the changing nature of the brand connection across the consumer generations, and prepare for the future.He describes himself as a social science Frankenstein – his interests are part sociology, part anthropology, part consumer psychology and part cyber behaviouralism.Previously CEO of an insight agency, a TED speaker, a university lecturer and actor RESOURCES King of CX: https://www.kenhughes.info/ 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 Boston, August 11-14, 2025. Register now: https://bit.ly/etailboston and use code PARTNER20 for 20% off for retailers and brands Online Scrum Master Summit is happening June 17-19. This 3-day virtual event is open for registration. Visit www.osms25.com and get a 25% discount off Premium All-Access Passes with the code osms25agilebrand Don't Miss MAICON 2025, October 14-16 in Cleveland - the event bringing together the brights minds and leading voices in AI. Use Code AGILE150 for $150 off registration. Go here to register: https://bit.ly/agile150 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.show Check 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