Feature
The Gist
- Apathy is the real enemy. Brands don’t lose customers to competitors — they lose them to distraction, indifference and experiences that fail to make people care.
- Experience is everyone’s job. Hodak’s “Acting Chief of Experience” mindset reframes CX as a shared responsibility across every role, not a function owned by a single team.
- Moments matter more than systems. One empowered employee, acting with empathy and intent, can turn a routine interaction into advocacy that no loyalty program can replicate.
Brittany Hodak’s approach to customer experience starts with a simple truth: people don’t become loyal because a process works — they become loyal because something makes them care.
Long before advising CMOs or writing about emotional engagement, Hodak learned that lesson firsthand inside a radio station mascot costume. That early experience shaped a career focused on fandom, identity and the moments that turn ordinary interactions into something people remember — and talk about.
In 2025, Hodak brought that perspective to CMSWire readers with clarity and conviction. Her work challenged CX and marketing leaders to rethink loyalty, confront the quiet danger of apathy and recognize that experience is shaped as much by frontline moments as by strategy decks.
Editor’s note: Brittany Hodak is a CMSWire 2025 Contributor of the Year. Her work consistently connects emotional engagement, employee empowerment and real-world experience design — reminding leaders that loyalty is earned in moments, not metrics.
Experience First, From the Very Beginning
Brittany Hodak’s perspective on customer experience doesn’t start in a boardroom — it starts inside a mascot costume.
Long before she advised global brands on emotional engagement and superfans, Hodak was “Sting the Bee,” a radio station mascot in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The role gave her a front-row seat to something that would shape her entire career: the power of fandom, community and human connection — well before social media made those dynamics visible at scale.
That early experience exposed two realities that still anchor her work today. First, people don’t just consume brands — they identify with them. Second, passion isn’t confined to traditional career paths. Hodak didn’t set out to become a mascot, but she embraced the opportunity and learned how deeply people connect to the things they love — music, personalities, shared moments and belonging.
From there, her career moved deeper into the entertainment industry, working with record labels and agencies before narrowing into a singular focus: understanding why people love what they love — and how that emotion drives buying, sharing and loyalty behaviors. That curiosity ultimately led her to partner with brands like Walmart and Amazon and major entertainers, and author Creating Superfans.
Today, as a keynote speaker and CMSWire contributor, Hodak brings that same experience-first lens to CX and marketing leaders — consistently challenging them to move beyond transactions and metrics and toward meaning, identity and emotional connection.
Related Article: Why CMOs Must Treat Emotional Engagement as a Core Growth Lever
Apathy Is the Real Competitor
Hodak argues that one of the most dangerous forces facing brands today isn’t dissatisfaction — it’s indifference.
In a world where attention is constantly splintered, brands aren’t just competing against direct rivals anymore. They’re competing against everything else vying for a customer’s time: social feeds, text messages, family, work, streaming services and even the choice to unplug entirely. As Hodak notes, when people abandon a TV series after two episodes, it’s rarely because a better show came along — it’s because something else simply took priority.
That same dynamic now defines customer experience. When people encounter an exceptional experience in one part of their life — a pizza tracker, a delivery update, a frictionless digital interaction — they begin to expect that same level of clarity and responsiveness everywhere. The benchmark isn’t category-specific anymore. It’s emotional and contextual.
This is where apathy becomes so powerful — and so dangerous. Customers don’t announce when they stop caring. They don’t complain. They don’t escalate. They just drift away. And because apathy doesn’t show up cleanly on dashboards or KPIs, it often goes unnoticed until customer loyalty erodes.
That’s why Hodak challenges leaders with a blunt question: Is your brand easier to forget than it is to refer?
Retention, she argues, is no longer the differentiator — it’s the baseline. The real test is whether the experience compels customers to care enough to talk about it, recommend it and feel something stronger than neutrality. In an environment where distractions are infinite, emotional connection is the only sustainable advantage.
Every Employee as the Acting Chief of Experience
One of Hodak’s most resonant ideas in 2025 centered on what she calls the “ACE role” — Acting Chief of Experience.
The premise is simple but powerful: to customers, partners and even colleagues, most employees are the brand. Titles, departments and org charts don’t matter in the moment of interaction. What matters is how someone is treated — and how they feel afterward.
Hodak argues that every role should come with both permission and responsibility to elevate an interaction. That doesn’t require grand gestures or executive authority. It means giving employees the autonomy to leave people better than they found them — whether they’re dealing with a customer, a supplier or a teammate.
Importantly, Hodak reframes motivation in the process. The roles people love most in their careers, she notes, are rarely the highest-paid ones. They’re the roles where individuals feel connected to a mission, empowered to act authentically and trusted to make a difference.
When organizations treat experience as everyone’s job — not just a CX team’s mandate — they replace apathy with purpose. And that shift, Hodak argues, is what turns ordinary interactions into brand-defining moments.
From Transactional to Experiential — and Why That Shift Matters More Than Ever
Looking ahead, Hodak believes CMOs face a paradox in 2026. As AI takes over more operational “blocking and tackling,” customer expectations rise just as quickly. Hyper-personalized, anticipatory experiences in one part of life reset the bar everywhere else.
That dynamic fuels what Hodak describes as a looming loyalty recession. Customers are increasingly willing to switch brands based on a single meaningful moment — a human touch, a shared value, an emotional connection. Legacy loyalty programs, she argues, are losing their grip as connection begins to outpace convenience.
At the same time, experience fragmentation poses a growing risk. As channels multiply — digital, physical, service, social — brands risk feeling disjointed unless AI and digital experience platforms are used to create cohesion. Consistency across touchpoints isn’t just about polish; it’s essential when something goes wrong or when customers need clarity.
Support, in particular, remains a defining moment. These interactions often involve the least-resourced teams, yet they carry disproportionate influence over brand perception. As Hodak notes, advocacy is one of the few forces powerful enough to overcome apathy — and support experiences are often where that shift happens.
Webinar
Jan
28
Ditch the Desk Phones: How Modern Teams Drive AI-First Communications
Find out how one team finally pulled the plug on a legacy phone system. And built something smarter.
Register
Webinar
On demand
Empowering Non-Profits: Smarter Crisis Communication and Community Engagement
The cost of miscommunication is measured in more than words. Learn to deliver outreach that's fast, clear and trusted.
Watch Now
Webinar
On demand
Roundtable: Turning Real-Time CX Signals into Business Results
Four big brands. One live, unscripted discussion on how modern CX teams move from dashboards to real impact.
Watch Now
Webinar
On demand
Unlock Connected Service: How to Forecast, Staff & Support Every Channel
Stop juggling tools. 73% of CX leaders say silos damage CX. Build a seamless service operation instead.
Watch Now
Webinar
On demand
Beyond Composability: How Modern Marketers Build Connected Experiences
Ready to launch campaigns faster, personalize smarter and prove your marketing ROI? Discover the power of a modern DXP.
Watch Now
Webinar
On demand
Rebrand. Migrate. Optimize. How to Do It All (Without Slowing Down)
Cresta leveled up site speed, design flexibility and marketer sanity (in record time). Find out how.
Watch Now
Brittany Hodak’s 2025 CMSWire Articles
A look at the themes Brittany Hodak explored in 2025 — spanning emotional engagement, CX leadership, AI readiness and the moments that turn customers into superfans.
| Article | Core Focus |
|---|---|
| The Modern CMO’s Superpower: Stories in a Data-Driven World | Why storytelling remains a critical leadership skill even as data and AI reshape marketing |
| The Evolving Role of CMOs: What to Expect in 2025 | How CMO responsibilities are expanding beyond marketing into experience and growth leadership |
| AI in Customer Experience: Are Your Teams Ready? | Preparing CX teams for AI adoption without losing human connection |
| AI and Human Teams: Smarter Contact Centers and Better Customer Service | Blending automation and empathy in modern service organizations |
| The Art of Balancing Data and Creativity: Building Brands That Connect | Why creativity remains essential even in highly data-driven organizations |
| Predict Customer Needs With Weather Data and Sentiment Analysis | Using contextual signals to anticipate customer expectations |
| The ACE Rule: Empowering Every Employee as Acting Chief of Experience | Making experience everyone’s responsibility, not just a CX team mandate |
| When Customer Service Becomes a Brand Moment | How support interactions shape long-term brand perception |
| The New Rules of Customer Loyalty: Connection Over Convenience | Why emotional connection is overtaking traditional loyalty drivers |
| Why CMOs Must Treat Emotional Engagement as a Core Growth Lever | Positioning emotional engagement as a measurable business advantage |
| Why Composable Digital Experiences Turn Customers Into Superfans | How flexible DX architectures support loyalty and advocacy |
How One Proactive Moment Can Redefine a Brand
As Hodak notes, a single action can turn a frustrated customer into an advocate, sparking word-of-mouth interest and trust far beyond the original interaction.
This is the ACE mindset in action. One person, empowered to act as an Acting Chief of Experience, can transform a transactional moment into a story worth sharing.
For leaders, the takeaway is simple but demanding: experience is built in moments, not systems. When teams are trained, trusted and expected to do the right thing — especially when it’s not the easiest thing — brands don’t just retain customers. They earn loyalty, advocacy and credibility that no dashboard can fully measure.
As Hodak puts it, marketing becomes effortless when caring is genuine. The stories customers tell do the work for you.
