Thank you. Hi, everybody.
I want to start off by asking you to think about the most valuable thing you've ever put into your checked luggage. For me, it was a bottle of wine, which I wrapped in bubble wrap and duct tape before throwing it into my suitcase. I assumed everything would be fine.
Most of us assume our checked luggage—whether it contains jewelry, electronics, or something else valuable—will arrive in the same state we left it. A few years ago, a musician named Dave Carroll made the same assumption about his 710 Taylor guitar when he checked it onto a United Airlines flight.
United Breaks Guitars
Dave is a professional musician, and his guitar was incredibly important to him. He didn’t just rely on bubble wrap and duct tape; he protected it with a sturdy case before placing it on the plane. His journey started out well enough.
Then, during a layover, Dave and his bandmates were sitting on the plane, looking out the window, when a woman behind them yelled, "Oh my God, are they throwing guitars out there?"
Yes, they were. And one of those guitars was Dave’s beloved Taylor.
He immediately got up to tell a flight attendant what was happening. She told him, "I'm sorry, I can't help you. You'll need to speak to the lead agent." The lead agent turned out to be the acting lead agent, who directed him to someone inside the terminal. That person told him to speak to the ground crew at his final destination in Omaha.
By the time he landed in Omaha, it was after midnight. The airport was nearly empty, and Dave was exhausted. He went to his hotel, got some sleep, and headed to soundcheck the next day. When he opened his guitar case, his Taylor was broken.
The Customer Service Nightmare
For a musician, this is a bad day. But for Dave, it was just the beginning of a much worse experience. He spent the next nine months cycling through customer service hell—exchanging emails, making phone calls, sending faxes—only to get nowhere.
At one point, he even gave up on getting the full $3,500 value of his guitar. He offered to accept just $1,200 in flight vouchers to cover the repair costs. United refused. They were done.
Dave came to a harsh realization: United’s customer service seemed designed to frustrate people into giving up before their issues were resolved. Whether or not that was their actual intent, one thing is certain—if any marketers had been involved in Dave’s customer service experience, they would have been horrified. And if they had known what was coming next, they would have been terrified.
United Breaks Guitars: The Song
Dave is a talented musician. So, instead of continuing to fight United, he wrote a song called United Breaks Guitars. And we're going to hear the chorus right now.
(Video Plays)
It’s catchy, right? This song is going to be stuck in your head for the rest of the day. You’re welcome.
That video has now been viewed over 16 million times on YouTube alone. Dave has been featured on The View, CNN, and in the Chicago Tribune. He even wrote a book called United Breaks Guitars and gives keynote addresses all over the world. This is a disaster for United.
Marketing is No Longer What We Say—It's What They Say
This might seem like a customer service story, but it's also a marketing story. Marketing is no longer just what we say about our brands and products. Marketing is what customers say about us when we’re not in the room.
And marketing doesn’t just happen externally. It happens inside our organizations as well.
Today’s marketing landscape is complex. The paths customers take to engage with us are increasing all the time. The process is far more conversational and two-way than ever before. A siloed marketing team executing against a rigid, multi-year plan is as effective as me trying to assemble an IKEA bookshelf without instructions—blindfolded. It just doesn’t work.
In this new reality, Agile marketing is our only hope.
Three Reasons Agile Marketing is Essential
There are many reasons why Agile marketing is necessary, but I want to focus on three:
- Agile marketing helps mend our fractured relationship with the C-suite.
- It enables audience-centered marketing—the only kind that truly matters.
- It helps marketers stay sane in an increasingly chaotic environment.
Marketing’s Relationship with the C-Suite
Because marketing spans so many touchpoints, we need the trust of our bosses. They need to believe we’re doing the right work at the right time. Right now, we don’t have that trust.
A recent survey of hundreds of CEOs revealed that:
- 80% are unimpressed with what marketing is doing.
- 73% think we lack credibility because we can’t directly prove marketing’s impact on the bottom line.
- 77% think we focus on the wrong metrics in meetings.
As a result, the “HiPPO” (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion) often dominates marketing meetings. If the CEO has an idea, we execute it—regardless of whether it’s a good idea—because we need their support.
The Impact of Poor Marketing
When we operate this way, we produce brand-centered marketing that alienates our audience. People trust their friends and family far more than they trust marketing messages. Consumer confidence in brands has plummeted—from 52% in 1997 to just 22% in 2008. This is a problem.
Agile Marketing as the Solution
The good news is that we can fix this. The issue isn’t marketers or marketing itself—it’s the way we’re doing it.
Studies confirm that Agile marketing works:
- 87% of Agile marketing teams report increased productivity.
- They can prioritize the right work at the right time.
- They can deliver campaigns, ideas, and products faster.
So why isn’t every marketing team adopting Agile?
Many marketers still find Agile intimidating. Scrum Masters, burndown charts, WIP limits—these concepts can feel overwhelming. But the reality is, you don’t have to be perfect. My first Agile marketing team had no idea what we were doing. If there were Scrum Police, we would have been arrested. But we approached it with the right mindset, iterated quickly, and saw huge improvements.
Conclusion
The scope, speed, and complexity of marketing will only continue to grow. Agile marketing isn’t a trend—it’s common sense. It’s the only way to keep up. The alternative? Marketing that is incoherent, irrelevant, and—if your audience includes musicians—potentially disastrous for your brand.
Thank you.