This is your go-to podcast for all things marketing, branding, and customer experience. We’re bringing you honest and fun conversations with bite-sized insights. Hosted by BrightSign’s CMO Brian Rowley and Head of Integrated Marketing Laura Smith, you’ll hear from industry pros, creatives, and innovators about what’s actually working in today’s evolving, digital-first world. No fluff — just real insights on how brands are connecting with audiences and driving growth. Tune in for fresh ideas, big thinking, and all the tips you need to take your marketing game to the next level.
Consumers are getting better at tuning out brands, and marketers may have themselves to blame. After years of pushing more content across more channels, the fight for attention has become increasingly difficult. So how can brands break through when audiences are more selective than ever about what deserves their focus?
In this episode of Prose + Comms: Engagement, Unplugged, Brian Rowley and Laura Smith explore the growing attention recession and what it means for marketing strategy. They discuss how brands have contributed to content overload, the impact of AI on an already crowded landscape, and whether traditional brand awareness metrics reflect meaningful engagement. They also put popular marketing tactics to the test and examine how relevance can help brands capture attention and build stronger connections with consumers.
30 Sept 2026
Return to Office, Revisited: What Do We Lose When We Don’t Work Together?
The return-to-office debate often gets framed around productivity. But what if productivity isn’t the real issue? This episode takes on the harder questions about what remote work can cost companies when it comes to culture, learning, and loyalty.
Brian and Laura revisit their case for flexible work with Steve Connelly, founder and president of Connelly Partners, who brings a different perspective to the conversation. They debate whether employees can develop as effectively from behind a screen and how in-person connection can influence professional growth and business performance. Along the way, they find some common ground on hybrid work, early-career employees, and the responsibility both leaders and employees have for building a successful organization.
If you'd like to hear more from Steve Connelly, you can find him on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-connelly-7252376/).
16 Sept 2026
Are Brainstorms Broken? Rethinking Creativity and Collaboration
Brainstorming has a branding problem. Put the word on a calendar invite and you can almost hear the collective groan. Too often, the way teams approach brainstorming gets in the way of the ideas they are trying to generate.
On this episode of Prose + Comms: Engagement, Unplugged, Laura and Brian unpack what makes traditional brainstorming fall flat and what can make collaborative problem-solving more productive. They explore the role of strong facilitation, preparation, and team dynamics, along with different ways to structure creative thinking so more people can contribute. From navigating dominant voices and different working styles to deciding where AI belongs in the creative process, the conversation makes the case for evolving brainstorming rather than abandoning it.
Who has been a guest on Prose + Comms: Engagement, Unplugged
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Bob Osmond
Alesia Hendley
Bryan Meszaros
Jez Rose
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
6 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
4 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 21 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
29
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
32
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