CX Lavender CEO says industry is too focused on ‘extraction of customer value’
“The market has been distracted by the customer marketing metrics rather than actual point, which is customer value creation,” said Adam Washington, speaking to Mumbrella about CX Lavender’s recent repositioning.
Washington took over the reigns of the agency from founder Will Lavender in August, taking on the newly created role of CEO just four months before CX Lavender celebrated its 25th anniversary.
Washington joined CX Lavender as the agency’s first CEO in August
Since joining the agency, Washington has pointed CX Lavender toward value creation for customers and a full service CX offering, taking to market the new platform: ‘We Make Stuff For People’.
He told Mumbrella that the industry has become too focused on metrics in the seven years since CX Lavender entered the customer experience space.
“What we’ve seen that time is that yes, everyone has focused on customer because it’s the past growth. But, it’s actually led a lot of the market to kind of focus on the wrong kind of customer value – like on the extraction or collation of customer value. The market has focused on how much we can keep them clicking, and keep them scrolling and keep them engaged, how we can average revenue, how much we can drive average lifetime and cross sell,” he said.
“So, for us the rebrand is a reminder, really, to the market that we shouldn’t just be focused on customer for the sake of marketing outcomes. W need to make amazing experiences and products and services for people. That’s actually the point, and then the marketing metrics will follow.”
Washington added that he is focused on expanding CX Lavender’s research capability, being of the belief that “all great problems starts with the right insight”.
He plans bring a number of changes to the agency, including training for all staff and new hires in ethnographic research.
The changes will be supported by the agency’s leadership team, with Craig Page joining the agency from VMLYR&R as chief strategy officer in June.
While Washington is the new captain of the ship, he has asked also Lavender to remain involved in the business in an advisory role, praising the legacy the agency’s founder has built over the past quart century.
“25 years is a milestone, but it really is even more so as an independent,” said Washington, “Lavender has always very intentionally made that decision to stay independent. There’s been many years in history where it could have gone the other way, and I think it’s the it’s the spirit of independence that probably makes the work special as well.”
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