UNCX
Welcome.
UNCX is a newsletter exploring the transformations sweeping our experience and service world. I publish essays, interviews, reports, videos and deep dives on the overlapping realms of consumer behaviours, technology, branding and culture. In doing so, my unique approach is to get out of the usual lanes and cross disciplines, social silos and cultural boundaries. From consumer wants to artificial intelligence and the future of experiences, marketing and brand strategy, I seek a different, more nuanced understanding of experience strategy.
The consumer is the most disruptive link in today’s chain of new tech, AI, and brands.
Our biggest disruption today isn’t inside the organisation. It’s from outside, from consumers. The Disruptive Consumer.
We’ve seen so much behavioural change, it’s no wonder we struggle to meet our customers' needs head-on. The only viable option is to focus on understanding. I hope my thinking helps.
No old playbooks or bullshit from the bubble factory that distracts and disguises and sustains a dysfunctional status quo.
No magic wands, hyperspace missions, or moonshots to save humanity, I’m afraid, though.
If you’re curious about new CX models, thinking and strategies, and how social forces - the ways we work, play, spend money and use technology - are dramatically challenging brands and are changing consumer behaviours, then join the other decision-makers, founders, C-level executives and thought leaders wanting to reshape the modern CX landscape and questioning the established truths here.
I highlight the rise of "Consumorphosis," where consumers’ are identity fluid and context-dependent, and brands must make connections with aspirations rather than solely functional needs.
The traditional playbooks, our lack of understanding of consumers, and our relevance to consumers are breaking brand loyalty. I want to rebuild anew.
And the best news?
It’s all free.
No BS, self-promotion, jargon and hidden agendas.
Straight talk and thinking that will make you smarter and inspired.
UNCX is read by hundreds monthly.
If your thinking has stalled, you’ve run out of ideas, you don’t understand your customers anymore, or you're wondering why following the traditional playbook isn’t working, this may be for you.
Subscribe, and you’ll become part of a community of readers who like to think more deeply and widely about CX than the average tweeter.
What you won’t get
A stream of formulaic and predictably forgettable content. If you want the standard fare of how-tos, I can point you to hundreds of places where you can. But you won’t get this here.
What you will get
A weekly (mostly!) deep dive tackling one or two key topics.
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A weekend UNCX, more lighthearted and a little eclectic, curating the best, funniest, imaginative or new thinking I find in my travels across the web and with clients.
Together, a mix of original thinking, reflections on consumer culture and branding, and a selection of ideas, including at least one or two moments of pure genius. (Occasionally!)
If you’re interested, here are a few things you can do to get up to speed:
First, why not check out a couple of the most-read posts from the archive - good background starters:
CX has become the Slow Decay Of the extraordinary
So many brands have reached a glass ceiling in the effectiveness and quality of their customer experience and engagement. The evidence: a widening gap between the quality of experiences businesses think they deliver compared to what consumers say they are getting; a ten-year low in customer satisfaction; a mismatch betwee…
The Consumer Wars
The Consumer Wars A clash of tech-fueled convenience, attention-grabbing media, relentless distraction, and a dramatic shift in consumer thinking about almost everything means many in CX have lost sight of their consumer’s motivations. It’s not that we stopped trying; we stopped understanding. That’s why we struggle to match consumers’ needs as they disr…
Second, connect with me on LinkedIn.
Third, you can follow me on Twitter.
You’ll join a network of readers who matter and think it matters.
Please share this newsletter, your feedback, and anything else. Especially what you want to hear more or less of.
The Newsletter (a long read every 1-2 weeks) and the Weekend Brunch (every weekend, interesting vids, thinking, and ideas.
Thanks in advance for your support!
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Hi, I’m Michael.
British, living between Athens and London. Three decades of executive leadership in CX, working across four continents, many brands, and more than 100 million consumers.
I’m a CX, tech and behavioural nerd. An author (a book that was on Amazon but that was pulled by the publisher about five years ago - maybe it bombed?), a writer (including a stint for the UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph, as a diarist), curious (with a recent certificate in Digital Behavioural Economics), and a certified (ICF) leadership coach (and I work with CX leaders and teams, senior business leaders).
Also, I’m an average private pilot, tennis nut, and good chess player. It should be the reverse, but my directional sense is bloody awful!
