The Marketing Millennials, Ep. 351

Guest: Brian Bez, Senior CRM Lead at Samsung
Host: Daniel Murray
Date: September 24, 2025
Theme: Email, SMS, and CRM Playbook

Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the evolving CRM (Customer Relationship Management) landscape, focusing on how leading brands like Samsung orchestrate their owned channels—email, SMS, push notifications, and beyond—to create unified, profitable customer journeys. Daniel Murray and Brian Bez unpack the realities of running CRM at scale, actionable playbooks for lifecycle marketing, and the rising role of AI and compliance. The discussion brims with no-nonsense strategies, specific tech stacks, and hard-earned lessons.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Value of CRM as an Owned Channel

• CRM vs. Paid Media

  • Brian highlights the contrast between paid strategies and CRM’s direct, opt-in nature.
  • Quote:

    “It’s owned media, because it’s the hand raisers that have said I want to deal with this brand... It makes it really easy for us to communicate because we know what the signals are, we know what motivates these advocates.”
    — Brian Bez [02:30]

  • Paid media is “nebulous,” while CRM lets you nurture relationships with people who want to hear from you.

• The CRM Ecosystem Today

  • CRM has expanded from just email to a multi-touchpoint system that includes SMS, push, web push, etc.
  • The focus is on using these in a coordinated, non-repetitive manner to avoid overwhelming the customer.

2. Orchestrating the Modern Customer Journey

• Multi-Channel Messaging

  • The “unlock”: orchestrating email, push, and SMS to create a unified journey.
  • Quote:

    “When we get all of them to work in unison... we see the best results, as well as using retargeting as a part of the ecosystem.”
    — Brian Bez [03:45]

• Journey Segmentation & Personalization

  • Journeys are tailored by product category (e.g., mobile, TV, appliances) and customer behavior.
  • Progressive profiling: The more interactions, the more tailored and relevant the messaging becomes.
  • Quote:

    “If you’re interested in our brand from one line of business, you may be interested in others. And we are trying to determine what your preferences are…”
    — Brian Bez [04:15]

• Data-Driven Personalization

  • Personalization is both art and science—using owned and third-party tools like Movable Ink to dynamically alter content based on actual purchase and interest signals.
  • Lifecycle messaging considers natural upgrade windows (e.g., 5–7 years for refrigerators, 2 years for phones), not just immediate intent.

3. Retargeting & Reactivation Tactics

• Non-Converters and Customer Buckets

  • Multi-step strategy for engaging people who visit but don’t purchase:
    • Remail: Resend with new subject lines to increase open rates.
    • Category retargeting: Target based on site behavior, not just abandoned carts.
    • Churn/reactivation flows: Tailored campaigns for lapsed or cold subscribers.
  • Quote:

    “If we do get them to click and they go to the dot com and they’re not buying, but they engage with content, that’s where the retargeting strategy comes in.”
    — Brian Bez [09:10]

• Audience Enrichment for Paid Media

  • CRM audiences are shared with paid teams to build custom audiences for digital advertising, hedging against platform signal loss.

4. Compliance and AI in CRM

• Changing Rules & Guardrails

  • New privacy laws, especially in Europe and the US, are tightening what brands can do with customer data.
  • Over-engagement and “dark practices” (unethical nudging) are under scrutiny.
  • Quote:

    “There are now a lot more guardrails being implemented... We’re becoming more familiar with what that means and [the] implications...”
    — Brian Bez [11:20]

• The Rise of AI

  • Agentic AI is expected to deepen predictive segmentation and automate next-best-offer logic, creative iteration, and overall efficiency.
  • Brian is personally studying AI policy and believes the future lies in “stewardship marketing”—less surveillance, more transparency.
  • Quote:

    “We’re actually moving from surveillance capitalism to... stewardship marketing—customer centric, preservation of your private data... more transparent in terms of price transparency, no dynamic pricing, and less of the nudging.”
    — Brian Bez [14:38]

5. Tech Stack & Favorite Tools

• Key Platforms Mentioned
  • Wunderkind: Identification and retargeting for anonymous web visitors (Tactic: recover lost revenue via email/SMS outreach).
  • Movable Ink: Dynamic, personalized content modules in email and retargeting.
  • Tableau: For ingesting and analyzing CRM data.
  • Agencies as Extensions: Value comes from collaboration, intelligence, and challenge—not commoditized services.
  • Quote:

    “Removable [Movable] Ink... has been a game changer for us because we don’t have to create 100 versions... dynamic propensities... bring in that dynamic content.”
    — Brian Bez [19:23]

6. Agency Partnerships

• What Makes a Great Partner
  • Seamless communication and continuous skill sharpening.
  • Agencies are expected to act as an “extension of the team.”
  • Quote:

    “Are you an extension of our team? Are you helping us lift and grow and challenging us as well?”
    — Brian Bez [21:05]

7. Seasonality & Preparing for the Holidays

• Start Early, Plan for Uncertainty
  • Begin campaigns earlier, especially with this year’s uncertainty (e.g., tariffs, supply chain).
  • Build flexibility with extra “KDPs” (campaigns), prioritize top products and offers, and watch consumer sentiment closely.
  • Quote:

    “If your targets for this year are far and above higher than it was the year before... you need to start earlier... build in some additional campaigns prior to that in the event that your CRM revenue may be a little soft.”
    — Brian Bez [24:00]

8. The Hill to Die On: Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)

• CLTV (and supporting metrics, like purchase frequency) should drive campaign and strategy planning.
• Many brands neglect this metric, focusing too much on acquisition, not retention.
• Quote:

  “It’s not anything new... but a lot of brands aren’t leveraging it or even know where their CLTV calculus is. And I keep having to reinforce that again and again.”
  — Brian Bez [26:35]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• The CRM Mindset:

  “I love CRM and I think this is where I’m going to be for a while.”
  — Brian Bez [12:55]

• Personalization in Action:

  “I may have bought a frame TV, you may have bought a bespoke AI refrigerator... we will see complementary information about those products that we currently own.”
  — Brian Bez [06:45]

• The Agency Grind:

  “If I survived fashion for a decade, I could survive anything... Samsung was my client... And I didn’t find the account that challenging; I found them to be smart, knowledgeable, and they just wanted good work from us.”
  — Brian Bez [22:37]

• Holiday Readiness:

  “Start building those gift guides now and start deploying them now to get a sense of interaction.”
  — Brian Bez [24:30]

• The CLTV Rant:

  “If you build the right type of mousetrap... you will have those customers coming back and really advocating for your brand because they love the experience, not just the product.”
  — Brian Bez [29:40]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:53–03:16 | The shift from paid to owned media & CRM’s unique value
• 03:16–04:18 | The rise of multi-channel orchestration
• 04:37–05:54 | Journey design & personalized flows
• 06:11–07:52 | Personalization strategy—signals, feedback, and tools
• 08:44–10:53 | Retargeting, win-back, and segmentation for non-converters
• 11:07–11:52 | Data sharing with paid media and compliance trends
• 13:39–16:27 | AI in CRM, agentic AI, and stewardship marketing
• 18:08–20:00 | Favorite tech stack tools; agency collaboration
• 23:58–25:51 | CRM strategies for holidays, tariffs, and starting early
• 26:17–29:40 | “Marketing hill to die on”: CLTV, retention vs. acquisition

Conclusion & Contact Details

Brian closes by reaffirming his passion for CRM and the power of focusing on data-driven, customer-centric, and compliant strategies—especially as new tools and AI come to the fore. Listeners can connect with him on LinkedIn (Brian R. Bez at Samsung).

For marketers looking to supercharge their CRM playbook, this episode delivers a goldmine of actionable insights, battle-tested tactics, and candid industry perspective.