Setup Blog

Setup CEO + Founder, Joe Koufman, sat down with Don McGuire, the EVP and Chief Marketing Officer for Qualcomm, to talk about seizing the moment of opportunity, empathetic leadership, Louis Vuitton, and more. 

The annual Setup Marketing Relationship Survey reveals a growing disconnect between what clients say ends agency relationships (delivery + value) and what agencies think ends them (budget cuts + leadership changes). If you want stronger partnerships and better outcomes in 2026, this report highlights exactly where relationships break and how to fix them.

Setup CEO + Founder, Joe Koufman, sat down with Brett Hannath, the Corporate VP, Global Marketing of Intel, to talk problem solving, transparent leadership, the bricks-and-mortar experience, and more. 

Joe Koufman, author of The Connector’s Compass and Founder + CEO of Setup, shares his passion behind relationship building and why he wrote a book centered around people pursuing more meaningful connections.

Over the past year, we’ve watched the following patterns emerge across seemingly unrelated sectors: rising consumer expectations, demand for authenticity, growing complexity, and the tension between automation and human connection. 

We interviewed multiple marketers from an array of industries in our blogs below, and we discovered consistent trends across the board. Check out all of our industry blogs throughout 2025 from leaders at Blackbaud, Hiscox USA, Mimedx, MONPURE, Kimberly-Clark Professional, and more.

A call for marketers and agencies to participate in the 2025 Marketing Relationship Survey, before it’s too late.

On November 19, 2025, Atlanta’s vibrant marketing community united under one roof for the first-ever Atlanta Integrated Marketing Summit (AIMS) — a remarkable experience that turned inspiration into action, focused on meaningful connections, and highlighted incredible leaders from UPS, Kellanova, Edible Brands, and Papa Johns who are actively pushing the industry forward.

Explore the denim duel between AE’s Sydney Sweeney campaign and Gap’s Milkshake-fueled comeback—and what marketers can learn.

Most agency searches begin with urgency: a priority shift, a launch date appears, and suddenly, you’re writing an RFP at midnight. In that scramble, you invite too many firms, ask the wrong questions, and end up choosing based on pitch theater instead of day-to-day fit. The fix isn’t a better RFP template. It’s time - specifically, the time you spend getting to know agencies before you need one.

Marketers are grappling with how to make their strategy feel more impactful and human in 2025, but in the nonprofit world, that challenge comes with the added pressure of limited budgets and expansive missions. For Lynn Godfrey, Chief Experience Officer at Blood Cancer United, the solution lies in staying intentional, deeply segmenting audiences, and adapting quickly in a constantly evolving landscape.