Setup Blog

In the five-minute TV segment about The Connector’s Compass: Navigate Your Way to Meaningful Relationships, I had the chance to explain something that has shaped my career for more than 30 years. Real connection is not about working a room. It is about caring about the person in front of you.

That message did not start with the book. It started with Setup.

Designing for real life means embedding authenticity across the entire customer journey — from product to service to story — in ways that remove friction and deliver measurable and meaningful results.

Marti Walsh, the VP of Customer Experience and Marketing at Kimberly-Clark Professional, shares what it means to be an authentic leader and how to optimize operations honorably.

In the last six years, we’ve surveyed thousands of brands and agencies about their relationships. Each year, the data tells the story that brands want a partner they can rely on, but finding that partner often is difficult, expensive, and time consuming. 

Read what brands are looking for in the perfect agency partner.

Setup’s 2025 Marketing Relationship Survey gives marketers a rare, honest look into what brands and agencies say is working and what quietly destroys partnerships.

The truth is that relationships fail because of patterns, mistakes that pile up over time, even after multiple warnings. So here are the most common red flags and green flags in the agency-client relationship based on what real marketers are telling us.

Setup CEO + Founder, Joe Koufman, sat down with Gabie Boko, the Chief Marketing Officer for NetApp, to talk about staying consumer focused, being bold, and loving the LEGO brand. 

Super Bowl LX showcased brands pushing weight loss drugs, AI, and utilizing celebrities to an absurd amount (what’s new?), as well as another “Minions" movie in theaters (surprised but not shocked). Every marketer weighs in on who won their hearts…and this year, for us, it came down to brands that leaned into storytelling that included nostalgia and emotion, specifically with a human lens.

And if you’ve ever been blindsided by a brand-agency breakup (from either side), you’re not alone. The 2025 Marketing Relationship Survey shows something that’s both surprising and painfully familiar:

Brands aren’t racing to leave… but they’re also not thrilled.

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.