Few thoughts on this topic:

It's all about scale and proximity. Lots of things work REALLY well and make LOTS OF SENSE for small brands, SMEs, one-person brands, etc. The 'Customers want conversations with brands' is one of those things. It looks really good on a keynote slide over a high-res photo. But it's just not a generality. You have to unpack it.

What is a conversation? Back & forth in the comment box Facebook? People sharing your hashtag/meme? Good customer service via Twitter? A 30s video that's gone viral after 15M$ of paid media? UGC in an Instagram contest? An influencer campaign? Are we conversing?

Actual talking - human to human - is rare. And usually happens at small scale. Conversations are important for restaurants, skate shops or tattoo artists - where there are real people who benefit from the exchange - much less for a CPG brand where every bit of external communication is outsourced or automatized and never makes it back to the team.