Contents

Who is Bozoma Saint John? 01

Good messaging is good storytelling 03

Lesson 1: Pop culture connects us 04

Finding and creating trends 06

Lesson 2: Pay closer attention to the present 07

Go bold 09
Lesson 3: Bring your full self 10

Build your network 12

Lesson 4: Lead with your taste and insight 13

Lesson 5: Alignment is the death of good ideas 15

Lesson 6: “Who do I like better?” is a faulty hiring metric 17

Boz marketing 101 20

Lesson 7: The rise (and power) of influencer marketing 21

All brands are human 23

Age of the celebrity executive 24

Lesson 8: It’s all about personalization 25

“Bold as Boz” action steps 27

Who is Bozoma
Saint John?
“Regardless of the company I work for or the
environments that I’m in, I’m coming in as my full self.”

Bozoma Saint John

Meet Bozoma Saint John. You may also call her “Badass Boz.” Or just “Boz” for short.

She is the Global Chief Marketing Officer at Netflix and one of the most famous names in
the modern marketing industry.

Boz’s career began in her early twenties at Spike DDB, Spike Lee’s marketing agency.
Over the years, she’s worked with brands like PepsiCo, Apple Music & iTunes, Uber, and
Endeavor. And today she serves on multiple boards, including Girls Who Code, Verizon
Media, and Vital Voices.

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 01
Her memoir, The Urgent Life, will be published by Viking Press in 2022. She regularly
appears in many TV shows, magazines, and popular podcasts—and in 2020, Boz hosted
her own podcast with co-host Katie Couric.

Oh, and Boz once led a short intensive program for MBA students at Harvard Business
School. Can you guess the subject?

“Anatomy of a Badass.” #SignMeUp

In other words, Boz is a brilliant marketer who has worked with some of the most
exciting brands in the world. We created this guide to highlight a handful of our favorite
lessons from Boz about marketing and leadership.

Ready to dive in? Here we go!

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Good messaging is
good storytelling

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 03
1 Pop culture
connects us

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 04
 “Storytelling can change perception
across cultures.”
Bozoma Saint John

When Boz was 12, her family moved from Ghana to Colorado Springs, Colorado. She
explains that many things—including race, nationality, language, and food—separated
Boz from her fellow classmates.

But despite their differences, Boz says there was one thing everyone shared in common:
pop culture.

Storytelling, music, fashion, sports. “That’s why I love marketing. It’s all about
storytelling and making connections between people who may not otherwise see their
connections.”

Pop culture connects people across their differences. It’s a shared experience, a shared
story. That’s why pop culture has become such a powerful marketing force—and a
magnet for large brands.

Your favorite musician drinks a Pepsi product. An athlete who inspires you also wears
Nike. Brands insert themselves into pop culture so that they become part of the larger
story and latest fashion.

While listening to several interviews in the course of putting together this guide,
we came across two recurring themes throughout Boz’s career: The first, as we’ve
discussed, is pop culture and entertainment as a form of connection. The second is
advocating for women and people of color in the workplace. These two threads are
closely tied across Boz’s work.

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 05
Finding and
creating trends

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 06
2 Pay closer attention to
the present

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 07
 Source: OMR Festival

Boz is endlessly curious about people. Her deep curiosity is one of the reasons she
became a marketer in the first place.

When Boz worked at PepsiCo, she says her team regularly worked on marketing plans
that stretched three to five years into the future. They were trying to figure out what
would happen next, attempting to predict future trends. Boz says, “If you try to do that
today, you’re probably going to fail.”

It’s no longer about looking to the future. The world—and trends—are moving too
quickly. Instead, Boz says it’s better to simply pay closer attention to what’s happening
at this moment. What conversations are happening? What’s in the air that hasn’t yet
become a massive trend?

“It doesn’t work to sit in your office and read reports. You have to go. Go to the game. Go
to the concert. Go to the art exhibit. Have an uncomfortable conversation about politics.
And talk to people who disagree with you,” advises Boz. That’s where the trends are
discovered. Don’t try to predict the future. Just pay closer attention to what’s happening
around you today.

“I can people-watch with the best of them.”

Bozoma Saint John

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 08
Go bold

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 09
3 Bring your full self

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 10
“If one molecule enters a matter, the whole matter
changes. And I’m that molecule that changes matter.”

Bozoma Saint John

Boz is a powerhouse.

Bold clothes and hair. Bright makeup and flashy nails. Boz isn’t
afraid to draw attention when she enters a room.

John Molner (co-founder and CEO of Katie Couric Media)

asked Boz about the best advice she’s received in her career.

Boz flipped the question on its head. “I’ve probably benefited most from bad advice,”
she said. Early in Boz’s career, an unnamed person told her, “never wear red lipstick
or red nail polish in the office because it would signal something that I didn’t want to
communicate.”

Boz was young and internalized the advice. Except to her, it meant something deeper:
don’t show up as your full self. “I liked the bright bold colors. It felt like armor. [The
advice] meant: don’t show up in a bold way. Don’t show up in a way that will cause
attention.”

“Today, I still walk into rooms and there is a visceral reaction. People stop, turn, and
consider me before I even say one word,” Boz said. “I have benefited most from that
piece of advice because I went in the complete opposite way.”

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The point isn’t (necessarily) to wear bright colors or own a room with your charisma.
The point is that you bring your unique skills, perspective, and quirks to everything you
do. There’s courage and boldness in that simple act.

Susan Cain, the author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop
Talking, says: “Some of the greatest ideas, art, and inventions—from the theory of
evolution to van Gogh’s sunflowers to the personal computer—came from quiet and
cerebral people who knew how to tune in to their inner worlds and the treasures to be
found there.”

Build your network

When you show up as your full self, you become an avatar for the ideas you bring to the
table. In other words, bringing your full self to work makes you a magnet for people
who are interested in exploring those ideas.

Boz’s perspective, ideas, and confidence have helped her grow a powerful network. You
see this in her celebrity contacts with the likes of Drake and Mary J. Blige.

Becoming an avatar for certain ideas has also helped Boz become a popular speaker.
She explores topics that connect with a lot of people, in ways that feel transparent and
inspire confidence in listeners.

It all starts with bringing her full self to her work.

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 12
4 Lead with your taste
and insight

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 13
 Source: Pepsi Superbowl commercial 2013

At age 24, Boz was an assistant to Spike Lee at Lee’s agency, Spike DDB. Spike Lee was
trying to win the opportunity to produce Pepsi’s commercials. Lee asked several people
at the agency which figures from pop culture they most admired and thought were
exciting.

Everyone talked about the people at the top of the charts, the best sports athletes, and
other big names. Meanwhile, Boz had her eye on an underdog. In 2002, shortly after
becoming a solo artist following her career in Destiny’s Child, Beyoncé was not the
world renowned artist she is today.

Boz noticed that Beyoncé was taking risks and that she had a great voice and look.
But the idea wasn’t as obvious to everyone else at Spike DDP. Boz explained, “It’s one
of those moments when everyone looks at you like you’re the stupidest person on the
planet.” But Spike Lee took Boz’s advice.

Beyoncé became the new face of Pepsi for that year and for many future Pepsi
campaigns, including a Superbowl ad in 2013—the same year Beyoncé performed the
halftime show.

“For me, at that moment at 24 years old, Spike—someone who I really respected, who
had many accolades—asked my opinion. He took my advice, acted on it, and it ended up
being successful. That solidified for me that my age and experience didn’t matter. If you
go with your gut—lead with your taste and insight—you would always win. And I have
trusted that ever since.”

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5 Alignment is the death
of good ideas

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 15
 Source: Brandia Games

During Boz’s first four months at Netflix, Gary Vee asked her about their workplace
culture. One of the key takeaways was that she described the team as “empowered
people.” Rather than working as a standard corporate hierarchy, “There are empowered
people within the company doing what they do, because they’re the best at what they
do. This empowerment leads to freedom for them to actually make changes and make
decisions about the business in ways that I’ve never seen before.”

The common alternative to empowerment is alignment.

Writers, artists, and designers might know “alignment” by another phrase: creativity by
committee. Rather than letting one smart person run with a creative idea, a group of
people get together to bring life to a Frankenstein version of the same idea.

It’s good to know when group decision making is beneficial vs. when it sucks all the life
out of a creative idea. This is when “alignment is the death of good ideas.”

In other words, why would you hire people you don’t empower?

If someone has to ask permission for everything they do, you’re not using them to the
best of their ability.

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 16
6 “Who do I like better?” is
a faulty hiring metric

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 17
Boz has often been asked what Black people and people of color should do to move
higher in corporate America. She believes this is the wrong question; it’s going after the
wrong issue.

“To me, the issue is not the desire, the talent, the vision,
or the smarts of Black people who are trying to make
it in corporate America. The issue is in the rooms that
already exist, the people who are holding those seats
for themselves and not for anybody else. It’s their
responsibility to make space and be inclusive.

One of the interesting things about hiring is the

assumption that if you like somebody—or if you could get
a coffee with somebody—that that person will be your
greatest colleague. If you have two resumes that match
up in validity for a role, usually it comes down to who the
person hiring likes better. Who do they get along with
best? But the answer to that question is pretty simple: the
person who looks like you.

That is not enough. Business leaders need to get

uncomfortable. And so they need to stop hiring
themselves.”

Bozoma Saint John

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 18
If asking yourself “Which candidate will I get along with the best?” isn’t the right
question when hiring, then what is?

Here are some alternatives:

Which candidate would challenge our organization in new ways?
Which candidate would most likely catch our current blindspots?
Which candidate would bring out the best in their colleagues?
Which candidate would bring the most unique perspective to our company decisions?

There are many ways to determine which candidate is right for a leadership role.
According to Boz, “Who could I see myself grabbing a beer with?” isn’t one of them.

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 19
Finding and
creating trends
Let’s snag some rapid-fire marketing tips from Boz.

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 20
7 The rise (and power) of
influencer marketing

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 21
There’s a lot of excitement around influencer marketing. But as Boz pointed out in an
interview with Gary Vee, influencers don’t always look like the people we expect.

As Boz explains, “Influencers are not just the cool kids. Influencers are the closest to the
heat… True influence is about having knowledge within a particular subject matter.”

If you want to use influencer marketing for your company, don’t just look for the
flashiest person with the biggest following. Partner with the people who are already
connecting with your target customers.

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 22
All brands are human

Source: Apple Music

One of Bozoma Saint John’s most famous campaigns at Apple featured Taylor Swift
singing loudly to Drake’s song “Jumpman” while running on a treadmill. Swift gets
really into the song, throwing her arms in the air and singing loudly… until she falls and
faceplants on the treadmill.

The Apple Music ad went viral and garnered massive shares and media attention for the
brand. It turns out, seeing the unflashy, human side of our favorite celebrities has big
appeal.

Why does influencer marketing work so well? It’s because people connect with other
people. Influencer marketing is powerful because it allows emotion and empathy to
come across in marketing.

Boz explains, “All of us are servicing some human need. We’re all trying to make
solutions for some issue that we have in humanity. We have to remember that human
beings connect best with one another. So, how do you utilize that emotion,

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 23
excitement, joy, anger—all the range of emotions—to then communicate the product?
Most of the time that’s done best by other human beings. What is the emotional
connection we’re trying to make with our consumer? Play on that emotion.”

The challenge is finding humans who connect with your brand ethos and bringing them
into your team to communicate your message to your audience.

We’ve done this extensively at AppSumo. We’re fortunate to have many inspiring
customers who are growing businesses and side hustles all over the world. Each
of them has influence within their sector. So we highlight their stories through case
studies, sharing their wins, goals, and even their failures.

Plus, AppSumo has a referral program, an affiliate program, and often engages in
influencer partnerships. We’re inspired by our customers—and figure they inspire others,
too—so we literally partner with them in our marketing efforts.

Age of the celebrity executive

Business leaders have become public figures—sometimes even reaching celebrity
status. Consumers like to know how businesses are run, who’s making the key
decisions, and what their goals are for the future.

It’s never been more important to consumers to know who’s running an organization. “If
[a business leader] is popular and has great values, then consumers [are more likely to]
associate with those brands. We want to be part of those brands,” says Boz.

So, what makes an effective celebrity executive?

“It’s not about glamour as much as it is about transparency. It’s not about dressing
the CEO as something they’re not. It’s about making sure that the person’s values,
objectives, and their vision for the company and world is coming across in authentic
ways, so that the end users feel that passion.”

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8 It’s all about
personalization

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 25
“If it’s not personalized to me, I don’t want to see it.”

Bozoma Saint John

Boz says, “All organizations need a level of intimacy with their

consumers.”

It’s easy to suspect that large companies can get away with
using generic messaging that appeals to the masses. Boz
disagrees. Even the largest companies in the world need to
connect intimately with their customers.

Boz gave Nike as an example. For a company of their size, many people might think they
could get away with doing generic, inspirational marketing messages about health and
fitness. But they don’t.

“If I don’t know that you are a long-distance runner, or a boxer in the gym, or [someone
who practices] yoga, then I’m going to have a problem selling products to you. The
only way to do that is through personalization, understanding what is happening in my
[consumer’s] daily purchases.”

Every brand—no matter how large or small—must nail personalization if they want to
connect with their target customers.

This is another example of what we try to do here at AppSumo. As a digital marketplace

for entrepreneurs, we serve many types of business owners. From full-time bloggers to
established CEOs, side hustlers to SaaS founders, we’re selling products to a diverse
group of folks.

That means our messaging, ads, and marketing channels need to resonate with people
across industries, cultures, and business stages.

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 26
“Bold as Boz”
action steps
So what now?

Boz is an inspiring person. Listen to an interview with her, and you’re ready to change
the world.

(We’ve listened to, like, a dozen interviews to produce this guide. Does that mean we’re
ready to change the galaxy?)

But we wanted to leave you with some actionable takeaways from Boz’s inspiring
stories and advice.

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 27
Here’s the TL;DR:

Look for new ways to pay attention to the world around you. Finding trends isn’t about
making predictions about what’ll be hot in the future. It’s about paying attention to the
conversations happening around you.

When hiring, make yourself uncomfortable. Don’t settle for hiring the person who looks,
thinks, and behaves most similar to you. Go out of your way to find someone who
challenges you—even if you might feel uncomfortable at first.

Learn to go with your gut. There’s a time and place for looking at the numbers. But
learning to trust your taste and instinct will help you bring to life things that only you
could have imagined.

Influencers aren’t just the Beyoncés of the world. An influencer is whoever is the
closest to the heat. It’s the person with the knowledge of a certain industry, idea, person,
or product.

Bring your full, unique self to work. This includes your hobbies, quirks, personality, and
ideas. This doesn’t necessarily mean wearing bold colors or being the most animated
person in the room. It simply means showing up as your transparent self.

We’re ecstatic about the difference Boz is making and for all her contributions to the
marketing industry so far. We hope this guide inspires you to make a difference in your
industry as well.

Thanks for reading!

AppSumo | The Power of Storytelling: 8 Marketing Lessons from Bozoma Saint John 28
Looking for amazing software to
help you level up your business?
Shop AppSumo today

Also, if you’re looking for a new place to bring your

bold self to work, AppSumo is hiring! Check out our openings here.
Sources
We couldn’t have created this guide without the great interviews
and articles provided below.

Interview with Gary Vaynerchuk

Interview with John Molner

SXSW conversation 2019

OMR Festival interview 2019

CBS This Morning interview

Is This the Woman Who Will Save Uber (New York Times)

Taylor Swift’s Apple Music commercial (Variety)