With the third day of INBOUND17 in full flight, we were excited for the agenda for the day. One session that we were particularly interested in was the Bozoma Saint John Spotlight. We’d previously also been blown away by her keynote at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference, so we knew we were in for something special.
Currently the Chief Branding Officer at Uber, Bozoma is responsible for ensuring consumers love Uber’s brand as much as they love Uber’s service. She’s developed a reputation in the industry as a marketing and advertising wizard. And she has the work experience to back it.
What a resume! @badassboz #INBOUND17 pic.twitter.com/UhCCLAHCUr
— Samantha Travelstead (@stravelstead84) September 27, 2017
There was a lot of excitement to see Bozoma and it was evident.
Stoked to hear @badassboz speak in a few minutes 🙌🏼😍 ##INBOUND17
— Julia Morse (@jm_704) September 27, 2017
Pumped to hear @badassboz at #INBOUND17. She’s already starting with the best Twitter handle in the business.
— Mike Nagel (@TheMikeNagel) September 27, 2017
Then the show got on the road. She started off by elaborating a bit about how brands are like people.
“I believe brands are people. They have hopes, dreams, failures… Even @Uber” — @badassboz #INBOUND17
— Lindsay LeCain (@LALALecain) September 27, 2017
.@badassboz at #INBOUND17 talking how culture makes a brand pic.twitter.com/S3TP4vz1Nq
— Stefan Palios (@stefanpalios) September 27, 2017
Why bias is sometimes necessary:
“Like any good story teller I am bias and unapologetic in my bias.” – @badassboz #INBOUND17
— HubSpot @ #INBOUND17 (@HubSpot) September 27, 2017
“Without the storytellers unique perspective the story falls flat” – @badassboz pic.twitter.com/oJDqrLp8xt
— Anushka Maya (@anushkamaya) September 27, 2017
After talking about how bias is important, she went on to share a little bit of her past experiences:
.@badassboz “Because of my differences my classmates asked benign but ignorant questions.” #INBOUND17
— Alex Plaxen (@APlaxen) September 27, 2017
#babypics from @badassboz ❤️My father had 4 daughters he’s a very blessed man. #INBOUND17 pic.twitter.com/TfEnF164lY
— Samantha Travelstead (@stravelstead84) September 27, 2017
“I wonder what my grandmother would think. She was married to a chief, and now I am a chief!” @badassboz #INBOUND17 pic.twitter.com/NLDl4Xy5G7
— Shena Lohardjo (@helloimshena) September 27, 2017
And enlightening us about her approach to everything in life:
“I want to say things that make my story relevant, make people sit up, pay attention and give me a chance.” @badassboz #INBOUND17
— Lindsay LeCain (@LALALecain) September 27, 2017
“I want to say things that make me equal.” 👊🏼@badassboz #inbound17 pic.twitter.com/t8uYeaNq3V
— Char (@CharlaCharChar) September 27, 2017
Further, she gave some pretty insightful pointers on how to bring personality to brands, looking at it from the perspective of the brain, trying to appeal to both the emotional side and the rational side.
.@badassboz “The right side of our brain cares more about the human reaction than the mechanical.” #INBOUND17
— Alex Plaxen (@APlaxen) September 27, 2017
“The right side of the brain is full of emotion. It knows its wrongs and wants to make it right.” @badassboz @Uber #INBOUND17
— Ashley @ #INBOUND17 (@dashofsocial) September 27, 2017
Your brand needs to appeal to both sides of the brain – @badassboz #INBOUND2017 pic.twitter.com/to6sP0cgie
— Vessel (@VesselConnects) September 27, 2017
Tech connects us to other human beings but emotion connects us to each other. @badassboz @uber #INBOUND17
— Ashley @ #INBOUND17 (@dashofsocial) September 27, 2017
In the end, she left us with a final piece of motivation, direct from her Instagram page:
THE most motiving #MondayMotivation courtesy of @badassboz‘s #Instagram. #INBOUND17 pic.twitter.com/O4cODCg1tz
— Hack.Diversity (@Hack_Diversity) September 27, 2017
A magnificent Spotlight session by a truly unique personality, Bozoma’s talk left everyone with a sense of inclusion as she shared her life stories as well as some much-needed insight about her approach to branding. After keeping the audience mesmerized for the entire 30 minutes, we expect she’ll probably be remembered as the best storyteller at INBOUND17.
You can watch her entire keynote here:
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