Editor’s Note: The following article was edited by Nina Mazar and is based on a guest lecture by BU alumnus Courtney Bozigian, Head of Branding at Digital Silk, followed by a post-lecture interview with her.
How do iconic brands stay relevant in an ever-evolving marketplace? According to Courtney Bozigian, it’s all about understanding consumers—and knowing how to tell the right story.
As spring breathed new life into Boston University’s campus, students in Questrom School of Business’s “Consumer Insights” course eagerly awaited insights from a special guest. The undergraduate marketing elective welcomed Bozigian, a BU MBA alumna and brand marketing leader who has shaped beloved franchises like Monopoly, The Game of Life, and Marvel during her career at the intersection of data and creativity.
The Power of Observation: Marketers as Anthropologists
“Marketers should be like anthropologists,” Bozigian advised the class, “out there in the world with their customer. Observing, taking notes, trying to have conversations.” This hands-on approach to understanding consumers shaped her career at Hasbro, where teams regularly left their offices to visit retail stores, observing how customers interacted with their products.
Bozigian emphasized the fusion of quantitative research with qualitative observation. “You can’t just sit at your desk. You’ve got to get out there in the world,” she explained, showing students how seemingly simple store visits yielded critical insights about product placement, consumer behavior, and competitive landscapes.
Her retail journeys extended globally, with market immersion trips to Shanghai and São Paulo that provided cultural context impossible to glean from traditional market research. In Shanghai, visiting a family’s compact high-rise apartment revealed how toy designs created for spacious American suburban homes needed reconsideration for urban Chinese consumers. These experiences highlighted that consumer insights transcend spreadsheets and surveys—they require cultural immersion and genuine human connection.
Connecting Research to Brand Strategy: The Twister Case Study
One real-world example of research-in-action came from Bozigian’s discussion of her work on the launch of a new line of Twister games. While a segmentation study indicated an opportunity to develop a line extension of games specifically for girls, success wasn’t a guarantee based on just the research. While “all the numbers told us one thing, the product story we told was a bit disconnected,” she reflected. It was ultimately the combination of product, cohesive campaign activities and a celebrity partnership that unified the story and boosted brand exposure and sales. This example highlighted how brand-building efforts, including product launches, must be tied to a story and a strong call to action, to properly resonate with audiences.
Adaptability in a Competitive Landscape
Beyond the data, Bozigian emphasized the importance of marketplace awareness. She recalled a team meeting where a colleague, who had been out to retail that morning, brought back a new competitive product that was close to a concept they were developing. The team made the quick decision to change course entirely based off this real-time information. “We had no way of knowing it was coming,” she explained. “Business is very dynamic and sometimes when you’re just out at retail, you can find important insights either on your customer or that might change your business strategy.” The experience underscored the necessity of staying agile in a competitive market – a lesson that resonated strongly with students preparing to enter a rapidly evolving business world.
Digital Tools for Modern Marketers
As the marketing landscape has shifted dramatically toward digital, Bozigian has evolved with it. She introduced students to accessible digital research tools that provide real-time insights into consumer conversations and trends, showing how platforms like Google Trends can help marketers identify opportunities to connect brands with cultural moments.
Bozigian shared an example of consumer-driven marketing: Hasbro’s “Pie Face” game, which was propelled by an authentic video of a grandfather and grandson playing the game that went viral. This spontaneous, joyful moment captured the essence of the product better than any traditional marketing campaign could have. “Sometimes your customer can have more fun with your brand than you,” Bozigian observed, highlighting how social listening has become an essential component of modern brand strategy.
Liberal Arts Foundation for Business Success
For Questrom students wondering about the value of diverse educational experiences, Bozigian’s path offers reassurance. With an undergraduate degree in history before pursuing her BU MBA, she articulated how liberal arts training developed the critical thinking, storytelling, and analytical skills essential to her marketing career and current role leading brand strategy and brand design teams at Digital Silk.
“The ability to analyze a set of information, be curious about it, to dig a little bit deeper, ask questions… you’re developing your writing skills, how to organize and tell a story, draw a solid conclusion,” she explained. These transferable skills have only become more valuable in today’s business environment, where marketers must synthesize complex information into clear, actionable insights.
From Classroom to Career Impact
As her session concluded, students peppered Bozigian with questions about career transitions and skills development. Her parting advice reflected her own non-linear journey from retail management to corporate marketing to agency branding: “Great marketers don’t just react to data—they interpret it, anticipate trends, and, most importantly, understand the human side of every insight.”
For Questrom students, Bozigian’s visit represented more than just a guest lecture—it was a glimpse into the evolving marketing profession and the value of a BU education in preparing for it. Her story illustrates how the marketing knowledge and business fundamentals gained at Questrom can launch graduates into careers spanning corporate brand management, agency leadership, and higher education.
As our “Consumer Insights” course demonstrates, Questrom’s commitment to bringing experienced practitioners into the classroom creates powerful learning opportunities that connect theoretical concepts with real-world application. For those aspiring to careers in marketing, Bozigian’s journey provides both inspiration and a roadmap for turning consumer insights into impactful brand stories.
For those interested in connecting with Courtney Bozigian or learning more about her work, feel free to reach out to her at courtney@digitalsilk.com.
