Speaker interview with Zoe Scaman

Zoe is the founder of Bodacious, a strategy studio focused on illuminating and navigating the new frontiers of innovation within the worlds of brands and entertainment.

She is a world-leading authority on emerging technologies such as AI, spatial computing, AR & VR, blockchain, gaming and much more.

At Digital Day this year, Zoe will bring to life how these technologies are poised to unlock new business models, transform industries, and reshape jobs and provide tangible, practical examples of how brands like Nike are already utilising such technologies. 

We caught up with her below.

You’ve worked in a huge variety of different marketing fields, what is your favourite and why?

I think they’ve all been interesting to me at different points in my career, I’ve always been a bit like a magpie, going after the shiny stuff until I’ve absorbed it and then moving on.

I found organisation design fascinating, it helped me to better under bureaucracy and gave me an appreciation of how complex corporate environments can be and how best to overcome barriers to getting ideas through.

And more recently, I’ve loved the work I’ve been doing in the realm of entertainment, web3 and community trends - it just feels so nascent and alive with possibility. Plus experimentation and iteration are encouraged because we’re all learning as we go and I much prefer that way of operating.

Can you tell us a little about Bodacious and what they do?

Bodacious is just me, a one-woman band, and I pull in partners and subject matter experts as and when needed. 

Mainly, I help solve knotty strategic problems and chart paths into new and unexplored areas (such as web3, the future of entertainment, community/creator economies), with a firm grounding in brand and business strategy.

I love to throw myself into areas where I have no clear plan, working it out as a I go. Nothing I do is ever a repeat or commodification. It’s always new, weird and wonderful.

We hear you’re an avid sci-fi fan. Has this inspired you in your career at all?

Absolutely, again it goes back to exploration, possibility, ‘what if’ scenarios and building for imagined futures. I lose myself in fiction quite regularly, it helps to keep my imagination spinning and allows me to connect dots that may seem a bit ‘out there’ to others, but which produce far more interesting and innovative solutions.

What changes/trends are you seeing in the digital space currently?

That’s way too big a question to answer…

Web3
Blockchain
Community-centricity
‘The Metaverse’
Immersive gaming
Democratised creator tools
Shared upside
NFTs and virtual ownership
Cryptocurrencies and decentralised finance
DAOs and new forms of co-ops and organisation
Headless brands
Fan-created IP and world building

…and that’s just to name a few.

Can you share any mistakes or regrets from your career that taught you an important lesson?

I think my only regret is about not trusting my gut more and instead worrying about what other people thought or ensuring I was ‘playing the game’ in the way it was supposed to be played or following others rules.

That led me to curtail some of my earlier exploration of different fields, it made me feel ashamed of jumping around a lot (although that’s now known as a portfolio career and a positive) and it led to me working insane hours and burning out, rather than pushing back and raising it as an unhealthy precedent and status quo.

Now, I work on my terms and in my own way, as opposed to whatever the ‘done thing’ is.

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