Most work doesn’t speak for itself. This episode is for everyone who's sick of presenting amazing work and ideas that don't land. International keynote speaker, coach, and designer Ben Sauer breaks down how he teaches the art of strategic storytelling.

Ben Sauer trained people all over the world, including at NASA, and his frameworks are used by organizations like Amazon, Google, and the BBC.

In this episode, Phoebe Ohayon and Ben Sauer discuss his book, Death by Screens, which teaches designers (or anyone with something to pitch) how to present their idea without boring people to tears!

Bold & Boutique isn’t just about voice, design or AI — it’s about building something meaningful by going deep, not wide. It’s a show for creatives, strategists, and entrepreneurs who believe that staying niche can be a superpower. Let’s explore what it really takes to grow a business rooted in expertise.

Season 1 dives into the rise of AI characters and virtual brand ambassadors, but future seasons will open up to a wide range of topics shaping the creative and technological landscape, all with the same boutique lens: focused & intentional.

After user research and quantitative testing comes the real force multiplier: a design system that lets every team spin up on-brand AI characters without reinventing the wheel. Phoebe explains why a system is more than a style guide and how it becomes the shared language for voice, visuals, and behavior across markets.

Highlights

- Style guide ≠ design system – how reusable assets, research-backed rules, and governance turn a static brand book into a living toolkit that accelerates creative work instead of policing it.

- Core building blocks – voice-tone tokens, expression libraries, “basic pause” timing, fallback-response prompts, error-recovery patterns, earcons, and perception-test templates.

If you’ve nailed a single AI character and are wondering, “How do we replicate this across products, languages, or markets without chaos?”—this episode shows how to turn hard-won insights into a system that scales creativity rather than stifling it.

Now that the standout virtual-character concepts have been refined through qualitative feedback, Phoebe and Maikel jump into the numbers phase—where data, not gut feeling, decides which designs go live.

Key take-aways

- From shortlist to scorecard – Why you first narrow to a small set of high-potential designs, then pit them head-to-head in structured tests rather than betting the budget on a boardroom favorite.

- Quant 101 for character design – Crafting perception surveys in tools like Qualtrics, defining traits (trust, energy, professionalism) in testable language, and keeping sessions under 20 minutes so attention—and data quality—stay high.

- Participants that matter – Sourcing 100-300 respondents who match the target market, building demographic diversity, and spotting red-flag responses (five-minute completions, straight-line scores) before they skew results.

- Hybrid methods – Using “think-aloud” moderated surveys with a sub-sample to capture the why behind the sliders, linking qualitative nuance to quantitative scale.

- Pilot before you plunge – Quick internal dry-runs expose confusing wording, broken sliders, or survey fatigue before hundreds of users see it.

- Making the data talk – Cleaning noisy responses, running correlation and subgroup analysis (e.g., slower speech → higher trust among 60-plus drivers), and translating findings into concrete visual, vocal, or personality tweaks.

- Knowledge that compounds – Each quantified insight becomes part of a growing, cross-project playbook that lets future teams start smarter and align faster.

If Episode 3 covered inspiration and Episode 4 covered refinement, Episode 5 shows how to turn user perception into hard evidence—so the AI character that finally ships is the one your audience actually wants.

The blank-canvas magic is over—now the real work begins. In the second half of our deep dive, Phoebe walks Maikel through the refinement and optimization phases that turn rough concept art into AI personas customers actually love.

What we cover

If Episode 3 showed you where AI characters start, Episode 4 shows you how they survive the gauntlet of real-world feedback to emerge as on-brand, user-approved ambassadors.

What actually goes into creating a virtual face—or voice—for a brand? In the first half of our two-part deep dive, Phoebe and Maikel pull back the curtain on the creative pipeline that turns raw brand values into an engaging AI character.

In this episode you’ll learn

If you’ve ever wondered how brands invent a chatbot that feels human—or a mascot that nails their vibe—tune in for a practical, behind-the-scenes tour of AI character design.

This episode traces the influencer journey from 1950 s silver-screen endorsements to today’s AI-generated brand ambassadors—and everything in between.

Inside the conversation

- Burnout & backlash – The human cost of nonstop creation, plus audience fatigue in an age of endless content.

- Rise of the virtuals – What AI brings to the table: 24/7 avatars, multilingual reach, and creative freedom—along with transparency hurdles.

- Designing a Virtual Brand Ambassador – A step-by-step look at auditing brand DNA, crafting perception profiles, and testing character concepts so a virtual face never drifts off-brand.

- Hybrid future – Why the smartest strategies will mix relatable humans with scalable algorithms for a best-of-both-worlds approach.

Whether you’re a marketer, creator, or tech-curious listener, Episode 2 unpacks the past, present, and next wave of influence—so you can see where your brand (or personal brand) fits in.

In our debut episode we explore how AI-powered virtual characters are reshaping the branding playbook. From voice assistants that greet you with “Hey Mercedes” to Puma’s Instagram-native avatar Laila, we unpack why always-on, perfectly on-brand spokespeople are so appealing—and where they outperform their human counterparts.

You’ll hear:

Whether you’re a marketer sizing up new tools, a creator eyeing the competition, or just curious about the next wave of social media, this conversation will get you up to speed on why VBAs may be more than a passing trend—and how they could reinvent modern marketing.