The Secret To Sustainable Success - Balancing Leadership With Innovation with Jarrod Lopiccolo

Andy Splichal:

Welcome to the Make Each Click Count podcast, where we uncover the strategies, tools and insights that drive business success on a digital age. I'm your host, Andy Splichal, and today we have a special guest who's pioneer in the world of digital performance marketing. Jarrod Lopiccolo is the co founder and CEO of Noble Studios, an award winning digital marketing agency. Has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry, including Adobe, Google and Disney. Jared is an expert in digital marketing trends, business strategy optimization and building high performing teams. He's a thought leader who's passionate about innovation and a deep understanding of what it takes to establish a sustainable company culture. If you're a CMO marketing decision maker or an entrepreneur in the travel, tourism or b, two b sectors, you won't want to miss the insights Jared will be sharing today. So without further ado, let's join in.

Andy Splichal:

Welcome to the show, Jared.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Andy, thank you for having me like that. We got to connect before the show and learn. We have a lot of things in common and so, yeah, just happy to be here today and, you know, ask. Ask the questions, throw some curveballs. Yeah, let's just have some fun.

Andy Splichal:

All right, well, let's do it. So let's start. I mean, you've been in the forefront of digital marketing for quite some time, and I'm curious, how have you seen the industry evolve, especially in terms of integrating creative elements with data driven strategies?

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Yeah, well, I would like to start by saying I'm 44, so even though it might have been in the industry a long time, I'm still. I still like to think that I'm a bit young, but, yeah, I can recall back to where there was only one of the main ones was like MySpace, and there was no real smartphones. And at the time, data was something that was really just back end analytics of a hosting website. And I can remember urchin software was installed on these plesk servers and it just told you that this user came from this country, not even state, and then it started to get granular and stuff. And then Google buys Urchin software and that became Google Analytics. So it's really cool to have been alongside this growth of not having data and just sort of being in the digital marketing world to then all of a sudden using data to allow us to like make user predictions and understand user behavior. And I think what I would say is what I found the most successful agencies or companies or brands is when they can actually leverage the data to gain sort of insights on the behavior of users, of people, but then really leveraging that creative side, like deeply understand what their needs are, understanding what the audience is considered to be successful, and how you marry both creative and data together, that's when you actually unlock, that's when you build the most meaningful connections with those kinds of brands. And so over the years now, we've been doing this for 21 years now, we're using Aih.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

We've actually built our own Jared GPT, where it ingests all my talks and all my blog articles I've written. And you can ask it questions. And so we could even have thrown this question in there and see what it would have come up with. So, yeah, we're just constantly leaning in at the tip of the spear, if you will. And data is going to be what drives the businesses that want to be successful. They're going to need to use data to make informed decisions, but never lose that gut, never lose that creativity, that connection with humans.

Andy Splichal:

Now, you had mentioned right off Google Analytics, and do you find Ga four? I mean, is that what you're using? Is the new Google Analytics four for most of your clients?

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Yeah, we are. We were actually right when we were actually a Google partner, and so we had preview that Google Ga four was going to come out. And so about, we wanted to have year over year data. And so we actually installed before they deprecated Google Analytics and migrated everyone to Ga four. We wanted to make sure we had year over year data. So we got all of our clients converted over to using Ga four more than a year and a half ago at this point. And so that way we can look at the historicals and see those types of trends and stuff. I think when you find that people are finding pain with Ga four now, it's because they were late adopters and they didn't really looking ahead, they didn't look at the data as a tool, that they're going to be making data driven decisions from moving forward and so that's one of the reasons why we just got way ahead of it.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

We love it. We don't really have any qualms with it.

Andy Splichal:

So one of the other things that really impressed me was that I was on your website and I saw that you were listed as one of the best places to work in 2024 by Ad age. Yeah, I guess. How did you do it? I mean, what are some of the core principles that Noble studios uses to create and maintain that kind of culture?

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Well, first we forced everyone to fill out the survey. No, I'm kidding. Now, in reality, to win an award like that, it actually has to be. We actually have to have, like, a certain amount people that fill out the survey. They have to answer it honestly. And so it was a great, it's one of those kinds of measurements. It's a great testament to the culture. But.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

But the reality is, is it's all the stuff that we've done underneath that. Right. And when you think about building a culture, you really want a dynamic culture, one that moves, one that ebbs and flows, one that feels safe. And that's when you. That's when the magic happens. And so we're all about transparency, right? Whether it's with our numbers, whether it's with our goals of the company, you know, that really builds a deep level of trust, trust with our team members. We've also cultivated this culture by allowing people to fail. Right.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

And I think that's really important. Like everybody wants, you know, time's such a commodity these days. We have to get things done. We're always against deadlines. And so, you know, a lot of times there's no room for failure. But that's actually where we learn the most. And so, so we wanted to cultivate that layer of culture that says, hey, you know what? I don't. You know, I messed up.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

And it's like, that's okay. Other things we do, we've created a culture committee, so we allow the culture itself to guide itself. Right? So any of our events, this group of team members, and they have a chair and there's a committee, and those people come off every year and stuff. But all the events we do are all culture led by the committee itself. So they're the ones really speaking up. It's not a top down, sort of culture led environment, but, yeah, I think most people can do this stuff. In fact, a lot of people already do this stuff. They do employee of the months, you know, they do, you know, throwback Thursdays or beer thirties.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

And I think it's about kind of all of that in compilation, which is what really helps support that culture. And then, of course, then we get recognized by big magazines and publications and companies like that. But it really does. It has to be, it's got to come from the top down, you got to have good leadership, but then it's got to come from bottom up. And you got, it's an organic thing. You can't force it. You've got to just really care about people too. I mean, that's the biggest thing is like, you got to give, you know, you really got to care about those people and making sure that they feel safe to bring their whole self to work and so they can unlock the best version of them as well.

Andy Splichal:

Now you have three different offices. I'm curious how much of your workforce is remote versus office.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Yeah, I like to think about offices now more like office presences. And what you'll find is that we all have these sort of sphere of influences that, you know, based on geography. Like, I have more connections in the west coast. Cause I live on the west coast and on the east coast. But yes, when we pre pandemic, we had an office in Vegas, we had an office in Reno, and then we had an office in the UK in this small town called Bristol. Since then, we became a little bit more distributed. So we have team members now all around the US. We have some that are in Europe that aren't in necessarily our England office.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

But the reality is that as long as you stay connected, as long as those core values continue to be sort of the underlying fabric, then what you'll find is you're gonna naturally attract. So our core values are be noble, which is a little cliche because our name is Noble Studios. Another one is be empowerful, which is really about, like, empowering others to do the great job and delegate. And all those pieces we have grab noble by the horns, which is really about taking action and not waiting for permission. And then we have make meaningful connections, which is really about, like, connect with your peers, connect with your partners, with your clients, with stakeholders. And so when we have that into each one of our offices, that just helps foster that culture. And now we're in the process of talking about other offices we want to open. We're talking about doing some acquisitions, all those things we have to.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

The only way that they're going to be successful is if that culture and that fabric is sort of brought into each one of those offices or those moments of cultural opportunities.

Andy Splichal:

So you guys at Noble Studios, I mean, you worked with some huge companies. We're talking Adobe, Google, Disneyland, I guess. Can you share some key takeaways from these experiences? Kind of has influenced your approach to client partnership.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Yeah. And you said the word it's partnership. I think that's really critical. Partners, we view every relationship, we even talk that way, really enjoy this partnership, and we're excited to kick this partnership off. But it goes more than just the terminology. To be a partner and to even attract big companies like that, you really have to stay like, the things that cause them to stay up at night needs to be the same things that make you stay up at night. And that really is about that extreme ownership. You want to own what their problems are.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

You want to take on what their stresses are, and then you want to be able to succeed and celebrate the successes together. And so I think when you understand the company's goals and visions, when you know what their sort of short term, midterm, long term plans are, and then specifically, this is really what's key. Anyone that's listening is the person on the other side, not the company, but the actual individual on the client side. What are their individual goals like? Do they want to be at this company for a long time? Do they want to move from a marketing manager to a CMO to a vp to another title? They want to become CEO one day. When you can align your success of working together on the level and the individual level, you've just made a match made in heaven. And that's truly when you know you're a partner, is when they invite you to the table as if you're a team member. And you know you're a partner when you're listed on the balance sheet as an investment versus a cost. Right.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

When you're a vendor, you're sitting there as a cost on that, and you're gonna be one of the first things that gets cut. And we saw that during the pandemic. Like, we didn't lose a single client during the. During the pandemic. And we were some of the last people at the table over their. Over their individual team members as well. And it's just because we, again, absorb their problems, celebrate their successes, think like they think. And when you do that, you can get the best, biggest clients.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

You can get the smallest clients to be the best clients. And that's really just. Time is short. You just want to. That's the best way to do business.

Andy Splichal:

You know, there's a lot of gold in there. I like that. Where. And I think small businesses can. Can take a lot out of there where if you're working with somebody where your problems aren't their problems, then they're probably not the right fit. They're not a partner. They're somebody who's charging you to do your marketing.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

That's it. It's transactional at that point. And how we got to the big clients, we didn't just start there. We started with the little clients. And so that same sort of framework and that philosophy of, of taking on their problems is that there are ours scaled all the way up to the big companies, and we still maintain those relationships today. And once they leave, too, people don't stay at companies. They move. They move from one place to another, and they will take you with them if you've helped them succeed personally.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

And from an.org standpoint now, you guys.

Andy Splichal:

You specialize in the travel and tourism industries.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Yes.

Andy Splichal:

How did you get into that niche?

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

It's interesting. In our early days, we really, I don't want to say it was a logo land grab, but it was really fun and exciting to all of a sudden get phone calls from Disney or these names that are just household names. And what I found, though, what I found is over time, some of that did become transactional because they were just really large companies, and it was sometimes hard to break through to build a deep sort of meaningful connection. But then we landed on one particular client. It was in San Francisco. And I remember this. It was an early morning. I walked up to a meeting, and it was cold outside, and I sat down and we started talking.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

And they said, oh, yeah, we represent Union Square, San Francisco. Union Square. And it's a tourism division. We make money off of hotel taxes. Have you guys ever worked in the tourism space? I said, no, adjacently we have, but not really fully. And they said, well, why don't you give this a shot? And we're like, all right. So we got a piece of business. And what we found is the people that work in the travel and tourism space, they don't sell widgets, they don't sell products.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

They don't sell services. They sell experiences, and they sell memories. And you're like, wow. Now you're getting really, you talk about getting in the heart of a human and, like, you know, talking. When you think about your best times in life, it's usually on a trip, a family, you know, friend thing you went and did. And then it's usually built around an experience. And that's when we just fell in love. We thought, these are the right people.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

These people are making an incremental difference in someone's life. They're not just putting a shirt on them or selling them a new phone, which we work with all the verizons and all the big companies. And again, when you start actually affecting people at the foundational root level that pulls from the heartstrings, it becomes addicting. Now, over 50% of our revenue is generated from working in the travel and tourism space, where we're helping these destinations attract the right visitors, provide them those experiences, and then actually, now we're moving more into, like, regenerative tourism and over tourism and responsible tourism, and really teaching people how to be the right visitors that come into market. So we're really helping. Going even a layer deeper is not just sell memories and experiences. We're trying to actually make these people better humans for the world.

Andy Splichal:

What about AI? How has AI, has it done anything in your sector, in the travel industry?

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

It has, and we've always been early adopters, just in general. We always say we operate on a 30% learning curve because the industry moves so darn fast. When AI was first cropping up almost two years ago now, we just decided, let's lean in really deep into this. Let's be the earliest adopters. Let's run at it so we're not scared of it. We built an AI task force, and we've built matrixes of all the tools, and we have show and tell on a monthly basis. And so we really dug into it. And from a travel and tourism perspective, AI is so great at identifying, for instance, patterns, talking to audiences at large scale, being able to understand and predict human intent and human behavior.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

And so you have this, like, you know, this idea of, like, data is just sitting there, ready to be used. But again, as mentioned earlier, you really can't lose the human part of it, because at the end of the day, travel and tourism is a deep human experience that happens. And so we're using it to be predictive. We're using it to give us insights that we might not be able to glean from running studies, things like that. But then when we can marry that tech and that AI data, and we can marry that to a profound human experience and really leverage our creativity and sort of let the creativity and data and tech dance together, that's when you have the best experience. And so just imagine if a hotel, if the Hyatt knew that Jared prefers on the third floor in the back, so it's not on the main street, so there's no music, and he happens to like wine tours and historical tours. Imagine what you could do with that data to create a more personalized experience for my travel. And so I think that that's where you're going to start seeing a huge amount of unlocks, is the data that they're going to get and garner using AI and other tools on me as an individual and the personalized travel experience that I can have that will build just deeper, deeper brand loyalty with any of those types of partners.

Andy Splichal:

How does AI marry with privacy? Yeah, you just mentioned poor Jared, right? You know everything about him now, but I mean, do people want that?

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Yeah, it's interesting. I think that the, especially when you look at the Gen Z's and the millennials, they aren't as concerned about their privacy. What they want is a personalized experience and the fact that you can turn up or down your privacy. I'm a Google guy and I can tell. I don't want to see that ad anymore. I don't want to see ads that are like that anymore. Here's what I actually am interested in. I think that's where you're going to start to find the best user experiences that exist out there.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

And the best human experiences is when you're controlling what data you're sharing, and it's paying off because you're getting a very personalized one to one experience. I think where people feel creepy is when you're like, wait, I looked at something and I didn't want to see it again, and now it's following me everywhere I'm going. And so that's where you're seeing this. Like, it's no longer a deprecation of third party cookies. It's like, turn them off if you don't want them. Keep first party data on if you do want that. And so I think it's going to come to the control of the user or the person. And then hopefully, you're giving enough information away that you're having a more heightened experience versus just having them use it without your permission.

Andy Splichal:

So you're a family guy, and I'm curious, a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with the work life balance.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Yeah.

Andy Splichal:

Personally, how have you done it? How have you been able to maintain a balance while leading a successful company?

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Well, I think it's interesting, the american culture in general, we're all sort of workaholics compared to other countries. We're getting so much better of that. And pandemic really did help with that, like work life balance, get outside, hike, walk, do these things. But I would say for entrepreneurs, and particularly like high octane business leaders. Yeah. They have a tendency to, like, lean and really hard to one side, aka the work side. And I actually think that for me, at least, what I've done, and I feel like you have to work really hard first before you can work smart. Everyone's, oh, work smarter than harder.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

I'm like, well, you don't know what youre, you're offsetting or displacing. And so I think that in general, those first couple early years as an entrepreneur, they're going to be hard. So just keep that in mind and don't lose your cool. But I do think that we have to view ourselves as a little bit more than just work and personal life. And I think those two things, there's a lot more. As humans, we have this huge spectrum. We have community, we have friends, we have family, we have hobbies, we have health, we have travel. I mean, you name it, there's probably 13 to 15 different categories.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

And I think it's important that you view each one of those cups, if you will, as being equally full. Sometimes you have to tilt that cup a little bit more on your work side, and it might spill over, but it has to be, it has to be conscious. You have to know that you're doing that. You have to say, you know what? This third quarter is really going to be a tough quarter. So I'm going to lean heavily into the work. That's okay. I'm going to bring it right back during fourth quarter. So I think it's about being intentional, being, you know, focused on looking at yourself as a wider spectrum.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Spectrum. And making sure you're filling up each one of those cups equally. And that's what I think is what's happened is when you look at those early adopters of entrepreneurs, 2030 years ago, there was no other cups. It was just work only. And then they wake up and they've lost five, six years of their life. And if you hang out with me long enough, you'll know that I think of time as one of those currencies that you only have so much of. You can only spend it once per day, and you better spend it wisely. And so don't regret, and you don't want any regrets.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

You don't want to wake up ten years from now and have regrets. So don't wait to retire to travel. Travel now, you know, don't wait to do this. When you're, when you know, when you, when you've gone to another job, like I always talk about water, you know, water the grass that you're standing on, that's where the grass is going to be greener, you know, as opposed to on the other side of the fence. So I think it's really about, like, being intentional, having those cups, recognizing them, filling them up equally, and then you can live a more balanced life.

Andy Splichal:

So you talked a little bit about entrepreneurs of 20 years ago. What do you see for the future of entrepreneurship in the digital world, especially with AI? I mean, that's. That's, you know, that's the disruptor.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Yeah. Yes. The rise of tech. I mean, more than ever, it's been. It's just this accelerated, you know, exponential growth curve, hockey stick, if whatever you want to call it. I think entrepreneurs today truly need to be adaptable, really adaptable, and they also have to be empathetic. They actually have to put themselves in other people's shoes. They have to recognize the needs.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

They have to connect with people. They have to be authentic. I'm on Instagram. I'm on LinkedIn. I'm sharing all personal parts of my life, the garden that I have to, the trips that I'm taking with my family. And I think that people want to follow companies and brands that are purposeful and are value driven and that don't just sell products and services and whatnot. So if you're a leader or you're an entrepreneur, I think you got to bring your whole self to work. You have to constantly want to improve yourself.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

You have to be, and I always say this, you have to be the leader that you would want to follow. And I really think that's important. It's like, because if you say, would I follow this person into battle or would I, would I would I have to be ordered in? And I think it's always about, like, you want to lead, that you want to lead the team. And so, yes, I think it's about bringing your authentic self. But again, being really adaptable. There's a lot of tech that's coming. It's going to continue to accelerate, you know, be pivot. You know, pivot.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

And then, and then just at the same time, make meaningful connections and make those meaningful connections with every stakeholder that's a team member, that's a partner, that's even a competitor, you know, make a meaningful connection with a competitor. Like, this is your moment in time to, you know, you just can't do entrepreneurship or leadership the way that we were doing it 20 years ago.

Andy Splichal:

So we talked a lot about the tourism and travel industry, but what, what different companies do you guys serve and what services are you providing?

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Yeah, so we like to think of ourselves as a creative digital performance agency. So that's, and if you think about all three of those categories, creative, which is really about, like, brand brand platforms, you know, campaign work, really, you know, emotions, you know, video photography. Right? You have that. Then you've got the performance side, which is like anything to attract, you know, the audiences bring, bring those right. Customers in. And then the digital part, which is really meeting that user, that person where they're currently at. So we build infrastructure, we build websites, we build landing pages, sort of all that. So when we can own creative digital performance, we're the most effective for our clients.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

And then in the industries in particular, we love travel and tourism, as I mentioned, selling memories and experiences. They're also a leading and lagging indicator for the economy. So when the economy is doing well, travel's doing well. When the economy's not doing well, travel's tightening up. And then on the b two b side, which is another area we focus in on, they're always about, you know, when the economy's doing really well, they're expanding services, they're doing acquisitions, you know, they're, they're getting deeper into companies when the economy's not doing that well, they're moving into automation and they're consolidating and things like that. So we love working in those two. They're almost kind of opposite ends, but we get to bring the humanizing factor around travel and tourism into the b two b side, and then we get to bring the conversion focused like, no, you know, like, work hard, you know, play hard side of the b two b side. We bring that into the travel and tourism side and that we find we're, we're the most effective when we can own those three service lines or, you know, categories and when we can work in those two distinct verticals.

Andy Splichal:

And so is there a particular size of company that you guys specialize with?

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

You know, every. If you're in marketing, you know, you have an ICP, right, your ideal client profile. And I would say that for us, we would like to work with companies that, you know, have a marketing budget of, you know, 1.5 million or more. You know, they have a CMO and a team of, you know, five to, say, eight people underneath them. They're, they're highly educated, right. We're not having to spend a lot of time, you know, of bringing them along. And they're. And they have a complex problem, right.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

They have something that they have not been able to do. They're tired of the status quo. And I think this is actually really critical. They actually want to be brave. You know, how many times you walk into a client and they don't want to be brave. They want to just move the numbers up by 5%, and they're going to hit the board, and the board's going to be happy, and everyone's going to be okay. And that's not what we want to work with. We want to work with clients that want to be super bold, super brave.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Allow us to do stuff, not be risky. Right. Don't throw out, you know, you know, these. All these opportunities or market share, but really be brave and do something that maybe could be a cultural shift or maybe could be really profound that can, you know, make a difference in society or their. At least their customer base and that want to, you know, that want to challenge the. Like I said, the status quo, that aren't happy with just best practices. They want to engage in better practices.

Andy Splichal:

And if a listener is out there, that's like, hey, that's me. How do they contact you, and what's the best way to get ahold of you guys?

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Well, you can tell I'm very personable. I love having conversations with people. So I always say, like, find me on LinkedIn. You know, it's Jared Lopiccolo. J a r r o d. Lopiccolo. L o p I c c o l o. You can find me on LinkedIn.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Send me a direct message, let's have a conversation. Or just go to our website, Noble studios. That's noblestudios.com. if you go to Noble studios, you can actually see case studies. You can sort of, like, decide, hey, do I fit in this? Are they. Are they solving similar problems that maybe I have? And if that's the case, you can reach out to us through our web form. But I encourage people to take a look. You'll see our culture.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Everyone's really personable again. We're all about make meaningful connections. So. And, you know, we have a lot of energy to continue to make an impact in this world. So, yeah, we're looking for clients, always.

Andy Splichal:

Well, speaking of conversations, I have enjoyed this one. So before we wrap it up, though, I want to make sure. Is there anything else you want to add before we end it?

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

You know, over the years, people have given me tons of advice, and they've helped us be successful. So I'm always about paying it forward. But I guess the one piece that I would say is like, follow what you love. I think that's really important. You know, money will always show up if you're doing what you love, because you'll weather those bad patches of those stormy patches when you're just following the money. You'll jump ship right away when that stormy weather hits. And so follow your passion. Money will be there.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Don't waste time times one of our only currencies. Don't waste other people's time. Yeah, and just stay curious. That'd be the only advice as a human. Just stay curious.

Andy Splichal:

Great. Well, thank you for joining us today.

Jarrod Lopiccolo:

Jared, Andy, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure for listeners.

Andy Splichal:

Remember, if you like this episode, please go to Apple Podcasts and leave us an honest review. And if you'd like to connect with Jared or Noble Studios, you'll find links in the show notes below. In addition, if you're looking for more information on growing your business, check out our podcast Resource center, available at podcast dot. Make eachclickcount.com. we have compiled all of our different past guests by show, topic included all their information in case you would like more information on any of the services discussed in previous episodes. Well, that's it for today. Remember to stay safe, keep healthy and happy marketing, and I'll talk to you in the next episode.