Domenico Loperfido is an unusual and even controversial Epica Awards jury president, in that he works for an agency, DUDE, which has offices in Milan and London.

But he’s also the editor of the creative industry newsletter, In Case You Missed It, which has a fast-growing audience.
 Above all, he may have the ideal mix of experience for scrutinising Epica entries, because he’s worked for a client, an agency, and as a trade journalist, and considers that writing about advertising has been crucial to his career.

“I’m truly honoured,” he commented. “What makes Epica special of course is that the jury is made up of journalists, which gives it a different perspective compared to other awards.”


Loperfido’s career didn’t begin in advertising. When he was a kid, his dream careers ranged from surgery to aerospace. But at 17, he did an internship at a small marketing studio, to earn some money. This was the time when guerrilla marketing became a thing, and he thought it was something he’d like to do.

But first, he studied economics in Parma. The university had the advantage that local brands like Barilla and Mutti sent marketing managers to speak at the school. Next, he did a master’s degree at Sole 24 Ore business school.

That experience was crucial for networking, as two of the people who taught there later became his partners at DUDE, Lorenzo Del Bianco and Livio Basoli.
 

Loperfido began his career, however, at Vodafone, initially in marketing and then in operations, which was educational but less enchanting. “I felt stuck and I needed an outlet. So I thought of this magazine I’d been following since I was 18 years old, Ninja Marketing. I just sent an email and asked if I could write for them. So that’s how it started – and I loved writing.”


He also realised he had an outsized affection for advertising. “When you get goose bumps watching a TV spot or an activation, something is going on! There are people who are passionate about this, and I’m one of them.”


He ended up interviewing Del Bianco. Shortly after that, DUDE started working for Vodafone and Lorenzo invited Domenico to join the agency. “It was a 15-strong start-up, so in a way it was kind of insane to leave ‘the post office’, as we say in Italy, to join this new adventure. But it was my fourth year at Vodafone so I was ready to make the leap. What struck me immediately was the concentration of talent. I’d never seen anything like it.”


He started on the account side, but quickly moved into business development and operations. “In a startup, you have to do everything, and my corporate experience helped me structure workflows and processes. Later I took on PR, which is closely tied to new business in our industry. I built relationships with journalists in Italy and later internationally, especially when we expanded to London. That experience shaped my current role as chief growth officer.”
 

Loperfido launched his newsletter, In Case You Missed It, three years ago.