Speaker View: Welcome to Operations
Unfiltered, the podcast that
takes you behind the scenes of
influencer and talent management.
I'm your host and your favorite
marketing project manager, girly Zuryna.
Today's episode is one that's really cool.
I had the pleasure of sitting down
with Nick Valenti, the CEO co-founder
and head of strategy at Maiden.
Maiden is a full service creative
agency that's making serious waves
in the branding and influencer
[Mic bleed]
Speaker View: And you guys know
this wasn't your average boring
conversation with an executive.
No.
Nick brings that finance meets
feelings type of energy to the
world of creative strategy.
We talked about his latest campaigns
with the San Diego Football
Club and Formula One Las Vegas.
We also chatted about why they brought
influencer marketing in-house and
what small businesses really need
to understand about using creators
[Mic bleed]
Speaker View: Oh, and you know, we got
into the logistics, the nitty gritty.
We talked all about the tools
that he and his team use
everything from Trello to Slack.
And he even said, my favorite
three letters in SOP.
So without further ado, grab
your coffee, open a Google
Drive tab, or grab a notebook.
And let's get into this week's episode of
Operations Unfiltered with Nick Valenti
Zuryna: Thank you so much for joining me.
This is a episode of Operations
Unfiltered that I am looking forward
to because this is someone that I
reached out to me first to be on
the show, which I was shocked about.
I was like, what?
Someone's listening.
So welcome to the show.
Can we start by introducing
yourself and telling us a
little bit about your business?
Nick: Fun stuff.
Yeah.
So my name is Nick Valenti.
I am the CEO co-founder and head
of strategy for Maiden, , full
service creative agency.
So we have an office in New York,
office in San Diego, and then I'm
in Dallas a lot as well, so we
kind of try to cover the country.
Zuryna: Yeah.
You got the hubs?
Nick: Yes.
Yeah.
I'm on planes a lot.
I, I always tell people jokingly,
I think I fly more than I uber.
Uh, just,
Zuryna: I love that.
Now, this I should have said this question
for later, but what airline do you prefer?
Nick: I, I grew up well
preference and which one I fly
are different answers, so I.
I grew up in Dallas, so American Airlines
is my, the airline that I have to use,
I love, they're a part of one world,
so it's good for international travel.
I think Delta is the best airline
though, but I don't have that.
Zuryna: Just curious.
'cause I'm a Houston girly, born
and raised in Houston, so we
have the two airports and I'm.
People are going to laugh
at me, but I love Southwest.
I don't know, I feel like people say it's
the greyhound of the sky, but I like it.
So I was just interested
to see what you prefer.
Nick: I think branding wise
Southwest is amazing, you know?
Yeah.
Customer service is awesome.
It's just.
And I used to fly Southwest all the time.
'cause Love Field is so close
to, you know, Highland Park in
actual Dallas where I lived.
Audio Only - All Participants: Yeah.
Nick: But, the international side
of things makes it tough 'cause they
don't have anything And so I, am a
dedicated, loyal American Airlines.
Zuryna: I love that.
So American Airlines, if you're listening.
Collab coming.
Nick: There go.
You need to spot to this podcast.
Zuryna: Yes, yes.
But anyway, back to our business, you
are giving us the origin story of Maiden.
I'm glad you pronounced it because
I did not wanna butcher it.
I mean, my name is Zuryna, so I'm used
to people butchering my name, but I have
a problem with butchering other things.
So can you talk a little
bit about the name Maiden?
How did that come about?
Nick: This is.
So, so everything that we
do is super intentional.
Like we, my background's in finance,
which is sort of unique to me.
Oh wow.
Yeah.
Being in the creative
field, it's a big jump.
I get a lot of my finance friends make
fun of me, like jokingly about, you
know, why would you make the transition?
And there's a number of reasons,
but I think fundamentally there's
a disconnect between what you know,
investors want, which is purely financial
outcomes, and then what creative
agencies want, which is, you know.
You know, driving hearts and minds
and loyalty and building promotion,
Zuryna: all the feels,
the hugs, the feels.
Yeah.
Nick: Right.
So like with our agency, we have this
amazing blend of like hyper creativity
and then hyper intentionality.
And so like Maiden is, even the name is
a good example because it's a Mispelt
word, which fundamentally I dislike.
But when we were going through
the process of creating the
name, one of my art directors.
Maiden was on the table.
We had 216 name options and Maiden was
one of the eight that we got down to.
Oh, to
Zuryna: be a fly on the wall in that room.
I am a project manager by trade, so.
I can't wrangle in our group of like 20,
so I can't imagine like wrangling all
those ideas and all of that in one room.
Nick: So kudos to you
Zuryna: for doing that.
Nick: Our, our Excel sheet had like
categories of meanings and all the
names under them, and then like the
double entendre, triple entendre
opportunities and what is client
facing versus, you know, what is
meaningful to us and origin story.
And anyways, we obviously landed
on Maiden and it was because, he.
I expressed my disdain
for misspelled words.
We're not a CPG brand.
I'm fine with it in CCP G.
Yeah.
And we have a lot of CPG clients.
Um, but he said, well, it's not a
misspelling, it's a spelling because
we're hired to rethink and reframe.
Oh, come on.
Rebrand.
Yeah.
I was like, all right, let's go.
That's, I love that you're on the team.
Uh,
Zuryna: I hope he got a raise
slash a Starbucks gift card.
'cause that was a good rebrand.
Nick: He's, he is brilliant.
We're.
A small team.
We have about 20 people, and I'm
so thankful for each person we.
Everyone.
Our goal is not to have depth of
numbers, but to have depth of thought
and incredibly talented people.
So the conversation, I love that.
Exciting.
Zuryna: I love that.
Well, speaking of which, you say we
a lot, it's never, I'm not hearing a
solopreneur in, in your vocabulary.
So can you walk me through
some of your key players?
I know you mentioned there's a team
of 20, but who are your key team
members that drive things forward?
Nick: Every, everyone's integral.
I mean, the business started with myself
and then my co-founder and business
partner, Jamie Moner, so British dude
who's been in the creative space and a
creative director at the highest level.
He designed the Olympics and Oh wow.
He is, he is brilliant.
Um, he's, you know.
We complete each other
in a business sense.
Zuryna: Oh, I love that.
That is so philosophical and sweet.
Phil.
We complete each other.
I wish I could find my work,
my work counterpart that,
that I can say that about you.
Complete me.
It's,
Nick: it's honestly, I mean, I've been
an entrepreneur for eight years and
I've been in a number of businesses
where, you know, business partnerships
just so tough and rarely do you see eye
to eye and truly get the other person.
But Jamie and I do, and then we have.
Um, well, especially given your
podcast content, we just integrated an
influencer marketing agency, so we just
acquired a influencer marketing agency.
So I have to mention Demeter,
, Demeter's, our head of influence.
He is, , I can't tell you his handle,
but he is, , has millions of followers.
He's just, it's not
public facing his name.
Yeah.
So he's.
You know, friends with all
the biggest content creators
and influencers in the world.
And that's been amazing to add
in that, , additional service.
'cause we, we get hired to think.
You know, large campaign strategy,
total media spend, uh, go to market
strategy, creative campaigns.
Mm-hmm.
And influence is always a part of that.
But normally we've outsourced it
to say, okay, here's the types of
people that you should work with.
Here's the types of content you
need to get, here's the brand's
messaging that we need to get
across to reach these audiences.
Of course.
Mm-hmm.
But work network, you know, that
component's always been handed
off and now it's amazing to have.
In house.
'cause it's that, you know, that final
notch in our belt to say, you know, we're
gonna handle things end to end and a
part of this larger campaign strategy.
We can also intimately have
conversations with influencers
to help get, you know, the brand.
Zuryna: Oh my goodness.
The pro, like I said, I keep referring
back to this, but my heart is fluttering
because you guys are thinking at this,
about this at the, the big picture level.
That is always so important because I feel
like a lot of companies don't incorporate
that into the big picture thing.
So when I tell you my heart
is fluttering, I love this.
What made you guys finally pull
the trigger and say, you know what,
we need to bring this in-house
versus to continue outsourcing?
Nick: Well, sort of to your point,
you know, continuity gets lost
when you have multiple agencies
and there's, it's disjointed.
So disjointed, and there's something
to be said about being incredible at.
Known for being incredible
at a few things, but we feel
like we are at the Yeah.
Core competencies.
Suit your own
Zuryna: horn.
I know that's right.
Suit your horn.
Nick: Like we, you know, we are
confident with our strategy, our
creative output campaign, media buying,
and there is just this disconnect
between, and there's, there's a.
A lack of excitement around influencer
marketing, I think for some brands,
because they've overspent and gotten
burnt because yeah, we're not getting
content creators or influencers, uh,
passionate about what they're doing,
and it's just collecting a paycheck.
Audio Only - All Participants: Mm-hmm.
And so
Nick: we wanted to make sure that
if we ever made this jump, that
the people that we were bringing
on the team that we were adding was
so passionate about what they did.
And demeanor is that way.
And, you know, everyone that we work with.
It just makes it more integrated
into building a strong campaign
Zuryna: that is the perfect representation
of what I talk to my clients about.
It's like, if you think about it at the
big picture level, the little individual
sprints will all make sense, and I know
that so many of my small businesses
they're scared of working with creators,
but if you think of it at the big
picture, you figure out how to weave
them in, it's honestly not so scary.
So thank you for walking us through that.
I appreciate that.
Nick: You're welcome.
You're absolutely right too.
I mean, especially with
limited dollars, right?
Like medium sized brands,
smaller brands, every dollar's.
So important.
The benefit of my finance background
is we care a lot to, you know,
create impactful out there thinking.
Mm-hmm.
But we also are, um, financially.
Responsible for outcomes, right?
Yeah.
So we care to be stewards of
every dollar and be efficient.
And so influencer, we feel like we've
finally tackled and figured out that
formula to, you know, utilize them in
a effective way instead of just, I love
Zuryna: that
Nick: spray and pray
Zuryna: or throwing just something at
the wall and hoping that it stinks.
That's usually what some of the other
brands that I've worked with, that's kind
of their sort of strategy, if you will.
So, yeah.
Good thinking on.
Really thinking through that.
Now, speaking of influencer and content
creator, this is a debate that I've
seen a lot in the boardroom in planning
sessions with small businesses online.
The word influencer
versus content creator.
Which term do you and
your team resonate with?
Why or why not?
And and does it impact how
you structure your campaigns?
Nick: That debate is one that
will probably never end, I think.
I don't know if they're, I don't,
we don't view them as synonymous,
so anyone that has influence over an
audience to us as an influencer, okay?
So if you have a mom in a
neighborhood that has a hundred
loyal people in her PTA group.
Yeah, she, she's a really micro, very
Zuryna: specific,
Nick: she's an influencer and then
you have obviously the larger,
you know, social media influencers
that are influencing a population.
And so we view those people as
influencers, the people that are
making videos, um, ongoing, like
to us, those are content creators.
We prefer if we had to take a stand
Audio Only - All Participants: mm-hmm.
Nick: Be political, you know, we.
I'm just kidding.
If we had to take a stand, we
prefer to work with influencers
'cause we're trying to For sure.
Specific audiences.
So we're not trying to work with
people that are just creating content.
We wanna mm-hmm.
Work with people that have an
audience that listens to them.
Because at its best influencer
marketing is scalable.
Word of mouth marketing, which
is the most effective marketing.
Zuryna: It absolutely is,
and I'm glad you said that.
Now talking about the type of campaigns
that you work on, um, does that also
impact the type of influencer that you
and your company would reach out to?
And if so, would you be able to share who
you've worked with in the past or an ideal
influencer that you would wanna work with
Nick: it?
Yeah, it definitely affects strategy.
We've worked with a lot of.
You know, fun and crazy famous people.
Audio Only - All Participants: Yeah.
Nick: The Meters Good friends with Mr.
Beast.
So that is, you know, the biggest name
probably that we could drop, I guess.
Yeah.
Right now we're working on a campaign
for one of our larger clients
with Daniel Mack, who's the, you
know, what do you do for a living?
Zuryna: Oh gosh.
That should be interesting.
He's really cool.
Nick: He is, and he is awesome
offline too, but I think he's built
up an incredible audience that.
Doesn't, isn't just car
specific or entrepreneurial
specific, and so he has mm-hmm.
Sort of several segments that we can
tap into, which we love for this,
you know, big campaign that we're
launching in a month and a half.
Zuryna: Yeah.
What would you say are some misconceptions
that people would have about the use of
influencer marketing when it comes to
these campaigns or these brand rollouts?
Nick: Several things.
So the biggest thing that we try to tackle
with especially younger brands is you
paying someone to help promote your brand.
Is not the silver bullet.
That's not going to get you a
million, 10 million, a hundred million
dollars in sales off of one person.
And then of course we get the
comp the they come back with,
well, it did this for this brand.
And our feedback is, well.
The moment that you saw it did
that, but they had been telling
their brand story for a long time.
There's other levers
that they pulled Yeah.
With in real life, with activation and you
Zuryna: put all of their
eggs in one basket.
That's what, that's what
you're essentially saying.
Nick: Yeah.
I'm definitely saying, do not do that.
Zuryna: Get your notebooks out.
People write this down.
Don't do that.
Do not put all of your eggs in one basket.
Nick: They're humans, right?
So you need to, if you are head of
partnerships or you're head of influence
or whatever you are within a brand, you
need to, you don't need to do anything.
But we would recommend that you actually
form a relationship with the people
that you're going to spend tens of
thousands, hundreds of thousands of
dollars with, because you want for
sure be bought in to whatever they're
promoting as authentically as possible.
Zuryna: Absolutely.
I would love if you could walk us through
one of your most successful projects.
Now, I recently saw something that
you guys did, and I don't know if
this will be the example, so I'll
hold my mule, which is what my
grandma says, but walk us through
one of your most successful projects.
Nick: Well, I wanna know which one.
I won't talk about it
unless you want me to.
I can talk about a different one.
Zuryna: I was gonna say the San Diego
Football Club, because honestly,
that's the one that I just saw.
And I'm a sports girly.
I'm in my sports era.
I have a few clients
they're football players.
So I love the whole world of sports.
So when I saw that, I
was like, oh my gosh.
So that's the one I was gonna talk about.
Nick: Speaking of sports, we have two
incredibly fun projects that we got
to work on in the last couple years.
San Diego FC launching the Club.
We found out we won Digit a's Best First
to market campaign, which is so exciting.
Zuryna: Congratulations.
That is so big.
That's exactly why I was
like, oh my goodness.
Let me talk about that.
That is crazy.
Congratulations.
Nick: Thank you.
That one, and that one's actually
fascinating on the influencer
front because we didn't leverage.
Any national that was such a, a
specific to the county and San
Diego region campaign that we
used content creators locally.
Yeah.
And then we also used local influencers
to have to build this regional.
Presence and community and sense
of belonging around a club.
Mm-hmm.
That we were launching from scratch.
And then on the other side,
complete con, you know, contrast, we
launched, uh, formula One Las Vegas.
So built the brand.
Whoa.
Audio Only - All Participants: Um,
Nick: yeah, it was a lot of fun.
And that was the exact opposite, right?
Because they have Yeah.
A whole show with drive to survive There.
Whole strategy is trying to
make each driver a celebrity
or influencer Absolutely.
Already.
And some of that.
So what
Zuryna: was your role in that project?
Nick: We, we got to build the brand.
So the visuals, we got to
design the campaign strategy.
So go to market of ultimately how they
sold tickets, the copy that went on the
columns in the hotels, and then, oh, this
Zuryna: was full service.
Nick: Oh my goodness.
It was a, I'm a huge F1 fan and
I, uh, race carts like go-karts.
Zuryna: Yeah.
Nick: And so I think.
That was a dream and it was cool
to see how the sausage was made and
Zuryna: yeah,
Nick: start something
from scratch as well.
It was basically a, a well-funded startup.
Zuryna: So , going back to my
project manager, did you guys
have a lessons learned after you
did these two big executions?
And if so, what were the
lessons that you learned?
What things did you do well?
What were some areas that
you could have improved on?
Nick: So many learnings.
I think, you know, our goal
is to constantly learn.
My brain is wired to optimize, and so
I'm always trying to be better than I
was the day before F1 and San Diego fc.
Why those campaigns were so successful,
in my opinion, was from the beginning,
and we do this with all of our clients.
We need buy-in and open, intimate
conversation, so we were able to have.
Such a good dialogue around what are
we actually trying to accomplish?
How do we get there?
And you know, the issue, I think
the frustration with a lot of
creative agencies is we come up
with these unique ideas and some
of them never see light of day.
Right.
I'd say 80%, yes.
Zuryna: Hurry up and then wait.
Nick: Exactly.
And it's, you know, oh,
well that's too risky.
We're not gonna do it.
And so to the leadership at F1,
the leadership at San Diego fc.
It was so rewarding for them to have
communication with us and for us to
be an extension of their team and
them to agree, yes, we're gonna do
these things that you guys want to do.
Zuryna: Oh, I love that.
'cause so many of my projects
have gotten stuck with legal.
I love legal.
But it's like our creative team
and our marketing team, they
all, this is at my corporate job.
They all have this amazing idea
and then it gets to legal and
they're like, uh, , no, thank you.
So I can imagine as a creative agency
coming in with these ideas and,
and this fire to make something.
Amazing to have that buy-in.
I know.
That was amazing.
'cause I just, I need therapy for
those obstacles I've been through.
So
Nick: kudos to you.
I think we all do.
That's a whole separate podcast.
Zuryna: Um, listen a
therapy, so let's unpack.
That's the name of it.
Let's unpack.
Audio Only - All Participants:
I love that.
That'd be good.
Zuryna: Yeah.
So speaking of these big projects,
I really would love to know,
I'm the tech girly as well.
What tools, technology.
Excel sheets, Asana, Smartsheet.
What did you guys use, not only for
external communication with your
clients, but on the internal front?
I know a lot of people like Slack.
A lot of people hate Slack.
So give me the rundown on the
tech stack that you guys have.
Nick: We're a small business,
so we're not that sophisticated.
I would say we love Slack.
Yeah.
The thing we've ever done was
get our clients, when we onboard
them, we basically say politely.
You can of course email us, but if
you want a faster response keep, we're
gonna create a Slack channel for you.
Zuryna: Absolutely.
Nick: As you know, there's so many systems
and people are using every various things.
We use Trello.
Um, a lot for project
management type things.
Mm-hmm.
So making sure we're going from
face to face timelines Absolutely.
Are getting hit, you know, the worst, but
mostly true stereotype and creative is
like, we're not good at time management.
So thankfully, and that's
Zuryna: not true.
I am a creative operations
project manager.
That is my job to make sure
my creatives are on time.
Like, I'll let you guys doodle
and noodle, but move it along.
You know, that's not true.
So here to bust that myth.
Nick: Yeah.
With your skillset or a must,
especially as agency scale.
Um, for sure.
Of course there's always, there
could always be more time to come
up with a better idea potentially.
But I also think that
creating this, um, sense of.
Urgency helps psychologically to, you
know, focus on getting ideas out there
and actually executing on things.
Otherwise, we would just forever
be an ideation and nothing would.
Zuryna: Absolutely, absolutely.
And I, I would hope that the tech stack
that you have also helps to push some
of that forward, because I know some of
the obstacles that smaller businesses
have is that tech fatigue or tech
overload where they're so busy trying to.
Formulate the process in the
tech stack that they have, that
they don't push things forward.
So do you see that at all with your team?
And if so, how do you combat that?
Nick: Well, so probably similar
to you, my, you know, background
in private equity operations.
So I am, I am wired to make sure that
we're moving along and organized.
It also, it then frees up
time to be more creative.
So it's still absolutely,
so we've definitely had a.
Slow adoption when we introduce new tools.
Yeah.
But we're at now where we have a really
good, you know, standard operating
procedure and we know where data is.
You're
Zuryna: gonna make me cry.
You said SOP.
I'm gonna cry.
Where is my tissue?
Oh my gosh, I love it.
Version control dates at the bottom.
Uh, control numbers.
Okay.
Well, and the
Nick: biggest thing too is
like, what, you know, version
control what you're saying, like.
Having, you know, we just presented
to a client this morning on a big
project and we went through probably
seven iterations of this deck in
Keynote and sending it back and forth.
I know that you can collaborate, so
anyone that's listening that's like, oh,
you should have just hit collaborate.
That does not work Half the
time, keynote needs to fix that.
It's so frustrating.
So we just send, you know, 400 megabyte
decks back and forth until they're done.
But once it's done, it needs to
live in a centralized folder.
Source
Zuryna: of truth.
Nick: Yes.
Zuryna: Yeah.
Nick: We'll revisit.
Zuryna: Compliant person in me is looking
at you like, mm, where did you store this?
Who has the final version?
Mm, mm-hmm.
Nick: Google Drive, which, uh, people
love, people hate, but I, we like it.
It's easy.
I can use it on my phone.
I travel a lot.
Zuryna: Yes.
It's,
Nick: um, very user friendly.
So, yeah.
What, how do you feel about these?
Like, what, what does,
what does your team use?
Zuryna: So, I, I'm a solopreneur, so on
the solo side, op managing operations,
unfiltered, managing live, more agency.
I'm a Google Drive, girly
through and through.
I love my Google Sheets.
I I use Trello a little bit.
That's not my judge, that's not my thing.
But I'm, everything lives in Google
Drive now at work, my corporate life.
We've gone through several
iterations of tools that we've used.
Um, I worked in health insurance when
I first got outta college and they used
a very different version of Workfront.
It was before it was acquired by Adobe.
So very archaic looking,
but that's what we used.
And then I went over to higher education.
I worked at Johns Hopkins,
Carey Business School.
And there we also used an archaic tool.
But I helped our team move
over to Smartsheet, which I.
Will forever die on a hill
that I love Smartsheet.
Smartsheet can do no wrong.
What I tell people, it's like
an automated version of Excel.
There's so much you can do with it.
You can house attachments.
So if I could die, I want them to
bury me in the Smartsheet like attire.
That's my thing.
So currently we use Adobe Workfront.
Um, I like it.
It's intense.
So moral of the story.
I'm a Smartsheet girly.
If I could use Smartsheet forever, I
would, but rule, I always use Google.
Google everything.
Nick: Agreed for now.
Yes.
Zuryna: Yes.
Nick: Anti outlook.
Being in finance, it
was Outlook is the most.
Adopted, but worst
system I have ever used.
It
Zuryna: is, and honestly, it's like I
feel like a Mac user who uses a PC when
I use Outlook, if that makes sense.
Are you a Mac user or are you a pc?
Nick: I have parallels
so I can I, okay, so
Zuryna: you can switch.
You know what I'm talking about?
Nick: Yes.
Zuryna: You use both sides of your brain.
I love that.
Okay, so my last thought about
project management, 'cause I could
talk all day about the logistics.
What's something you wish more clients
understood about, whether it's the tools,
the process being involved, open, what
would you want them to know about that?
Nick: That's a fun one.
It's a tough balance, right?
Because we're a service based business,
so at the end of the day, we need to meet
the client where they are, but mm-hmm.
If I could design a world, which is.
That's why I'm answering it because that I
would love for clients to not communicate
with me on 10 different platforms, which
is kind of what we're talking about.
I
Zuryna: love it.
It's
Nick: tough though, because some
people just, you know, I do say, you
know, of course everyone uses email.
That's easy, but we get, I
get inundated with emails.
Mm-hmm.
Slack is an organized way for me to
communicate with clients, and if I am.
Flying or in a meeting and
it's a design question.
My design team can answer
it 'cause they can see it.
Whoever's on the project is, I mean,
you know how Slack works, right?
So it's amazing.
Yes.
But I still get WhatsApp
messages and signal and I get
called and I'm fine with, um.
I love being client facing and I love
having the personal relationship, but
it's just when things are being asked
that I don't need to directly answer.
Yeah, I wish people just
universally adopted Slack.
Zuryna: Listen, I'm right there
with you because there are so many
times where I'm like, wait a minute.
This is already available.
This is here.
This resource is there.
But I think honestly, the tech
fatigue of it all, people just
don't know where to communicate.
That's truly what it boils down to.
I think we should go
back to pen and paper.
That's it.
We should go back to the old days.
That'll never happen.
Right.
Nick: Pen, paper, and carrier
pigeons to send messages.
Zuryna: Exactly.
Exactly.
Now I really wanna talk more
about your journey from finance
to this crazy, beautiful world of
creativity and creative agency.
How did that happen?
Nick: I saw a hole in the market.
I was working at a boutique private
equity firm in New York, and I.
They,
Zuryna: geez, New York, the
Dallas Finance, the creative.
Wow.
Nick: Yeah.
Now back to New York.
Now I'm, now I'm back based in New York.
I, I missed it a ton and I'm back.
And then I go to San Diego when,
because, so Jamie, my chief creative
officer, runs our San Diego office.
Uh, San Diego.
Have you been to San Diego?
Zuryna: I have not.
That is on my list.
Oh, I'll definitely need to go.
And now I need to visit the
San Diego FC now for sure.
Nick: Oh, it's, yeah, you'll
the stadium's electric.
The city is incredible.
It's, in my opinion, the
best city in the us Not
Zuryna: shameless plug.
I hope you guys teamed up
with the tourism board.
'cause there that alone is like.
Influencer content Creator Haven.
That would be amazing.
Shameless plug there.
Nick: Their slogan is the Finest City,
so they're already doing a lot of Right.
Which I didn't know that, but until the
San Diego FFC project, but yeah, and
I was born there, so it's interesting.
Audio Only - All Participants: Oh wow.
Nick: That's their slogan.
Oh, that is
Audio Only - All Participants: so crazy.
Nick: You have hiking, you have.
Ocean.
You have, everyone's so kind.
The culture is so diverse.
The weather's obviously amazing.
It's
Zuryna: yeah.
Place
Nick: to be.
Um, I
Zuryna: need to move that up on my list.
Geez.
Nick: Especially this summer.
Yeah, post June the water
starts to get warmer.
It's, anyways.
Yes, yes.
Look at him.
It's going right back.
Zuryna: I wanted to get with you for
some food spots 'cause I'm a foodie.
I need some great food, some,
I'm sure the seafood's amazing.
Send me all the, your faves.
Nick: I'm Italian and French.
I love the food and I love pasta.
Send me
Zuryna: the pasta.
Nick: I'll,
Zuryna: oh my goodness.
So you went to finance.
What school did you go to,
if you don't mind sharing?
Nick: I went to SMU in Dallas,
so private school in Dallas.
They had a program where, I think it
was 80 or a hundred kids were direct
admins into the business school as
freshmen, so we didn't have to wait.
Until sophomore year to apply, so, and I
got good scholarship money to go there.
I followed a girl from high
school at the time that was,
oh man, you know, Dallas is e.
Everyone's amazing.
And it's such a unique university, SMU,
because it's one of the few universities
that has an entire city backing it, right?
Yeah.
You look at New York and I
had looked at Columbia, Boston
College, Northwestern and SMU.
Like New York obviously is a
massive, you know, city empire
and for sure universities.
Zuryna: Yeah.
I live in Maryland, so I, I go to New
York i'm always super overwhelmed.
I'm like, let me get back home.
So, yeah.
. Nick: So SMU was a great place to,
you know, amazing business program.
They actually have a finance degree
rather than needing to study economics.
So it's practical and
theoretical, which was important.
And so I did finance and public policy
because I love the behavioral, which is to
answer your question from earlier, which
is ultimately what led to the transition.
I love the behavioral side of economics
and finance because ultimately for now,
until robots take over, humans spend money
and humans drive economies and humans.
Trade stocks and are the reason that,
you know, things go up and down.
It's absolutely, it's algorithmic,
it's data driven, but it's
also sometimes emotion-based.
Mm-hmm.
Or policy driven.
So I wanted to understand the nuts
and bolts of how governments work,
how that affects economics, which
is a public policy major, and then
how you actually model and evaluate
businesses, which is the finance side.
And then I, you know, did the New York
thing for a little bit and realized,
like I said earlier, private equity
wants very specific things, which is,
uh, you know, p and l driven financially.
Yes.
And then creative wants.
They don't understand that
neither world, and they're both
needed, they're both unique.
They're both needed to drive value,
ultimately want to get to the same place.
Zuryna: Exactly.
Different ways of getting there.
Nick: Yes, and I think if they can
work harmoniously and if you can,
if you're comfortable with that,
that never ending friction of.
You know, this is a qualitative
thing that will provide quantitative
outcomes for the finance.
Audio Only - All Participants: Absolutely.
Nick: You can really
drive value for brands.
I mean, we, we just saw this.
Cycle in private equity of
hiring big creative agencies.
Audio Only - All Participants: Mm-hmm.
Nick: Doing amazing work.
It not necessarily leading to the
right outcomes for, you know, a
portfolio company that we owned
on the private equity side and
then hiring a new creative agency.
Yep.
And millions of dollars are
being spent in this whole thing.
And so we, uh, well I wanted to.
Create a solution for that.
Right?
Because I
Zuryna: love it.
I'm really obsessed.
Like I'm sitting here like, this is crazy.
You saw the need and you
came in and you filled it.
And I, I love that so much.
And I'm instilling the corporate
doing the same thing, bridging
the gap between the two.
So what do you set for yourself
or for your creatives as.
Key measures of success.
Like I know we all, as a creative, you
can't just say, well , this got a 4%
increase in views and things like that.
So how do you measure success
for the projects that you
have or even for your team?
Nick: So, two part answer.
I think with any new
client onboarding, we.
Have again, candid conversation
about why are we here, right?
Yeah.
Like, great, you loved what we pitched.
You wanna work with us, you like
our portfolio and our team, but what
is a successful outcome for you?
And then they give us that answer,
and then we, that's our answer, right?
So if it's
Zuryna: okay, I love that straight
to the point, the onus is on them.
The other part, the question that
is bubbling inside of me, because
I know the people who I've worked
on projects absolutely hate this.
Do you have a RACI model?
Responsible, accountable,
consulted, informed.
So there's no communication
errors, there's no misunderstanding
about who's supposed to review,
who's supposed to approve.
Do you have that?
And if not, would you think
that that would be important
or helpful to implement?
Nick: That is so important.
We learned the hard way early on.
As an agency, you must
know who needs to sign off.
Thank
Zuryna: you.
Say it louder for the people in the back
Nick: and scope of work needs
to be clearly communicated.
This
Zuryna: is out of scope.
I can't, I love sending those emails.
I'm so sorry.
This is out of scope.
I love it.
Nick: I, I feel, yeah, it's,
it's a fine line, right?
Because we we're in this business to
over deliver and create beautiful things.
Audio Only - All Participants: Mm-hmm.
Nick: But we can't.
I, we have these conversations,
Jamie and I internally, it's like,
okay, if we're doing something
that's out of scope, we are basically
investing in their business, but we
don't have equity in their business.
Hello.
So it's
Audio Only - All Participants: painful.
Nick: So it's, it's a fascinating,
it's, there's obviously a fine line,
um, of things, but you know, we gotta
be really try to create that open
communication and clear communication.
And we've, we haven't at times, right?
We've, it's been a learning.
Yeah.
Um, because, because you're also like
creatives need to understand that
the other side, your clients don't
necessarily understand your process.
They, they know the outcome that
they want, but they don't know.
You can give them a timeline.
They don't know where you are in
the timeline with, unless you're
communicating with them, Hey, by
the way, we just did this visual
direction, and now you're gonna start
to see brand identity come through.
Zuryna: Absolutely.
And it even gets to the granularity
of like, I have to explain to you
that yes, you think picking photos
for this email banner is quite simple,
but my graphic designer needs a
couple days, needs to figure it out.
You know, or things like that
that, that are not accounted
for at the beginning, I think.
Save a lot of confusion in the end,
so that's why I asked that racy
question because I've had a lot of
people moan and groan when I do it.
I have a lot of people get
frustrated, but it's helpful, so
Nick: it's so helpful, especially on
the, to your point on the decision
making side of things like idea
meritocracy, meritocracy is important.
We want everyone to be able to weigh
in, but we need to know ultimately.
Who we need to be listening to.
Zuryna: Yes, for sure.
And you mentioned, you pitched these, is
there a go-to ritual that you have a song
that you play to get you ready for this?
Because mine is Beyonce.
Like Beyonce can do no wrong in my eyes.
I'm gonna put sprinkle a little
bit of Taylor Swift in there.
Maybe some Kendrick.
It's an eclectic playlist.
So what's your ritual or your song
that you play before these big pitches?
Nick: So I, I do have a playlist.
Um, it's incredibly eclectic.
It's everything from classical music
to pop, to rap, to house music.
It's really just, I, I like the
feeling that, you know, music invokes.
Zuryna: Yeah,
Nick: it sparks your
Zuryna: creativity.
I love it.
Nick: It does put in a good mindset.
Um.
There's a really funny one that will
funny for prepping for a meeting.
It's not a funny song, but it's
called Sleeping on the Blacktop,
and it's like a deep sultry song.
I think it's by Coulter Wall.
I'm really bad with names.
Um, but it's, it's like
you feel like you're.
In a Western film and going
into a dual or something.
I
Zuryna: love it.
Okay.
I am adding that to the list.
Okay.
Are there any podcasts that
you have on rotation right now?
Of course, other than Operations
Unfiltered, but any other ones?
Nick: Operations Unfiltered,
and then I love Tim Ferriss.
Zuryna: Okay.
Tim Ferris.
Tim Ferris.
Um, and I
Nick: think reading I read
probably more than I also, uh, that
Zuryna: was gonna be my next
question because I'm in my book era.
I am in, I'm reading Set
Boundaries to Find Peace by Nedra.
I can't pronounce her last name, but
that is, I'm in my Say No Girl era,
so that's helping me find my center.
And then of course, I love reading
case studies, such a weirdo.
So I'm reading Applied
Crisis Communication.
So because with all of the
crises that are happening.
I just wanna spruce up my, my toolbox.
So those are the two that
I'm reading, so please.
Great.
Give me something else other
than those case studies to read,
Nick: I, there's an amazing marketing
book called Contagious, which is awesome.
Everyone should read it.
Alchemy, which is Rory Sutherland,
who is, you know, Ogilvy.
And then I'm currently reading
Rational Transparency, which is, Ooh, I
Zuryna: love that.
Nick: And that's more of a human behavior.
Book, which I find fascinating.
Um, I could go on.
I mean, I try to, it's tough.
Have you
Zuryna: ever read Digital Minimalism?
That's been on my list for a while,
but I have not read it just yet.
Audio Only - All Participants:
It's good digital
Zuryna: minimalism and I would
love for another creative who's.
The exact opposite that, of that our
world can, we can't be minimalist,
we can't be di So I would love to
see someone in our space read that
and, and give their perspective.
Because, you know, I know there's such a,
a negative connotation with social media.
It does do, do poor things
to our mental health.
But I mean, there's a whole world
of us that make this our living.
So digital minimalism,
Nick: it's added to the list.
Yeah.
And social media is not going away.
So people.
Can complain about it, but they really
just need to learn to use it as a tool for
Zuryna: sure.
Thank, get on board.
That's what I keep saying.
Get on board.
You mentioned, you traveled a lot.
How do you maintain
this work life balance?
Is someone telling you to eat?
Are you reminding yourself to eat?
Are you taking naps?
Like, what is happening, mom?
Right.
I'm, I'm happy to do so.
Like what is, what is happening?
Nick: Uh, health is so important.
I love.
Fitness and health and wellness.
We actually had a supplement company
that we were involved in and invested
in and did the branding and marketing
for, and I learned so much 'cause we
had some of the best nutritionists
in the world involved in that.
Uh, I, it's a moving target.
Diet is key when traveling.
I am a foodie like you,
so I still go out and eat.
Yes, I really try to prioritize
getting in the gym, sleeping well.
Um, I have, um, a remote trainer that
there's a new thing over the last couple
months just to give me the structure.
'cause otherwise I'm going in the
gym doing what I wanna do based on
my, yeah, not a way to see progress.
So it's for sure, she tells me.
Your mood doesn't matter.
It's the plan that you need
to stick to, which I think,
Zuryna: hello?
Lemme write that down.
Your mood doesn't matter.
It's the plan you need to stick to.
Nick: I am gonna
Zuryna: put that on my forehead.
Like it's,
Nick: yeah, it's just, you know,
daily making sure you get in because
you feel so much better when you're
active and it's sort of this.
I call it the paradox effect, right?
Like to have more energy, you
have to sleep to build muscle,
you have to tear it down.
Yeah.
There's all these things in life that,
, are seemingly opposite for results.
But yeah, sleep is key.
I don't get a lot of sleep, but I, I
get quality sleep, which is important.
Zuryna: So all the entrepreneurs,
serial entrepreneurs, get some sleep.
Make sure you watch your diet.
All of the things.
Take care of yourself.
That's the moral of the story.
Nick: It is.
You can't get back.
Health is the most important thing.
Zuryna: Yes.
Well, Nick, thank you so, so much.
I've learned so much, this
has been a great conversation.
How can everybody keep
in contact with you?
Keep keep up with all
things made in follow you.
How can they, how can
they stay in the know?
Nick: So our website's maiden, MADI n.com.
Social media is maiden agency
and then mine is Nick Valenti.
With three is
Zuryna: With Three.
Okay.
Real creative.
I like it.
Thank you so much again for joining me.
It was a pleasure and I
will see you next time.
Thanks everybody.