As a Chief Marketing Officer, you have to be passionate about the brand you’re working for. With more than 10 years of experience working for Chicago-style fast-casual restaurant, Portillo’s, CMO Nick Scarpino joins us for this episode of Clicks 2 Bricks to share his marketing expertise and love for this multi-generational brand! Tuning in, you’ll hear all about Nick’s career at Portillo’s, from cashier to CMO, the highlights of his time at Portillo’s (including his idea to introduce the birthday club), how his work integrates with the IT side of things, and so much more! We delve into how they balance digital and traditional marketing for local and national audiences before Nick tells us how he has leveraged the TikTok Creator program. We even discuss how Nick’s experience working at Google has helped him prioritize Google's foot traffic to the company, how AI will affect his role, his unpopular marketing opinions about TV, mentorship, and more! Thanks for listening in.
Key Points From This Episode:
- A bit of background and a fun fact about today’s guest, Nick Scarpino!
- Insight into Portillo’s story, Nick’s job as the first CMO, and his CIO counterpart.
- How their marketing supports and keeps up with the kind of growth Portillo’s experiences.
- Nick’s 10-year journey with the brand and the high points of his career.
- The birthday club he created and how it has benefitted Portillo’s.
- How marketing and IT work together at the company and their tech stack goals.
- Balancing national versus local and digital versus traditional marketing.
- Why the TikTok Creator program is so effective for digital marketing.
- The massive role Google plays in consumer foot traffic and how Nick approaches that.
- How AI is going to impact his job and restaurant marketing in general.
- An unpopular marketing opinion that Nick feels very strongly about.
- The important role that mentors have played in his career.
- Some hot takes on hot topics in the lightning round!
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.