The Epica Awards has named Domenico Loperfido, chief growth officer and partner at Milan and London-based agency DUDE, as jury president for 2026.
Loperfido is also the editor of In Case You Missed It, a weekly creative industry newsletter published on Substack.
His background spans client-side, agency, and trade journalism roles. He began his career at Vodafone in marketing before moving into operations, then left to join DUDE — at the time a 15-person startup — after interviewing one of its founders, Lorenzo Del Bianco, for Ninja Marketing, an industry publication he had approached cold.
“Writing about advertising has been crucial to my career,” Loperfido said.
At DUDE, he moved from account management into business development, operations, and PR before taking on his current role as chief growth officer. Since 2023, he has also served as CEO and partner of DUDE Design, the group’s branding and visual identity division. A separate entity within the group, DUDE Things, operates as a branding-driven incubator for startups through a work-for-equity model.
Loperfido launched In Case You Missed It three years ago. “The idea was simple: a quick, curated update on the best in advertising, design and marketing each week,” he said.
“There was a gap in Italy for that kind of concise, international perspective. To be honest, I was my own audience.”
The newsletter is published in English. “It’s helped me stay informed and connect with people all over the world,” Loperfido said.
On his appointment, Loperfido said the jury’s composition is what distinguishes the awards. “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.”
He also noted a shift in how trade journalism is consumed. “There’s kind of a gap between traditional trade media and the way audiences consume content today. Platforms like Substack show there’s space for new editorial models.”
Asked about the state of Italian creativity, Loperfido was direct. “I’ll be critical: I think the level of Italian creativity right now is about the same as Italian football,” he said.
“We’re not in our strongest moment. In the past, we had a clearer identity and a bigger international presence. Design is still strong, but advertising has been relatively flat in recent years. We lack boldness, and we say yes to clients too much.”
He called for greater investment in talent and exposure to international standards. “If we want to compete globally again, we need to invest in talent, expose creatives to international standards, and encourage more bravery.”
The Epica Awards jury is composed of journalists from the trade press.
