How an in-house AI Strategist supports client experience, with Meg Pescio and Tom Duffy

Welcome to episode 151. If you’re trying to work out how to integrate AI into your agency without losing the human side of what you do, this conversation will help.

Today I’m joined by two guests from Noble Studios: Tom Duffy, Head of AI Strategy, and Meg Pescio, Vice President of Client Experience.

Noble Studios is a creative digital performance marketing agency based in Reno & Las Vegas in Nevada and Bristol, UK, focusing primarily on travel and tourism and B2B technology clients. Noble’s impressive client list includes the likes of Adobe, SiriusXM Media, Travel Nevada, and Visit Lake Tahoe.

They’ve been intentionally experimenting with AI across the agency, and in this episode we dig into how Tom and Meg are partnering to bring AI into client work in a thoughtful, human-first way.

Here’s what we cover:

·         Why Noble decided to hire a dedicated Head of AI Strategy and how that role works alongside the client experience team

·         The change management piece: how they’ve built trust internally and avoided “AI panic” in the agency

·         Practical use cases for account managers and client success teams, including: using AI as a learning and thinking partner, creating client “knowledge hubs” with tools like Notebook LM, aggregating messy data sources to uncover new insights for clients

·         How they’re thinking about data privacy, tools, and tech stack decisions

·         The impact AI is having on agency positioning, pricing and perceived value

·         Why human judgment, critical thinking and relationships are becoming even more important as AI usage grows

·         Their advice for agencies thinking about hiring an AI lead or formalising their AI approach

 

If you’d like to learn more about what Noble Studios is doing, you can head to  http://noblestudios.com/
or connect with Tom and Meg on LinkedIn, where they regularly share what they’re testing and learning.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-duffy-reno/

And  if you want ongoing support with the account management side of agency life, join my newsletter. It’s where I share:

·         practical account management tips

·         trends and shifts I’m seeing in the industry

·         notifications of new podcast episodes

·         any mini training sessions or speaking I’m doing

You can sign up at http://accountmanagementskills.com/