The new 3-and-a-half P's of Marketing today

"Marketing as a verb is dead."

This is how Chris Robbins began his Conversuasion presentation during Ad Lounge's Social Media Week Toronto event last week.  Chris' talk was entitled "Passion, People, Perspective, Fun (and Luck). The new 3 1/2 P's of Marketing today." 

Chris is the Chief Customer Officer for WIND Mobile, Canada's newest entrant in the national wireless industry.  Chris prides himself on being able to combine both creative irrationality with the rational.

Here are some takeaways from his talk:

Passion.

• If passion creates change, then boring is the new evil.
• Use passion to choose, manage and lead people.

People.

• Hire the best people and don't be afraid if they're smarter than you. 
• Encourage staff to "go out and do good."

Perspective.

• "When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail."  It's a challenge for companies to be different and look at things with a new perspective.
• Canadian wireless providers have treated their customers with disdain while courting new clients with sweeter deals.  Chris refers to this as incorrectly focusing on the "first date" rather than long-term relationships.

Fun and Luck.

• Prior to getting the green light to do business from the Canadian government, WIND had 5 different ad campaigns ready to roll.  Whether they were allowed to open for business or not, WIND had a corresponding message ready to launch.
• Sometimes you have to be lucky to be good.