Mitch Robinson

41. Mitch Robinson

Manager, Marketing & Business Ops, Click! Network

Arguably one of the most creative people in cable, CableFAX: The Magazine’s 2010 Independent Marketer of the Year actually dyed his hair purple to inspire staff to exceed sales and customer service milestones. Seattle-Tacoma-based Robinson has literally remade the Click brand, giving it a distinct voice from its utility company parent. And talk about touching your customers, Robinson offers free classes for… Show more

41. Mitch Robinson

Manager, Marketing & Business Ops, Click! Network

Arguably one of the most creative people in cable, CableFAX: The Magazine’s 2010 Independent Marketer of the Year actually dyed his hair purple to inspire staff to exceed sales and customer service milestones. Seattle-Tacoma-based Robinson has literally remade the Click brand, giving it a distinct voice from its utility company parent. And talk about touching your customers, Robinson offers free classes for subs to teach them about new services. He re-created an Oprah moment by handing out new remotes to customers in one of the classes.
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Robinson had lived in the Seattle-Tacoma area before joining Click. "I wasn’t sure what Click was," he says. "Was it a power company? A cable company? I figured other people felt the same way." Research proved him correct. Click had an identity crisis. That’s when the purple haze descended on everything Click. "We wanted to stand out and entertain." It’s also when Click Network Tacoma Power gave birth to Click Cable TV and the tag "Your Local Choice." Today Click Cable TV has 110 employees… Show more

Robinson had lived in the Seattle-Tacoma area before joining Click. "I wasn’t sure what Click was," he says. "Was it a power company? A cable company? I figured other people felt the same way." Research proved him correct. Click had an identity crisis. That’s when the purple haze descended on everything Click. "We wanted to stand out and entertain." It’s also when Click Network Tacoma Power gave birth to Click Cable TV and the tag "Your Local Choice." Today Click Cable TV has 110 employees serving 25K subs.

But the purple hair? Robinson did it when certain "lofty" sub and revenue goals, set nearly 4 years ago, were reached. But this was not a ‘hair today, gone tomorrow’ situation. Robinson kept his colorful mane for "a long 3 weeks" and attended a slew of community events and business meetings

Pictures of his coiffure abound on walls in Click’s offices. "He took one for the team...it raised morale, brought us together and reminded us that we reached our goals," says Click’s Government/Community Relations Manager Diane Lachtel. "It was very popular with field employees," she adds, noting service techs initially got plenty of ribbing driving around town in Click’s all-purple trucks.

While hair might make the man, it takes more to make a good marketer. Beyond his hair-raising antics, Robinson "knows how important it is to make a mark in the community when you’re up against a strong competitor like Comcast," says NCTCs SVP Dan Mulvenon. Indeed, "Markting is all about differentiation," Robinson says, "and we’ve layered localism on top of everything we do." So Click’s ads feature local high school musicians. And it picked up WGN because it knew Chicago Cubs’ skipper Lou Piniella is a local hero — Robinson even staged a Piniella-style base-throwing contest to generate buzz. Click sponsors Saturday matinees at a local theater for subs and non-subs alike. And Robinson holds free, quarterly sessions for subs, where he discusses how to get more value from cable. Show less