Cablefax The Magazine - July 2015 - 17

2015 Top Ops Awards
MSO LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Joe Rooney
Cox Communications
There's no truth to reports that Joe Rooney is retiring. " I'm calling
it my re-Wirement, " he says. Always the marketer, Rooney has
branded his next chapter. " I've bought an RV that I can put motorcycles
in. I'm planning my route to see the big, square states... I've
never been to Yellowstone, Glacier National Park or Sturgis, [SD]...
my wife and I are going to see America for the better part of 12
months... after that I'll see what happens. " Jill Campbell, Cox EVP
and COO, expects Rooney " to embrace new adventures... with the
same vigor he's positioned cable among consumers for decades. "
It's inconceivable to imagine the 34-year cable vet leaving the industry.
Talk about Rooney with former CTAM chief Char Beales, and she
mentions SkiTAM, which has rebranded as Adaptive Spirit. " Joe's been
so dedicated to it... almost from the beginning, " she says. Could it be
his next act? A hint: " I really enjoy my volunteer work with SkiTAM and
I've been debating, 'Can I do more?' I'm going to explore that while I'm
on the road, " Rooney says.
You can't recap Rooney's career without noting his fi rst gig-selling cable
door-to-door for ATC (later Time Warner Cable) in Iowa City in 1981. " It's a
little chilly, it's getting dark and you don't feel like doing it anymore. There
were many days where I had to push myself out the door to do that job.
At the time, I couldn't have predicted how fortunate I was to stick with it. "
And the training was great. " When you're sitting at someone's kitchen
table... you learn a lot about customers and marketing. "
This customer-centric focus and kitchen-table creativity became
hallmarks of Rooney's career. Says Anne Cowan, CTAM's SVP of
Communications and Marketing, " Joe was great at listening to Cox's
customers and knowing how to talk to them. " This helped Rooney
to lead " on the edge of the digital revolution, setting the pace and
thinking for creative strategic initiatives that benefi ted Cox and the
entire industry, " adds Cox chief Pat Esser.
Praising Rooney's creativity, Beales cites his idea of setting up demos
of high-speed data under tents outside malls on weekends in Orange
County, CA, so customers could try it. Incidentally, those early '90s
demos birthed one of cable's most famous rallying cries. Most MSOs
weren't integrating HSD with their cable services. " We had separate
install teams, marketers and bills, " Rooney notes. " What customers
told us over and over [at HSD demos] was they wanted one bill, one
person to call " and incentives for taking multiple services. In the 1992
campaign, Clinton strategist James Carville focused his troops with,
" It's the economy, stupid. " Rooney's cable version: " It's the bundle,
baby. " Did Rooney change cable with that concept? Maybe. Beales
and Cowan quickly agree it's Rooney's legacy.
Also part of Rooney's legacy bundle is his tremendous work at CTAM.
Says Rooney: " Half of cable's connects are related to movers...
in [2000] we weren't handling movers well as an industry. So we
Cablefax: The Magazine
July 2015
created... MoveCo, which lets cable operators hand movers to each
other. " Since then there have been " millions of sales " through the
Cable Movers Hotline, Rooney says. " It's a quiet success that I'm most
proud of, " he adds. Leave it to a person who moved so often for cable
[see Fast Facts, below] to improve cable's handling of movers.
[Joe Rooney looks at cable's future at cablefax.com]
- Seth Arenstein
FAST FACT
Fast Fact
uOriginally from Iowa, Rooney's relocated to eight states
during his 34-year cable career; his children have
been born in four states.
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Cablefax The Magazine - July 2015

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