They Say It’s Our (32nd) Birthday!

With apologies to Jerome McCarthy, over the past few years, I have taken my own approach to the 4Ps to guide how we run our ventures.

My version is Passion, People, Profit, and Purpose. Depending on the circumstances, the audience, and what I had for breakfast, I use these words in an inconsistent pattern of variation. That is to say, I keep the words the same but adjust the descriptors to fit the vibe.

Today I want to use these words as four candles on our 32nd Birthday cake for T1. Yes, Trojan Sports Marketing, Trojan Sports & Event Marketing, TrojanOne, T1, or whatever you care to call my OG venture, is a bona fide millennial, achieving independence on May 16, 1994.

It was a Monday, and I love Mondays. Still do. I almost called my new podcast (spoiler alert, I have a new pod coming). Thank God It’s Monday. I didn’t because people who don’t like work as much as I do may not want to support the pod, and a podcast with a religious reference is not at all my intention.

Regardless of what day you read this, I want to celebrate our Black-owned, women-led, always independent agency with a 4Ps toast.

Let’s start with PASSION. Building a business has never been my passion. Being in an industry I love is. I love all the people, clients, competitors, suppliers, volunteers, brand ambassadors, and partners who are in this dynamic world of sponsorship, activation, XM, and building community. You are my passion, and your passion gets me out of bed every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!

The PEOPLE of this industry are what make it fun, but the team at T1 is what makes it satisfying. Our LT have built a high-performance culture of people who win as one. Everyone at T1 Gets It, Wants it, and Does it. (EOS fans will have some déjà vu reading this.) Happy Birthday, Team.

In my first job at Glavin & Associates, I had Effem Foods (Mars) as my prime client. On the walls of their reception area were the Five Principles of Mars. One of my favourites was PROFIT. Mars believes that, as an enterprise, “we need profit to remain free" from shareholders and outside forces. I think that if every company in the world targeted just enough profit to remain free and independent, the world would be a better place.

PURPOSE is personal even in a company. When I started T1, I wanted to push the boundaries of what sponsorship could deliver for a business, connect brands to community, and help my individual client win at her role. Thirty-two years, and that trio still rhymes with purposeful to me.

No 32-year-old should have 32 candles on their cake. I think these four, representing PASSION, PEOPLE, PROFIT, and PURPOSE, do an amazing job of carrying the flame to illuminate what we have built over three-plus decades.

Happy Birthday, T1. I love you.