When R. Ethan Braden took the helm as chief advertising and communications officer for Purdue College and Purdue International, he had his work minimize out for him.
“What I discovered in 2018 was a well-meaning however emaciated, antiquated, and dilapidated sort-of comms store of 55 people that had been usually pushed by the random and tactical advertising requests of the campus,” he explains.
Ethan’s first order of enterprise? To construct a world-class advertising group to inform the Purdue story now not because the pushed however as the motive force of the model.
He took the helm of the 150-year-old iconic Purdue model, which has graduated 27 astronauts (probably the most of any non-service academy, together with Neil Armstrong). Throw in a pandemic, shifting notions in regards to the worth of a school training, and a number of goal audiences, and issues received complicated.
At present, Purdue’s advertising group stands practically 100 sturdy. They’ve elevated the $3 billion Purdue model and its portfolio, which incorporates the flagship college and its Purdue College On-line, three polytechnic excessive faculties, Purdue International for working adults, a brand new city campus in Indianapolis, a analysis basis, and an alumni affiliation of 600,000.
And Purdue content material reaches a much bigger viewers than it ever has. Beneath Ethan’s management, the group has turn out to be a content material juggernaut, culminating with this 12 months’s viral video, What Can You Think about at Purdue?” (The spot amassed over 28 million views in eleven months on YouTube and was named a Content material Advertising Undertaking of the Yr finalist.) It’s considered one of many explanation why Ethan was named Content material Marketer of the Yr for the 2023 Content material Advertising Awards.
Check out Ethan’s content material strategy, how he will get his group into character to inform the emotional tales of Purdue, and the way he helped double Purdue’s advertising funding in 5 years. You may hear a part of the story in his personal phrases on this temporary video interview.
Instilling a campus-wide mission to enchant
Ethan loves the phrase “enchant” in defining his content material philosophy, and it has nothing to do with princesses or legendary creatures. “The definition of enchant is ‘to evoke and entice an ecstatic admiration and demand for.’ And after we take into consideration content material and its distribution with our goal audiences, that’s the purpose – to evoke and entice their ecstatic admiration and demand for Purdue in no matter which means at that second. Whether or not that’s to come back to highschool right here, purchase season tickets, come to work for us, accomplice with us on analysis, and so forth.,” Ethan explains.
Staying ‘in character’ as an alternative of ‘on model’
When Ethan arrived, the advertising at Purdue was usually centered on colours, logos, taglines, and fluff quite than deeply understanding its college students’ and alumni’s attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors – the emotional resonance that even manifests itself in tattoos of the college’s brand, identify, and boilermaker mascot.
That led Ethan to ask (and reply): “How are you turning up that pleasure, the nostalgia, the love, the impression this place has on people?”
To remain in character, the group developed an infinite, centralized database {of professional} belongings and instruments out there for schools and departments to localize quite than creating one thing on their very own or making particular person requests for advertising.
“There’s freedom inside this framework, so that you’ve received some latitude to inform your target market what you stand for. However the tip of the spear is Purdue College, and we would like folks to say, ‘This feels synergistic. This all feels prefer it’s coming from the identical place,’” Ethan says.
Cross-functional groups attain completely different audiences
Purdue advertising should attain potential college students, mother and father, grownup learners, college, researchers, alumni, and others. To try this, Purdue’s advertising leaders broke the group into teams with deep experience and empathy for his or her goal audiences. “Our cross-functional groups are an X issue of nice advertising and nice storytelling,” he says.
For instance, when creating content material about an grownup learner, the marketer isn’t the one one who wants to know the goal particular person’s journey. The photographer, challenge supervisor, and author additionally must know. “The richness of the collective output of the cross-functional groups is a lot larger,” Ethan says.
Advertising the advertising
Ethan is grateful that he obtained early buy-in from the college’s administration and Board to revamp Purdue’s strategy to advertising and its central group. However he didn’t cease garnering extra help and assets. “We do a good quantity of advertising the advertising to guarantee that the group understands what it has and appreciates it but in addition values it in a manner that enables us to proceed to do our jobs to the very best of our skills and experience,” Ethan explains.
For instance, advertising promoted its phenomenal YouTube progress on a channel {that a} 12 months in the past already garnered 2 million views, besting its 5 benchmark peer faculties mixed. In 2023, Purdue’s YouTube grew that efficiency to a whopping 55 million views.
“I would like the group to know that, and I would like them to really feel like there’s unimaginable competence right here, so that they have such confidence within the folks which are telling Purdue’s story and the assets we’re being afforded to do it,” Ethan says.
Ethan’s advertising of selling has labored. Purdue’s advertising funding has doubled within the final 5 years, permitting him to extend the scale, high quality, and skillsets of the group. “I might take (our expertise) to any Fortune 100 tomorrow and say we are able to do what they’re doing. We now have unimaginable entrepreneurs now, largely alumni, who love this place, and that’s the key sauce,” he says.
Past the practically 100 folks on the official advertising group, a campus group of about 300 different entrepreneurs and communicators collaborates and contributes, too. “When a number of folks have their fingerprints on one thing, they’ll personal it, implement it, and so they’ll endorse it with their deans and division heads,” Ethan says.
A 75-person scholar group referred to as The Boiler Ambassadors additionally acts like an company for the college. The concept manifested throughout COVID-19 once they wanted college students to assist disseminate the Defend Purdue marketing campaign.
Wanting forward
Ethan and his advertising group at Purdue aren’t resting on their success. “As true Purdue innovators and instigators of progress, we’re leaning in to see what’s attainable [with AI], and we’re prepared to make some errors alongside the best way,” he says.
However irrespective of how they get there, Ethan will keep true to his skilled philosophy: “I need to construct manufacturers and groups that folks love and belief. We’ve been in a position to try this right here at Purdue during the last 5 years. That’s the place we’re going to proceed to go.”
Wish to hear extra from Ethan, plus get the most recent tendencies, methods, and inspiration to take your video content material to the following stage? Be part of us on November 15-16 for the Masters of Advertising: Visible Storytelling free digital occasion. Register now.
MORE EXAMPLES FROM 2023 CONTENT MARKETING AWARD FINALISTS
Cowl picture by Joseph Kalinowski/Content material Advertising Institute
