#62 - Enchanting a Nation: How R. Ethan Braden is leading a bold vision for Texas A&M’s Marketing & Branding
My guest today is R. Ethan Braden, Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Texas A&M University. In this episode, Ethan shares his vision for building a world-class marketing team and developing a national earned media strategy to amplify Texas A&M's brand.
Ethan discusses the five priorities he's established for his team: building a world-class marketing team, establishing a comprehensive insight-based brand platform, providing brand assets for the campus to execute the vision, cultivating a united marketing community, and pursuing a national earned media strategy.
Key Takeaways:
- Building a world-class marketing team involves hiring emotive storytellers, content strategists, and earned media experts who can "enchant" audiences with Texas A&M's stories.
- Having a distinct, insight-based brand platform allows everyone to "get in character" and consistently express the brand's essence across touchpoints.
- Providing a centralized library of high-quality branded assets (photos, videos, guidelines) enables campus partners to localize and execute marketing plans efficiently.
- Cultivating a united "marketing community" across campus fosters synergies, best practices, and a harmonious brand voice.
- Pursuing a national earned media strategy ensures Texas A&M is part of relevant national conversations, beyond just a regional reputation.
- Focus content creation on owning key subject matter spaces (e.g. Texas A&M's meat sciences department owning BBQ/smoking content on YouTube).
Connect With Ethan:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertethanbraden/
- Texas A&M University: https://www.tamu.edu/
Connect With John:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnazoni
- Website: https://unveild.tv
- Newsletter: https://unveild.tv/newsletter
