Higher Ed Storytelling University

00:00:00:05 - 00:00:22:04
John Azoni
All right. My guest today is Ethan Braden. Ethan is vice president and chief marketing and communications officer at Texas A&M University. Today, we're talking about, among other things, five priorities for marketing and branding growth that Ethan has established within his role and what those mean for the university. So, Ethan, welcome to the show.

00:00:22:15 - 00:00:23:06
R. Ethan Braden
Thank you for having me.

00:00:24:10 - 00:00:29:03
John Azoni
So let's start off on a little personal note. Just tell us something people might be surprised to know about. You.

00:00:29:18 - 00:00:42:12
R. Ethan Braden
I think amidst all the time I spent in the Midwest, born and raised and a proud product of Albuquerque, New Mexico, so interesting to find a lot of those folks. So did you watch?

00:00:43:21 - 00:00:44:22
John Azoni
Did you watch Breaking Bad?

00:00:45:10 - 00:01:05:19
R. Ethan Braden
I cherish Breaking Bad. And Mother was six blocks from where Walt's house is on the show. And we would go visit it and the dam and taco salad. I used to get my truck washed at that car wash. It was called the Octopus, not the triple-A or whatever they call it on the show. Really, it was the octopus and it's still there.

00:01:06:05 - 00:01:07:19
R. Ethan Braden
That's a real car wash. Yeah.

00:01:08:20 - 00:01:17:23
John Azoni
Wow. That's cool. I didn't I saw I watched the series for the first time, like a year or so ago. So I was, like, very late to the game. So it's it's more fresh in my mind.

00:01:18:05 - 00:01:21:23
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah, The taco place is right across the street, so those are all real places.

00:01:22:06 - 00:01:24:13
John Azoni
Is there an actual, like, chicken chicken place?

00:01:24:18 - 00:01:40:08
R. Ethan Braden
It's a twisters. So they make these. This is real healthy. They make these burritos, these giant burritos, and then they cover them in French fries and twisters in the South Valley that they took over for potatoes, tomatoes. So, yeah, it's you can see it. They've got the artwork on the wall.

00:01:41:10 - 00:01:47:16
John Azoni
Interesting. And you thought you didn't have anything, you know, interesting to to reference here.

00:01:47:22 - 00:01:50:03
R. Ethan Braden
I got.

00:01:50:09 - 00:02:05:15
John Azoni
So. All right. So tell us, because you came from Purdue, come to Texas A&M. So tell us. I knew you from your from your Purdue days. Tell us about kind of that journey from Purdue to Texas A&M.

00:02:06:07 - 00:02:32:08
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah, I started here at Texas A&M in December 1st. So it's been four months and it's been an incredible experience so far. This is a special place with very special Aggies. And I think the draw was a few things. One, an incredible brand that the nation and the world don't know enough about. And so I had a terrific boss at Eli Lilly and Company where I was there for a decade, and he used to say, take rolls or there's plenty of clay to mold something beautiful.

00:02:32:11 - 00:02:51:14
R. Ethan Braden
And there is tons of clay here in College Station and Texas A&M University. So the opportunity to capture and mold and beautify what we have here and and show it to the world and say, did you know this is an incredible challenge. And it was similar to that which I found at Purdue. We built an incredible team there.

00:02:51:20 - 00:03:08:19
R. Ethan Braden
And as Mitch Daniels used to quote Ronald Reagan and saying, you know, always keep on wanting more, I thought it was about the right time to move on and pass the baton. Yeah. And then we'll talk about, I think in one of the subsequent questions, But one of the major draws and driving forces of coming here is also the leadership job.

00:03:08:19 - 00:03:18:23
R. Ethan Braden
General and President Mark Welsh is an amazing leader who I wanted to work for and serve and learn from him and I was very excited about that opportunity.

00:03:19:18 - 00:03:29:08
John Azoni
So did you know about him before you came over to Texas A&M or not whatsoever? All right. So what makes him what makes him so special?

00:03:30:18 - 00:03:54:02
R. Ethan Braden
Four star general. And he's just an incredible man. I saw his speech at one of the most terrific traditions that we have here at Texas A&M, which is called Muster, which is a remembrance for the Aggies worldwide, who have passed that year. And he gave a speech a couple of years ago and he was talking about a a mission or a trip he was on in the Air Force, a four star general or a joint chief of staff of the Air Force during Obama.

00:03:54:17 - 00:04:29:21
R. Ethan Braden
And at one point in time, he says, there's a lot of people on this earth who like to consider themselves about us. But when it comes to Mark Welsh, he doesn't have to consider anything. He wrote the book. He is an incredible man fighter pilot, leader, commanded 665,000 in the Air Force over a 40 year career and came to a school that he didn't attend but that he loves and has had 15 family members attend, including his father and five of his six siblings and all four of his kids, and served as the dean of the Bush school here, a very special school of public service here at Texas A&M University and then was named

00:04:29:21 - 00:04:44:20
R. Ethan Braden
president at the end of last year. So working from him, learning from him, a true level five leader, humble, visionary, decent. I jump out of bed each morning to get here and and serve his administration.

00:04:45:18 - 00:05:28:00
John Azoni
I love that I love how well you speak of him. That must be I mean, that's a that's a sign of a great leader. So I understand you have kind of, you know, five ish sort of priorities when it comes to, you know, managing marketing communications at Texas A&M that you're kind of implementing. We talked to in our pre call about, you know, building a world class marketing team, having a comprehensive insight base competitively positions an emotive brand platform, having associated assets that everyone can access and execute the marketing plan, creating a marketing community, uniting and cultivating it, and then national earned media strategy.

00:05:28:00 - 00:05:42:09
John Azoni
So I thought we could just unpack those one by one if you're cool with that. So so let's start with building a world class markup team. Like where do you start with that when you're especially coming into a new organization, where do you even begin?

00:05:43:03 - 00:06:05:10
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah, I mean, I think the there's this great Deming quote where he says every system is perfectly engineered to get the results that it gets. And so for me, it's it's starting with the end in mind and determining what those results are that we need. And then building the team and the seats on that bus, so to speak, with that in mind and then from there staffing it accordingly and appropriately.

00:06:06:15 - 00:06:35:00
R. Ethan Braden
We have a goal here, which is the central marketing look much like it became it for university will become the driver of inspiration, of engagement, of recognition, of reputation and prosperity at Texas A&M, not the driven sort of a cook of random acts of promotion. And so creating a team that has that ethos both with excellence and expertise and what it does, but not only understands the mission of A&M, but it's on a mission to serve in them is the type of team that we want to build here in the future.

00:06:35:00 - 00:06:44:23
R. Ethan Braden
And I think it's the team that Texas A&M and our former students in this brand completely deserve. And so it's it's with that in mind that we want to build it.

00:06:46:14 - 00:07:04:06
John Azoni
So talk about the driving versus being driven and this this concept like what is how does being driven play out at some schools that maybe you've witnessed and what does that look like in contrast to being the drivers of vision?

00:07:04:21 - 00:07:29:01
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah, I mean, I think it's it's your orientation towards marketing and at Eli Lilly and Company in particular, that's where I learned this, this idea of a brand really being the driver of an exceptional customer experience, the driver of our messaging, the driver of creating, changing and sometimes reinforcing attitudes, beliefs and behaviors with target audiences to create the desired experiences that the place has.

00:07:29:16 - 00:07:56:08
R. Ethan Braden
And so the driven is the shorter book, right? The driven is the comms model of the past. That's it, says My predecessor at Purdue used to say it's that it's the organization that's driven to create the the local chicken dinner fliers, you know, for the School of Agriculture versus the driver that is really focused on enchanting external target audiences to feel differently about the place to to demand the place to have an affinity for the place.

00:07:56:21 - 00:08:16:03
R. Ethan Braden
And those sort of leaders go first. They're empowered and they're enabled to drive prosperity and growth with that in mind and make a material contribution to the organization, not just spread marketing dust. And so, yeah, notion of the orientation of driver for me motivates and it orients us to what we should be doing and oftentimes what we should be saying no to.

00:08:17:10 - 00:08:43:07
John Azoni
Yeah and it talked in a couple episodes go on this podcast talked about working with videographers, working with in-house teams, and one of the points that that we made was, was just something that I noticed from being friends with a lot of in-house videographers at various colleges is that they get, you know, the college says, okay, we're going to do this video stuff, We're going to hire a videographer, and we've checked the box.

00:08:43:07 - 00:09:11:03
John Azoni
Now all that now all the marketing requests are going to go through this videographer. And what happens is they just end up doing all the sort of whatever is yelling the loudest, whoever wants something, no priorities, just, you know, the nursing department needs a promo. And this they need a promo. It's like you get a video, you get a video, and then like, what happens to all the the forward pushing storytelling in the brand building stuff that that happens oftentimes that just kind of takes a backseat.

00:09:11:03 - 00:09:17:19
John Azoni
It's like when some capacity opens up for an order taker. Yes, you know.

00:09:18:02 - 00:09:37:17
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah, I did. Gearhart formerly drive and privilege now of all those people hate me for for getting an exit five I guess is what's called up and up in the northeast. He has this great term. He says instead of focusing on building a marketing department, instead build a media company for your niche. And I like that sort of delineation of that.

00:09:37:18 - 00:10:02:04
R. Ethan Braden
The media company thinks about it from soup to nuts or the media company thinks about the results much the way Ogilvy did. So I like this notion of we're going to start with a strategy, we're going to deliver the content, we're going to Atomizer to distribute, but it's the all accounts. If we really get it over the finish line and enchant both our internal and external target audiences, for us, that's to chant them with our identity, with our purpose, with our spirit and our stories.

00:10:02:18 - 00:10:11:15
R. Ethan Braden
And so that's that's a key piece of driving. Again, the impressions and the perceptions of the place versus just the purveyors of random tactics.

00:10:12:07 - 00:10:22:12
John Azoni
Yeah, absolutely. Is there is there a when when it comes to building a world class marketing team, are there essential components to that team that you feel like you can't live without.

00:10:24:05 - 00:10:26:10
R. Ethan Braden
In terms of functions or in terms of traits, interest.

00:10:26:18 - 00:10:33:07
John Azoni
In terms of functions, and, you know, in terms of, you know, if it's content creation or, you know, whatever.

00:10:33:22 - 00:10:53:11
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah, I have a few that we're we're really focused on here right now. I mean, I think you've got to be great and disciplined in the brand space and really understand what that means relative to just pure marketing or communications. Number two, I think the most special people around here are the amount of storytellers that can really enchant.

00:10:53:11 - 00:11:20:15
R. Ethan Braden
And I keep using that word, but it can take a story and create feelings and create affinity and create connection to that subject matter. Number three, I think the content curators, the content strategists, again, of being able to aggregate content so that it ladders and that over time those pieces of content create certain impressions, certain perceptions, certain reflections on a place.

00:11:21:10 - 00:11:40:08
R. Ethan Braden
And then us I'm really focused on on folks who also want to make sure that what I think is so special about Aggie Land here reaches the nation and not just the state of Texas. And so I want folks that really know our subject matter and are experts and that have a relationship and a craft, especially in their in media space, to be able to deliver that and help.

00:11:40:18 - 00:11:57:18
R. Ethan Braden
Still, the outlets that are there tell our stories by choice. And so those are the folks that are in media, national PR, that are developing those relationships. Having the understanding and being able to get us into the light are critical, especially in a land of 4500 universities in America.

00:11:58:12 - 00:12:19:20
John Azoni
Yeah, yeah that's that's great and well welcoming Mabel to the podcast here. Yeah so we're start even before we start recording we got a new puppy and my wife left, left me to babysit during this recording and she's been whining a lot, so she might make an appearance here and there, But you use that word enchanted a lot.

00:12:19:20 - 00:12:36:12
John Azoni
And I remember when we had Emily Rich wine from Purdue on the show a while ago, probably about a year ago now, She mentioned that that was a word that you had kind of introduced the team to. And so what does that mean for you?

00:12:37:08 - 00:12:57:09
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah, it goes back to trying to create an acronym or a mnemonic for what our priorities in Peru producer and I frankly needed a second be besides of power. Yeah and I landed on a I brought it to the staff. They thought I was obsessed with fairy princesses or Disney or something at the time. But the definition is so beautiful.

00:12:57:09 - 00:13:27:00
R. Ethan Braden
And it says to rouse and create an ecstatic admiration and demand for something to rouse and create an ecstatic admiration and demand for something. And that to me, that's what that's the business we're in, right? We are rousing audiences and working to create their ecstatic admiration and demand for that which we produce. So I want them to be ecstatic about coming to school here, working here, moving here, partnering with us, buying our season tickets, whatever it may be.

00:13:27:20 - 00:13:44:06
R. Ethan Braden
That to me is is marketing is to enchant on those levels versus just to have it put out in the world and land. To me, this is the emotions that we want. And Emily Rich wine is one of the finest in the world at doing that. When I interviewed her, when I knew I was sold, I said, What do you like to do?

00:13:44:06 - 00:14:01:09
R. Ethan Braden
And she said, I like to make people cry. I knew at that point in time we had the emotion captured that we needed it in such an emotional place, like, Yeah, so she she is the enchanter of of all. And we're always looking for that kind of person that can take a story and truly enchant with it.

00:14:01:21 - 00:14:24:13
John Azoni
Yeah, I love that because it's not like just inspire or just like some generic word. It's, it's a novel word. It's, it's, it's something that, you know, that sticks out. So. So that's good. Speaking of, you know, emotion and having an emotive brand platform, what does that look like? How does that play out, you know, for you? Why have an emotive brand platform?

00:14:24:18 - 00:14:49:03
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah, so and brand platform can get caught up in the marketing mumbo jumbo of things. I think for me it's having, it starts with an insight and to me, if you don't have that insider, it's as Ogilvy said, if you don't have that big idea, you know your marketing will pass like ships in the night. To me, it's having an insight that's distinct and it's emotional and it interlocks a human truth about a place or a product for its audiences.

00:14:49:15 - 00:15:24:13
R. Ethan Braden
And from there then I want a distinct and emotive and compelling and insight based campaign or platform so that we can all get in character. I use a lot of my same quotes, but my one of my favorite ones is from Adam Grant. He says, Worry less about getting in brand and worry more about getting in character. The friend platform allows us, especially in a complex place of 77,000 students and 4200 faculty and multiple campuses and 19 colleges, etc. It allows us to get in Texas A&M character if we understand it, and we've built it broad enough to have freedom within that framework.

00:15:25:01 - 00:15:45:01
R. Ethan Braden
And from there then we can edit against a marketing campaign, core messaging, the core assets that bring it all together. But that platform to me is, is that umbrella is the vessel that allows us to put our content in and go to market as the best form of ourselves here is to go to the best form of A&M, right?

00:15:45:01 - 00:15:57:18
R. Ethan Braden
When it all lands in your mailbox or your email, Do you feel like we talk? Do you feel like what landed there fortifies the character, or does it actually confuse you? The platform allows us to get in sync. It allows us to get in harmony.

00:15:59:03 - 00:16:16:05
John Azoni
Yeah. When it comes to differentiating, you know, with the brand and things like that, where do you look? Do you, do you look to programs? Do you look to the types of people? Do you look to the culture? Like how does Texas A&M think about differentiating its brand?

00:16:16:13 - 00:16:41:10
R. Ethan Braden
All of it, all of that. That's the brand, right? The total experience, the promises that we make, the experiences that we have, that what you put out in the market, the people we have, etc.. For us, I think that the distinctness of this place is the spirit and the traditions that over 148 years have been crafted to create not just great Aggies and not just great graduates of their function, but great citizens.

00:16:41:15 - 00:17:10:15
R. Ethan Braden
And I do believe that this place has a secret sauce in creating community. When you're here in community, when you leave and that bond is as strong as anything I've seen. So that's an insight to me that that piece, that distinctiveness again goes back to this idea of insight and you steal from the other part around emotion. There's this great Spanish quote, I believe, from Colin a couple of years ago at Ogilvy, and he says, If the story's not great and the story's human, no technology will save you, not today or not in the future.

00:17:10:22 - 00:17:32:02
R. Ethan Braden
You know, I've been in marketing environments that were relying on technology and didn't have a great story. And I saw them. Yes, Fester and then be flat. It's those great stories. It's the feelings, not the facts that allow us to again, enchant. And so some of that distinctiveness, I think is is having an emotive execution of a distinct insight.

00:17:32:18 - 00:18:01:22
John Azoni
Yeah, I love that. And I, I look at a lot of things through the lens of the video world. And, you know, one of the things I was just talking to someone about recently is just the the kind of a kind of a red flag when working with geographers is like when they kind of lead with, I'm going to shoot this on a red camera or like an Ari Alexa or some like very like tens of thousands of dollars worth of worth of camera equipment.

00:18:01:22 - 00:18:23:15
John Azoni
And it's like if your story isn't like you can't tell a good story, it really does not matter. Like how many pixels were in that frame, you know, And I think that just applies across the board. Like if you if you don't if you don't focus on really what's the heart and in the soul of your brand, you know, everything else is secondary to that.

00:18:23:16 - 00:18:40:07
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah. Let me look at look at shot on an iPhone right. Or the video that has Robin Williams from the Poets Society in the background of all the things that you can do with an iPad, right? Yeah. To me, the story is key. And if the story's not great, it's not human. Nothing's going to save you at that point.

00:18:40:17 - 00:18:47:03
R. Ethan Braden
Or conversely, the story is great, the story is human. You got an incredible opportunity to to really delight.

00:18:48:07 - 00:19:19:12
John Azoni
Yeah. And adding technology and, you know, bells and whistles to an existing good story that's that's a winning combination. But yeah, there's no there's no dressing up a bad story or a non-story, you know. So next on on our list was, you know, these associated assets allowing the campus to to execute the vision. What does that mean? Is that is that is that like a visual assets like photography, B-roll and things like that or what is that what does that look like?

00:19:19:17 - 00:19:39:19
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah, I think I mean, I think the underpinning of that is a couple of things. One, I learned at Lilly and I'm a big believer and I think P&G and others would say the same thing is that great brands are built centrally, they're built globally and they're executed locally. And oftentimes the, you know, that has to do with scale, that has to do with focus, that has to do with resources.

00:19:40:20 - 00:20:07:07
R. Ethan Braden
And so when I talk about the assets, what I what I really want to be able to do is build an arsenal of the assets for an organization, whether it's this campus or whether it was my countries at Lilly, etc., to be able to take and localize those and then execute with excellence. Right? I don't I joke like admissions doesn't need a photographer and I really believe that they need to they need to understand young people and their families and their frustrations, their motivations, their aspirations better than anybody.

00:20:07:21 - 00:20:31:15
R. Ethan Braden
We can be excellent at the delivery of the visual identity and the visual assets of the place. I love. There's a Don Draper race as you came to us, because we're better than this at you, that we're better at this than you are. Let our creatives be unproductive until they are. They have a sense of that. You know, if I've got a team of 80 or 100 and a college has a team of four, I'm never going to expect them to do all the things that we could.

00:20:31:15 - 00:21:01:18
R. Ethan Braden
And if I want them to get in character and I want them to go to market in an excellent fashion of the fitting fashion of A&M, then providing them the assets to localize what their expertise and then execute on their behalf is. I think the equation to to get that harmonious, excellent, flawless product out to the market. And so for me, it's having the content, it's having all of the associated assets, all the guidelines, the photography, the geography, all of the social cues, etc., so that implementation and localization are easy.

00:21:01:18 - 00:21:25:20
R. Ethan Braden
Don't make people think, make it frictionless so that when they grab it, you know why this great kid or young man, I suppose, who is marketing for bands and orchestras at Purdue, and he said, With all the stuff you provide us, I look bigger than I am. I'm a one man team, but I've got you all is the Verizon network behind me With this arsenal of resources, I can market our product to the world with a professionalism and a scale and a breadth that I couldn't do on my own.

00:21:26:10 - 00:21:48:14
R. Ethan Braden
So providing that to them is all in that spirit of the first piece. Great blunt brands are built locally or built globally and centrally and executed locally. And the other part is just having an appreciation for the fact that they need to be experts in their craft and their expertise in a subject matter. We can provide the packaging to help us get a character and go and delight folks.

00:21:49:07 - 00:22:18:11
John Azoni
Yeah, yeah, I love that. Yeah. When you have a library that everyone can access, it makes everyone it really amplifies everybody's work. Like astronomically. I was talking to a marketing director a while ago and she was like, We're talking about having to be the importance of a B roll library. She was like, Yeah, we don't have one. And I was searching the other day for an hour for a picture of our mascot, and I'm like, Oh my gosh, just like one picture of the mascot.

00:22:18:11 - 00:22:52:08
John Azoni
And she's like, literally took me an hour to try to find one. You know, that's that's a lot of money. When you scale that up over over time. So that means everyone's got scattered assets all over the place, you know, now with with with iPhones and stuff, it's it becomes even just like in our in my family, like trying to, you know, my my, my parents take videos of my kids and then, you know, my wife's parents take videos of the kids and it's like trying to everyone's got assets on their on their phones, you know and there's and it's it's tough to centralize all those.

00:22:52:12 - 00:23:02:10
John Azoni
Do you guys have any sort of is there any technology that you use to help centralize those assets like a like a content management system or anything like that?

00:23:02:10 - 00:23:21:11
R. Ethan Braden
We're we're in the process. We're in the process. I saw it done well at Purdue with some some partners that we have and some collaboration and some expertise in how to do it. Well, we're a little behind that here and we'll get there. But having that again, one, having it available and two, having an excellent right. You don't need a thousand shots of the mascot.

00:23:21:11 - 00:23:35:10
R. Ethan Braden
We need 50 that are excellent. When they go out to the market, people go, that's excellent, right? Yep. So that having that that scrutiny, having that scrubbing and that selection, that prioritization keeps you from having, you know, a garage full of crap, basically.

00:23:35:15 - 00:23:46:15
John Azoni
Yeah, for sure. And then let's talk about creating a marketing community. What is a thriving marketing community? Look like? Is that is that cross-departmental or was that look like.

00:23:47:07 - 00:24:25:10
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah, no, I think having that sort of community that is acting like an orchestra, there's a whole look, I think Chloe says nobody can whistle a symphony alone. It takes an entire orchestra. I've been using that analogy here a lot, but I think it's a good one. When we come together. If we unite and excite and cultivate a marketing community across the campus, across the system, whatever it is that understands the mission, that understands what it means to be in character, that understands that they have a role in that, and people support that which they create.

00:24:26:06 - 00:24:47:11
R. Ethan Braden
But if we come together and play our A&M Symphony with flawless unison, harmonious sound, that's what greatness looks like, right? The opposite is all of us running in our in our separate directions, telling the world what we think they need to hear or what a Dean wants them to hear, etc. And that's like 100 cats running through a wind chime factory.

00:24:48:03 - 00:25:14:15
R. Ethan Braden
I'm looking for a symphony. I'm looking for the collective impression that goes out into the world and often hits the same individual to be harmonious and flawless and excellent. And so we can do that. So many good things happen, best practices occur, synergies and sharing occur. The leverage of those opportunities increases as well. But ultimately it's about getting in sync, getting in harmony and doing it together.

00:25:14:15 - 00:25:27:05
R. Ethan Braden
I mean, we got 300 people on this campus and marketing communications. Why not get in sync and imagine the collective contribution that group can make when we do it? We should be expected to.

00:25:28:16 - 00:25:49:12
John Azoni
For someone who's listening, that's that's like, I know I need to do that because this is a I feel like this is a common thread that that people gravitate towards just from this podcast is like the need to unite the whole campus. Different departments around one common marketing and communications language. Like what? Where do you start with that?

00:25:50:11 - 00:26:00:04
John Azoni
If if someone were to find themselves with an on unified campus, where does that where does the work begin to start to bring that symphony together?

00:26:00:12 - 00:26:25:17
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah, it's not easy as let's be clear, but to me that's the journey we're on right now. We're about to set off on it. And to me it goes back to that quote as a shared about being a character. If I go and I use this example a lot, but if I go to work for Southwest Airlines tomorrow and their essence is freedom and I have an understanding of their character, it allows me to make decisions one way or the other that allows me to act one way or another.

00:26:25:17 - 00:26:45:21
R. Ethan Braden
I can personify what I think Southwest is supposed to be out in the market. Same thing is true here. If we can get this community in character, understand, and in the insights, understanding what our constituents want or have told us, understanding the pain that we are the pain reliever too. If you can spread that and get in character together, that's where that unison occurs.

00:26:46:11 - 00:27:08:00
R. Ethan Braden
So from the very beginning, that's a lot of context. That's a lot of whys, right? That's about bringing people along. So we'll have a large group that come along on this journey with us this summer. And how do you just over time get people to act like a brand design versus design? They're in character. Understanding what Texas A&M is supposed to say to the market and how it would say it versus what help.

00:27:08:00 - 00:27:26:12
R. Ethan Braden
Maybe they would say it. And so I watched it done well at that Purdue. But it takes a lot of cultivation. It takes a lot of listening, it takes a lot of training, it takes a lot of understanding, explanation, context, it takes a lot of assets, takes time, it takes getting together and having those conversations and understanding why we want to do that.

00:27:26:21 - 00:27:35:13
R. Ethan Braden
It takes support from the top right? So it's not easy, but but it's it's wildly valuable when it's done right.

00:27:36:12 - 00:27:51:06
John Azoni
I love the idea of getting into character together. I think that's a really good way. I've never heard it put like that before, but it's that makes it so much more clear. I've had multiple conversations just in the last week with people that are like, I want to we want to do we want to do more video content.

00:27:51:23 - 00:28:13:02
John Azoni
So, you know, our Instagram is not what it should be or YouTube or whatever, and we want to do more content. And then I'm kind of like, well, tell me about your audience. And that becomes a tougher conversation because like, I think people people feel like they've got to keep up with this content churn of getting stuff out there.

00:28:13:02 - 00:28:33:13
John Azoni
But if if you don't have the backing of what is what is the character that we need to get into and what is the the the persona that we need to speak to, what are their problems? How do they move through, you know, this this buyer journey and like, where are they coming from? Where are they going? How are they getting there?

00:28:33:21 - 00:28:35:02
John Azoni
You know, all this stuff?

00:28:35:08 - 00:28:53:12
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah, there's a depth to it, right? So his quote out of Grant's where he says people are concerned about or be less concerned about being on brand or I think he's saying is like you get the visual identity right like you can get the sign out front. Right But if I walk into a place, I think it's a target based on the sign out front and it's actually Dollar General like that's out of character, right?

00:28:53:20 - 00:29:10:11
R. Ethan Braden
And I use that Southwest example. But when the essence is freedom, right? Well, that guides the decisions. They make bags fly free. I can sit where I want. I can do the do the safety messages of a rapper, a poem, right. That guides my decisions. And that's in Southwest character. Those would be very out of character at United.

00:29:11:07 - 00:29:32:10
R. Ethan Braden
So we think a lot about how do we get folks in depth to understand the character of the place and so they can make decisions based on it versus just the rigid brand guidelines. For instance, I think when we do that, you, you feel a place, right? I've heard somebody say, you know, could you imagine a Nike hotel like go, yeah, I can't like, I can get into character what a Nike hotel would look like.

00:29:32:23 - 00:29:44:09
R. Ethan Braden
There's others that I can't. It's because I understand their character. So for us, if I can get more and more folks there, then we are rowing together. And then there is compound interest based on the things that we do daily.

00:29:45:16 - 00:30:03:10
John Azoni
Yeah, I forget I heard that too. The Nike Hotel thing. I don't know who who posted about it. I wonder if it's like Seth Godin or something, but he's like, he's like, you can you can everyone can imagine a Nike hotel. But if if Hilton were to make a shoe, right, you couldn't really figure out what that would be.

00:30:03:11 - 00:30:03:16
John Azoni
Yeah.

00:30:04:19 - 00:30:24:19
R. Ethan Braden
That's right. It was. Seth Yeah. Yeah. I think if we can do that and then you can, you know. So one of the examples I used last year was when, when Purdue got into racing, you know, we sponsored a sex car with Hélio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan in it, and then we, we sponsored a NASCAR with Ryan Preece at the the Indianapolis race, the Brickyard.

00:30:25:12 - 00:30:54:21
R. Ethan Braden
And we've been asked about that. And we said, well, first of all, we've got the only or they've got now the only a better accredited motorsports engineering degree in the nation. Right? Like this is our bread and butter but to engineering India Annapolis like that's in our character right hardworking gritty you know if a my my undergraduate university Willamette and Salem Oregon on to the Willamette Valley and the best Pinos in the world gets an A racing you'd say well that doesn't make any sense right because some character flap up there it was.

00:30:54:21 - 00:31:03:06
R. Ethan Braden
So what's what's so in character here? What makes it so and what makes it so edgy? And how do we understand that as we convey that to the world?

00:31:04:10 - 00:31:08:02
John Azoni
What is what is an Aggie?

00:31:08:02 - 00:31:12:19
R. Ethan Braden
It's a it's a different articulation of an agricultural individual.

00:31:13:04 - 00:31:20:18
John Azoni
Got it. Okay. That's kind of what I thought when I was like, I've heard people say like, Go Aggies and things. I'm like, like what? What exactly is that?

00:31:20:18 - 00:31:31:10
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah, you see him across the land. Grant's right. Utah State. New Mexico State. Yeah. I think Davis may be as well, but yes. And just abbreviation or a little bit more fun way of talking about somebody who's in agriculture.

00:31:31:19 - 00:31:44:16
John Azoni
I had a I had Kate Young on the podcast a few months ago and then it just inspired me to look up what is a boilermaker, you know, And that's like literally people that make boilers, you know, that's interesting.

00:31:44:16 - 00:32:03:22
R. Ethan Braden
I was I was I don't know if you looked up the story, but it was a derogatory term after Purdue went down and kicked the hell out of Wabash. And it was in the it was in the newspaper the next day that the Boilermakers, which was supposed to be sort of a derogatory term, as if they had just brought down a bunch of grizzly adults and that students had played football against them.

00:32:04:07 - 00:32:13:08
R. Ethan Braden
And it stuck from there. So it was sort of a derogatory way of saying these big burly adults who came from West Lafayette came down and beat up on our Wabash boys.

00:32:14:03 - 00:32:31:01
John Azoni
Yeah, yeah, that's funny, cause and then I know a big part of this, you know, kind of your vision is this national earned media strategy. So I kind of wanted to unpack this a little bit. Like, what does that mean? Why and why is that a priority?

00:32:31:15 - 00:32:54:18
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah, I mean, it's the first it starts with General Welsh. And one of his far horizon priorities is that the A&M is an incredible institution. But but great national universities have great national reputations. And when we're doing as many incredible things as the people and the researchers are here at A&M, you want to be a constant in the national conversation.

00:32:55:10 - 00:33:15:03
R. Ethan Braden
And so synchronizing that, being intentional and deliberate about what conversations do we want to be a part of, what do we want to be known for? Why should people care? Why should you call us first when you've got 4500 hundred other choices? Right is key. It also I've worked on on smaller brands in the past. I like turnarounds.

00:33:15:14 - 00:33:33:10
R. Ethan Braden
And one of the things I've always used is a lot of places I've gone, you hear people say, well, we're just so humble. You know, we don't tell our story very well, etc. And I just don't think it's cute to be the best kept secret, right? Like, if you've got a kick ass product, if you got a kick ass place, I want the world to know about it on our terms and in character.

00:33:33:10 - 00:33:58:17
R. Ethan Braden
Again, not braggadocious, but also all all steak and some sizzle. Right. But to me, the things that are happening on this campus are world changing, and I want to make sure that we lend our craft to making sure that they're part of and they're constant in the national conversation so that we are vital and we're relevant and we're looked to as one experts and two as change agents.

00:33:58:22 - 00:34:18:02
R. Ethan Braden
So I just I think the nation needs to know more about this place. I didn't know as much about it four months ago or eight months ago sitting there in Indiana. And when you get down here, you say this place is incredible. Let's let's get that message out beyond the confines of the state of Texas so that it can have the full impact that I know is our potential.

00:34:18:20 - 00:34:43:13
John Azoni
Yeah, it reminds me, I was working with. So I live in a city called Troy in Michigan, and Troy has this really because I used to do photography for the for the city. And so I would go on these tours and stuff of like the Department of Public Works in the water and you know, and all that, all this stuff that goes on and like they, they have such an interesting, like way of saving people money.

00:34:43:20 - 00:35:05:19
John Azoni
It's like they're a volunteer firefighting department. So like all of these firefighters completely volunteer. They like they have all these all these systems for like, you know, creating efficiencies. And I and I said to them, I was like, why? Why are you not telling this story like this? It's like and they you know, they hadn't created any really like videos or anything around it.

00:35:05:19 - 00:35:25:13
John Azoni
And I'm like and I've been I've been poking at them for years about I'm like, this is a cool place to live, even if nothing else, because of like how you run the city in a cost effective, cost effective way. There's a lot of other things I like about Troy and diversity and all this stuff, but I remember just that I'm like, I was excited doing this.

00:35:25:13 - 00:35:32:11
John Azoni
I'm like, I want other people to be excited, like to realize something. Schools like, let's point the camera at something cool.

00:35:33:08 - 00:35:56:07
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah, I don't think it's cool to be the best kept secret. I don't want our marketing to be a tree that falls in the woods and no one's there to see it. And I fundamentally believe that the best products don't win. The best marketed ones do. And so we've got an incredible product. I want more and more in this nation and globally to appreciate it and understand it and to be roused and have an ecstatic admiration and demand for it.

00:35:56:19 - 00:36:09:14
R. Ethan Braden
That's what we do. That's our craft. If you're going to pay us and all of us to do what we do, that is one of the outcomes we should achieve, especially when you're blessed with such an incredible place and such an incredible product.

00:36:10:21 - 00:36:27:09
John Azoni
And Texas A&M, you mentioned last week when we talked in our pre call that they are you guys are like top five in like national conversations around certain topics. Do you can you give us a little rundown of like what some of those are.

00:36:27:20 - 00:36:47:04
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah I mean we've what we're doing is looking specifically at research themes that are a priority for us where we've made major investments, where we have an expertise. And as you and I discussed, what we were looking at externally was what's our share in the volume of those things, Intermedia, social media and what's our share in engagement of those.

00:36:47:04 - 00:37:12:02
R. Ethan Braden
And so we we saw some good results based on as a baseline of what we've skews we've been doing versus I think in the future when we commission our efforts against it. How much better can we do? But, you know, in four of the 15 areas that we looked at, whether it's climate or space for food, energy, water nexus, national security, hypersonics, microelectronics, agricultural elements, etc., five of the are four of the 15 that we looked at.

00:37:12:02 - 00:37:30:22
R. Ethan Braden
We were number one or number two in volume and number and number one or number two in seven of the categories for engagement. So it's a nice baseline, allows us to see what's getting out in the world. And when it does, is it interesting, is it impactful, is it shared? And where we have opportunity to do better either from the volume standpoint, the engagement standpoint or better?

00:37:31:10 - 00:37:53:22
R. Ethan Braden
And from there we can prioritize to I'm not sure we'll be known for 15 things at least in the near future. So when you ask somebody where's what's an excellent at, when do I call them first? What are those three or four major thematic areas that we're top of mind and can we exacerbate that and exploit that and really build the perceptions of our excellence because it's here.

00:37:54:21 - 00:37:56:22
R. Ethan Braden
So that's some of the prioritization that we're doing as we speak.

00:37:57:16 - 00:38:26:14
John Azoni
Yeah. Interesting. Cool. So I would love to get that. Just kind of an overview of like what are some of the major content levers that you know of right now that A&M is is pulling? So I know you guys have like video storytelling efforts. You mentioned earlier, you know, multiple podcasts and things like that. So like what? Where are you active in terms of executing on that storytelling in the brand building?

00:38:26:21 - 00:38:48:12
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah, I think where the muscle is today is, is pronounced in a couple of areas. One, our social media team with their followers in particular has been excellent from an engagement standpoint as rival IQ and Sprout and others will show us where we stand. But across the platforms that the place has prioritized to date, the content with the followers that we have has been incredibly engaging.

00:38:48:12 - 00:39:10:18
R. Ethan Braden
And so that's encouraging. Our Texas A&M today is one of the vehicles to tell the world what's going on at A&M, and it does a nice job of capturing that set of news in a central place. I think the potential is much of what you just highlighted, our presence in YouTube today is is ignored. It's neglected. It has been up and coming from where it come from.

00:39:11:01 - 00:39:28:07
R. Ethan Braden
That's to me, just a major opportunity for marketers and and video storytellers and content curators for the future. To say the eyeballs are there is the second most followed social network in the world and what is it, 98% of 15 year olds and up in the United States have been on YouTube at least once in the last month.

00:39:28:07 - 00:39:54:15
R. Ethan Braden
Right? So it's going to catch on. It's not going anywhere. Right? Right. So being excellent in our video storytelling is a priority. We're launching we plan in the fall at least one, if not multiple podcasts. So there's opportunities to do that as well. But, you know, for us, moving on, it's going to be how we attract new audiences, the audiences that we want, the decision makers, the policymakers, the influencers, the rankers, so to speak, that maybe we haven't focused on the past.

00:39:54:15 - 00:40:01:21
R. Ethan Braden
And can we can we couple an and connect our content with their interests? That's that's a big one for us at this point.

00:40:03:13 - 00:40:35:02
John Azoni
I love it. Yeah. And I notice that if nothing else like because I, I mean, because we have a YouTube channel for this podcast and I don't pay it. It's got like 40 subscribers don't really pay attention. It's more just like a hosting, you know, it's it's a place for us to host the episodes. But I do notice, like when I search certain people's names, you know, from looking up content by some, some maybe some guest that I had previously very often like the the the episode that they were on on this show comes up very high in the search results.

00:40:35:10 - 00:40:47:11
John Azoni
Yeah it really is beyond just being a platform for content consumption YouTube is really great for just showing up in search results to stream you know so for.

00:40:47:11 - 00:41:13:03
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah no, we hatched that at Purdue as two years ago that we were really pleased with with 2 million views of our content in the year. And then last year that team put up 55 million views of their content, including their institutional spot that had 30 million views or just about to crack 30 million views. To me, it's just it's a it's a frictionless, centralized platform that, when well curated, has incredible eyeballs.

00:41:13:03 - 00:41:32:22
R. Ethan Braden
And if the content is meaningful and you follow their guidelines, their ABCD is, you know, you can capture incredible impressions there. And so, you know, for me, I want to be excellent anywhere there's opportunity. And that's one word we haven't completely exploited. So building a team that that wants to do that incredibly well moving forward will be, will be a priority.

00:41:32:22 - 00:41:51:16
R. Ethan Braden
The other thing I'd say as we partnered with YouTube and Google in the past, that's just on like the storytelling pieces that the whole educational content piece and think universities, the vast majority, have not captured either. And we do some incredible things here that the world to care about. For instance, we have a meat sciences department.

00:41:51:16 - 00:41:52:17
John Azoni
Meat sciences?

00:41:52:17 - 00:42:09:05
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah, I have a vision and I think many do here too, is, you know, just like you may you may go to YouTube when you're trying to do your home. Plumbing needs the likelihood that you're going to be served up a video from Roto-Rooter is really high. And who are you going to call? Right. When it comes to the point of I can't do this alone?

00:42:09:09 - 00:42:30:12
R. Ethan Braden
Well, same thing here. You know, the topics that we're we're excellent. Many of them are wild and incredible and innovative, etc.. And this is true to the point what if we own barbecue and brisket and smoking on YouTube moving forward and we've got the experts to do it? So it's that educational content piece I think is is so interesting.

00:42:30:12 - 00:42:38:18
R. Ethan Braden
And people follow people. They don't follow organizations. And so I do believe some of the people here are worthy of that moving forward, just as they are on every college campus.

00:42:39:20 - 00:43:01:11
John Azoni
That's a really cool I like that I'm I'm really into especially lately, college really entering real life conversations. You know that people are talking I mean just like you said, like people are there's a bunch of people that are interested in meat and smoking meat and and there's a lot of I'm watching Top Chef right now. I'm going through all the Top Chef episodes.

00:43:01:11 - 00:43:21:14
John Azoni
And so, you know, in in like some of the judging comments, you know, you get some more food science tidbits about how this goes limp if you cook it. This way. But if you cook it this way, it's, you know, different. And I'm like, that's really interesting to me. Like what? You know, what would it look like for a school that that upholds, like, you know, science and things like that to kind of own those conversations?

00:43:21:14 - 00:43:40:21
R. Ethan Braden
I think that's the thing. The reason I know how to tie a bow tie is YouTube. The reason I was able to get stuck force it off was due to the reason I know how to smoke a big brisket or a or a beef tenderloin YouTube. So yeah. What do we know better than most and how can we help and do it in a very relevant and scale fashion?

00:43:41:05 - 00:43:42:20
R. Ethan Braden
I think that potential is there.

00:43:43:15 - 00:43:51:01
John Azoni
Cool. I love it. Well, this has been great. So where we're where can people find you if they if they want to connect with you at.

00:43:51:13 - 00:44:08:05
R. Ethan Braden
LinkedIn or Ethan Braden? Easy to find there. I'm not an interesting follow anywhere else. So that is a good spot or go on and and website you can find me if you got a question or a one partner or you hated what I had to say, whatever it may be. But I've got a few of those over the years.

00:44:08:05 - 00:44:12:05
R. Ethan Braden
Yeah. So LinkedIn will be great. I really appreciate this opportunity and all that you're doing.

00:44:12:05 - 00:44:18:06
John Azoni
John Absolutely. Really appreciate you being here is fun Episode. Thanks for letting Mabel crash our party too.

00:44:18:06 - 00:44:20:05
R. Ethan Braden
Absolutely. She's Yeah.