How Purdue Leads With Content material

When R. Ethan Braden took the helm as chief advertising and marketing and communications officer for Purdue College and Purdue World, he had his work lower 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 have been usually pushed by the random and tactical advertising and marketing requests of the campus,” he explains.

Ethan’s first order of enterprise? To construct a world-class advertising and marketing group to inform the Purdue story now not because the pushed however as the driving force of the model.

He took the helm of the 150-year-old iconic Purdue model, which has graduated 27 astronauts (essentially the most of any non-service academy, together with Neil Armstrong). Throw in a pandemic, shifting notions in regards to the worth of a faculty training, and a number of goal audiences, and issues obtained advanced.

Immediately, Purdue’s advertising and marketing 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 World 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 grow to be a content material juggernaut, culminating with this yr’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 and marketing Venture of the Yr finalist.) It’s considered one of many the reason why Ethan was named Content material Marketer of the Yr for the 2023 Content material Advertising and marketing 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 and marketing funding in 5 years. You’ll be able to 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 appeal to an ecstatic admiration and demand for.’ And after we take into consideration content material and its distribution with our goal audiences, that’s the aim – to evoke and appeal to their ecstatic admiration and demand for Purdue in no matter meaning at that second. Whether or not that’s to return to highschool right here, purchase season tickets, come to work for us, associate with us on analysis, and many others.,” Ethan explains.

Staying ‘in character’ as an alternative of ‘on model’

When Ethan arrived, the advertising and marketing at Purdue was usually centered on colours, logos, taglines, and fluff slightly 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 delight, the nostalgia, the love, the affect this place has on people?”

To remain in character, the group developed an unlimited, centralized database {of professional} belongings and instruments obtainable for faculties and departments to localize slightly than creating one thing on their very own or making particular person requests for advertising and marketing.

“There may be freedom inside this framework, so that you’ve obtained some latitude to inform your target market what you stand for. However the tip of the spear is Purdue College, and we would like individuals 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 and marketing should attain potential college students, dad and mom, grownup learners, college, researchers, alumni, and others. To try this, Purdue’s advertising and marketing 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 marketing 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, undertaking supervisor, and author additionally have to know. “The richness of the collective output of the cross-functional groups is a lot higher,” Ethan says.

Advertising and marketing the advertising and marketing

Ethan is grateful that he acquired early buy-in from the college’s administration and Board to revamp Purdue’s strategy to advertising and marketing and its central group. However he didn’t cease garnering extra assist and sources. “We do a good quantity of advertising and marketing the advertising and marketing to make it possible for the group understands what it has and appreciates it but additionally values it in a method that enables us to proceed to do our jobs to the perfect of our talents and experience,” Ethan explains.

For instance, advertising and marketing promoted its phenomenal YouTube development on a channel {that a} yr 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 need the group to know that, and I need them to really feel like there’s unimaginable competence right here, in order that they have such confidence within the individuals which are telling Purdue’s story and the sources we’re being afforded to do it,” Ethan says.

Ethan’s advertising and marketing of selling has labored. Purdue’s advertising and marketing funding has doubled within the final 5 years, permitting him to extend the dimensions, 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’ve unimaginable entrepreneurs now, largely alumni, who love this place, and that’s the key sauce,” he says.

Past the practically 100 individuals on the official advertising and marketing group, a campus group of about 300 different entrepreneurs and communicators collaborates and contributes, too. “When a number of individuals have their fingerprints on one thing, they’ll personal it, implement it, they usually’ll endorse it with their deans and division heads,” Ethan says.

A 75-person pupil group known as The Boiler Ambassadors additionally acts like an company for the college. The concept manifested throughout COVID-19 after they wanted college students to assist disseminate the Shield Purdue marketing campaign.

Wanting forward

Cowl picture by Joseph Kalinowski/Content material Advertising and marketing Institute