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Marketing Vanguard
Inside the Mind of a University CMO: Ethan Braden on Turning Texas A&M into a National Brand
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- [00:00]
A
Finding the right audience shouldn't feel like doom scrolling with Experian. It doesn't. Experian syndicated audiences help you reach holiday shoppers, car buyers and more across over 200 top platforms. With over 2,400 pre built audiences, there's no more doom scrolling. It's audience targeting you can trust. Made simple. Learn more@experian.com Adweek that's exp er I ian.com Adweek winners are focused on winning.
- [00:32]
B
And losers are focused on winners, Right? I don't worry about what other universities are doing. I worry about how well do we understand our audiences, how well do we understand our product, our value proposition, who we are, what we stand for, and why should people care?
- [00:48]
C
Hi everyone and welcome to the Marketing Vanguard Podcast. I'm Jenny Rooney with Adweek and I'm thrilled today to be joined by Ethan Braden. He's the CMO of Texas A and M University. Ethan, welcome.
- [01:00]
B
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
- [01:02]
C
I'm so excited to dive into this because I just think that you have such an interesting story to share with our listeners. Everything that you've done, where you are now and in previous roles, I believe that you're really setting the bar for what higher education marketing and branding and brand building looks like. And I think that's so, so exciting. We're going to get to that in a minute. But for those listening who are not familiar with your career journey, I'd love for you to start by just telling us a little bit about you and the various steps you've taken to get where you are today.
- [01:38]
B
Yeah, thank you for that. Not linear by any means. Had a great professional journey thus far and want a much longer one as we speak, but was able to go to grad school at Notre Dame and that opened the doors to Eli Lilly and company. And so I had a terrific experience there for a decade, both in U.S. and global brand marketing, leading brands in the U.S. leading them in the emerging markets, leading sales teams, et cetera. And then about five years ago or six years ago now, had an opportunity to follow a mentor to Purdue University, where my wife went to school, where he was headed. And there was a need, especially associated with their 150th anniversary and working for Governor Mitch Daniels, then President Mitch Daniels, for a CMO and for some real discipline, fundamental, great marketing to tell its story. And so I followed him up there. That was Dan Hassler, who had previously been the global CMO at Eli Lilling Co. And we had a deal. It was I come up and if I earn it within 24 months, I'd be the CMO. I was his number two during that period and I did it for 18 months. And Covid hit and he ran for the hills and I scooted over in the seat and started working for Mitch, actually, from my couch in my basement, which was wild, but had five amazing years at Purdue University, as well as the last two running Purdue Global, which was a really wild and interesting marketing experience, running an adult online university and its marketing and its budget, and then had an incredible opportunity here almost two years ago to join Texas A and M University and do essentially the same thing. To come to an incredible institution that has historically been quiet or insular in its marketing and tell its amazing story to the world, believing that it has the impact and the rationale and the reason to do so. And so I've been here for two years now. We're loving it. I know we can talk more about it, but it's been a fun journey to go from essentially pharma and the commercial world to higher education.
- [03:20]
C
So, so interesting. And I want to unpack that. Listen, when a new CMO arrives at a new company or a role, let's say it's retail, my guess is they walk the store floor to kind of live in the environment, see what it's all about. You know, if you work for qsr, you're going to go into the restaurants, you're going to sit down, you're going to eat the food, you're going to see what the experience is like. Go to a car company, you're going to drive the cars and make sure that you're getting the user experience. What was the first thing you did either when you were interviewing for the role or once you had gotten to really immerse yourself in, frankly, what the product was, that you were suddenly in charge of marketing.
- [03:56]
B
Yeah. And that's the word. It's immerse. Right. This is a vast university. It's arguably America's biggest university right now, at least for residentially, with 80,000 students, 600,000 former students, 10,000 faculty and staff. So that's exactly it. It was get around and get to know the cabinet, to get to know our deans, to get to know our professors, to get to know our staff, to get to know our students, to get to know our former students, which is what we call our alumni, to attend our many traditions, so silver taps and muster and our football games and see and feel the rich tradition and culture that have defined this place now for 150 years, to go tour the corps of cadets and have dinner with them and see their facilities, to get behind the scenes with the band, right. It was be a student, be a sponge, and immerse myself, especially as not an Aggie, which is a little bit of a foreign land. When I was at Notre Dame, I felt the same way, right? Not as an undergrad, but as a graduate student. They'd say, where do you live? I'd say, oh, this apartment in Mishawaka. So you were always sort of a into the family through marriage, and that's probably the case here as well. But being curious, being empathetic coming in, not necessarily having all the answers, but having a lot of questions. And as I think Jim Collins says, he got it from Drucker. He said, be more concerned about being interested rather than being interesting. And that was the approach I've tried to take early on to become one of them and really get to the heart and the essence of this rich cultural tradition place.
- [05:24]
C
So there's two things you're marketing. You're marketing A and M. You're also marketing higher education in college, you know, and it's easy to say they're one and the same, but there's actually, I would argue, two dynamics there that you're needing to storytell around. So how did you think about that?
- [05:39]
B
So there's the am I going to go? And then there's the where am I going to go? Right. And to that earlier point, I think being a student of the data and the environment and having an external locus is critically important because we could be fat and happy if we wanted to be here. Right. There's 95% of our undergraduate students are Texans. They've been wanting to come here since they were six. And many of them have legacies and family members that went here. And they've been seeing the maroon and wanting to be an Aggie for as long as they can remember. But there's this whole piece also of what is our value, why do we exist and what will keep us relevant for the next 150 years in an environment right now, to your point, where is it a certificate I want to go get? Is it a trade I want to go get, is do I want to take some time off, do I want to do it online, Do I want to spend the time and the money and the four years to have that experience? And so we're really sensitive to the drivers of those decisions and also trying to be a great steward, I think, and statesman for the industry, for the space, saying that this is a University that is consequential, that is relevant, that is values based on, that is affordable, that is accessible, that is going to put you into an incredible world as an Aggie, once you graduate, that you're going to get a critical degree with high ROI and great value. And so there's that melding, I think, of do I want to go and why, and is it worth the time and my money and then where and why? And we're seeing this surgeons right to Southern SEC public schools. It was in the Wall Street Journal at the end of last year. But it's. There's good reason, right? It's great degrees at a great value, tons of spirit, lack of politicization and incredible student experience with incredible networks to enter when you graduate. And so I think it's an incredibly timely period in higher education and we're sitting in a really nice spot because we're well positioned in what the country and the world needs and wants right now.
- [07:23]
C
So how do you think about the tactics that you bring to bear? I mean, you said you were at Lilly, you know what it's like to be in more of the commercial sphere of marketing leadership. And obviously having come from Purdue, you had some practice with this, but how did you think about your strategy and the implementation of, like, how you actually needed to get things done and what were the tactics that you felt were most important?
- [07:46]
B
Yeah, I mean, it started with the strategy. And the strategy in coming was an embrace of the idea that While we have 150 years and an incredible product and an incredible network outside the state of Texas in particular, we weren't well known or misunderstood for that matter. And so understanding that the focus moving forward was really about growing our national reputation and also being a constant in the national conversation with the amazing things and the amazing people we have on this campus drove the strategy. I'm a bit of an oddity in higher education right now because student demand probably occupies 1% of my time or my mind space. Whereas if you ask my colleagues, they're going to say, yeah, it's all about driving the demand for seats and fill in dorms and demographic decline. And we're thinking about that all the time. It's 78,000 applications last year for 12,000 seats. And again, with 95% of the students being Texan. Right. There's a huge element of demand. And so my focus and our strategy and our tactics have really been focused in that realm again of how do we grow national reputation and how do we take our incredible research, our incredible innovators, Our researchers, our research and put them into and help them guide the most critical of the national conversations. So that's been the locus. That's how we evaluate our marketing plan, our marketing spend, our critical tactics is really, again, about this idea that the American public, and we saw this last year in some research, 40% of America had never heard of or had no opinion of Texas A and M University. When we asked them the most five common words associated with Texas A and M University, they told us football, nothing. Sports, Aggies, agriculture. Now, I love our sporting endeavor, right. And Johnny Manziel and now Mike Elko and Trev Alberts and everything that we do well in that space. But we stand for so much more. And every presentation I've given since then to the foundation board, etc. I always ask, well, what do you want those five words to be in five years? And they're never those five. They may be our values, they may be innovation, they may be national security, they may be citizenship and service, but they're never those five. And so our job, I think, is to help walk folks and audiences over that bridge from what they think of us today to what we really are.
- [09:51]
C
So if you have the demand in hand, then branding or getting the visibility out on a more national and even global stage, how is that advantageous? Does that help sort of start to pull new students from outside Texas, quite frankly, and start to kind of widen the net of student population and then subsequently alumni?
- [10:10]
B
Yeah, I mean, we saw it at Purdue and we see it here, certainly. I think that as we think about the marketing fundamentals of it, right. The first piece of it is just audiences. We talk about our audiences. And yes, prospective students and their parents are critically important, but it's the audiences that we've likely neglected in the past that still have an incredible impact to our future. And we really do operate on the brand building idea that if we do this really well, that rising tide will lift all ships. So the better we build our brand nationally and internationally in the things that we stand for in those most consequential conversations that we are a part of with our 16 colleges and our presence in the blue economy in Galveston, our presence in southwest Texas and McAllen, our presence in D.C. the point of that is, right, the better we do that, the more students are going to want to come here, the better the faculty that want to come here. The more that folks, when they're deciding where to donate, are going to donate here, the more of the research partners, when they're deciding, do they call Georgia Tech or mit. We move forward in that Rolodex when you all, or the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal decide where I need an expert on inflation or E. Coli or the blue economy or whatever it may be. Again, we want to be in the front of the mind for that phone call with our legislators as well. Right. When they're talking about the value of research coming out of universities and the value of universities in general. The better we do this, the more favor or the better we're seeing in those lights of being relevant, of being valuable. And so our job hits a lot of audiences. That's why it's a great training ground for marketers. But when we do it well, it impacts many and it has all kinds of spoils.
- [11:40]
C
Yeah, no, I think that's great. And listen, it's competitive, oh my goodness, like the competitiveness of college branding. And frankly, as a parent who just went through this and successfully landed my son at a university, and happily so, but it's become quite a, to borrow a parent's term, a racket. I mean, it is a very competitive environment. And so from a consumer standpoint and especially because of social media and because of with chat groups and all the things that you have access to, again as a parent and as a consumer and as a student, it has really made the concept of selecting a college or university much more complex. So how are you, in light of that new complexity, how are you then optimizing media channels or thinking about collaborations or otherwise making sure you're meeting the consumer parents and prospective students where they're at so that you can get that story across?
- [12:36]
B
Yeah, you're right. You called it a racket. I often call it an arms race. Right. There's 4,000 universities that are granting degrees in this country with residential presences. And then we get into online, which is a whole different ball game. It's one of the most critical decisions a young person makes, especially earlier in their life. Where am I going to go and what does that say about me? Has lots to do with my identity, has lots to do with my future, has lots to do with my well being. And for the parents, they're wanting a safe place, they're wanting affordable, they're wanting value, they want their child to have a great experience. And we're all competing right now, at least in the country for less and less students with the demographic decline and the reduction of high school students going to college, et cetera. And so that's just an incredible competitive marketplace again for a marketer and others I like to focus on the quotation. I don't know who it's attributed to, but they always show Michael Phelps in the pool when they do it. And it says winners are focused on winning and losers are focused on winners. Right. I don't worry about what other universities are doing. I worry about how well do we understand our audiences, how well do we understand our product, our value proposition, who we are, what we stand for, and why should people care? And then how expert and excellent can we be in our marketing, from the strategy to the tactics to its distribution to its measurement, to ensure that we're reaching them, that we're enchanting them. That's my favorite word in the world. But it's this idea of creating ecstatic intrigue and demand for something. I want to create ecstatic admiration and respect for Texas A and M that springs you into action as an audience member, whether that means to donate or move here or bring your business here or send your student here or whatever it may be. And so we're very focused on who we are, what we stand for, and making sure that fandoms and communities and more and more Americans in particular, are hearing about us, that we're giving them a new and maybe reintroduction, a positive one, an emotional one, to who we actually are. And knowing that great brands both attract and repel, I'm a huge believer that a lot of this country can be wildly attracted to the product and the culture that's here.
- [14:29]
C
So brand collaborations, I know that that's something that you've really embraced. Talk a little bit about that.
- [14:35]
B
Yeah, I mean, that's the fun stuff, right? I know Adam Grant talks about saying that it's less important to be strictly on brand and more important to be in character. And I love that idea. And so as we look to collaborate with partners, companies, individuals, et cetera, we're always asking the first question of, like, is this in our character? Does this make sense? It might be bold, it might be different, but can I pass the red face test of saying, yeah, we're going to do this with this, and here's why? And so we've had a blast with it. I brought a lot of the playbook down from Purdue that we ran there. So whether it's media outlets that we've partnered with in the past that we're very involved with now, whether it's a presence in motorsports or there's just a huge need for engineers and interns and data analytics and et cetera, of all of the students and the expertise that we represent. And so we partnered with one NASCAR team at this point in time over the last two years. We got an IndyCar this year with Felix Rosenquist and that's been a phenomenal sort of influencer, source of authority platform to tell our story again to these fandoms that aren't as familiar with Texas A and M University. With Beaver aplin, founder and CEO of Buc EE's being an Aggie, we've been able to really bring that experience and the cultural fit that's there to campus now with actually retail locations of BUC EE's on our campus. It goes on and on. I'm wearing a poncho shirt right now and in Texas these are hot. I don't wear anything else at this point in time. We've got a great partnership with them, so we've done a ton. And then right behind me, I think is the football. Having five Aggies as the dudes of dude perfect. But it's a perfect marriage and alignment of entertainers who want to bring values based family fun into homes. And we feel the same way about our six core values. So there's an incredible alignment there of the storytelling and the experiences that we want to create. And doing it together just magnifies the impact. It combines fandoms as well. I mean, our NASCAR team is excited about our 600,000 former students as much as we are the 80 million NASCAR fans that are watching. And so there's great synergy and great partnership. Just fun and boldness and surprise when we can come out and do these things. And it's pretty novel in higher ed. Higher ed doesn't always have the gumption to do these things. And we've had the autonomy and the resources and the encouragement and the appetite here to think big. And most of the time they work. And I've had a boss who said, well, if they don't, just don't do it again. So we could keep exploring. And I'd rather have people that I have to pull back than start up, but we'll have more of them coming forward. And these partnerships I think are synergistic and they multiply the impact that we can have on our own.
- [16:58]
C
I love that. I mean, kudos to you for being bold and just doing these fun things. And I talk to CMOs all the time about getting their brands and culture in making sure that the relevance is there. And you're doing that. How big of a team do you have right now?
- [17:11]
B
It's about 65. It's a good sized central team that's not as big as I've had in the past. It's probably still 1012 less than what we will be when we're fully staffed and fully skilled. But I will say that in the last 12 months in particular, the impact of AI has a giant impact on our organizational chart and what we think we need to be able to do right. Instead of needing six riders, you may need two who are skilled and AI curious and AI serious. And so that piece to us, we're rethinking our organizational chart. You've traditionally done it with your people as well as your freelancers and your agencies. Now I've got AI on there. I've got technology in there to help suggest how do we collectively build the high performance engine of marketing here, who plays what role and do they always have to wear a Texas A and M badge or not? And they don't. And so we think about it pretty broadly that way.
- [17:58]
A
Finding the right audience shouldn't feel like doom scrolling with Experian. It doesn't. Experian syndicated audiences help you reach holiday shoppers, car buyers and more across over 200 top platforms. With over 2,400 pre built audiences. There's no more doom scrolling. It's audience targeting you can trust made simple. Learn more at experian.com adweek that's E-P-E-R-I-A-.com adweek.
- [18:30]
C
How would your team describe you as a leader?
- [18:33]
B
Crazy? No, I think they appreciate that I'm a marketer because that's not always the case in higher education. I think they appreciate that I have the credibility and the autonomy with our leadership, our deans, our president, our board, et cetera, to really champion the vision. We have the material contribution to the realization of the vision of the place to be able to get the resources and hire and make the decisions that we can win with to champion their work. I think they'd say I'm their biggest cheerleader and bragger because most of the time I have nothing to do with the work and so I feel very comfortable bragging on their work. As a result, I think we've tried to inspire a lot of external lens and learning. So we go to conferences. I just bought the Mark Ritzen Mini MBA for all of my executives and the reason I did that is I want them to be upskilled in the marketing fundamentals and I also want them to have a common language as we lead the place with great marketing and so I think they would see me invested as well. As in their development, in their marketing and their success and their futures. And then lastly, I think they think I'm looking out forward. I'm visionary in the respect of I'm the one bringing NASCAR to the table. I'm the one bringing some crazy ideas. I'm the one sending screenshots or text messages at 3am But I want to push us and I want to be up 18, 24 months ahead so that they can do their jobs now really well. And there's always a Runway to something exciting.
- [19:56]
C
So smart. No, I love that. How would you say to other peer CMOs or anybody considering. Because the fact that higher education marketing is the path that you chose, I'm not sure every CMO even thinks about it as an option. What's your best advice like? And what does it take to move into higher education marketing? What's similar? What's different?
- [20:20]
B
I get often asked, what's the difference in coming from Lilly, for instance, to higher education? And there's more similarities than there are differences, right? Complex matrix, big organization. We're a $3 billion operation, right? 10,000 staff and faculty again, 80,000 students, 150 years of history, right? Trying to move that is like moving the Titanic. Trying to reposition that and understand it and look back and really understand its fabric is big. And so there's a complexity to it. It's an incredible training ground for marketers if you let it be right. We have 16 colleges, we've got 5,500 faculty here that are working on incredible things across land and sea and space and food, energy and water and climate and national security. And it's broad. And so the focus that's necessary, the influence that's necessary, especially in an environment where it is oftentimes influence without authority. It's an incredibly rich professional experience for a marketer. I'm sure it's not for everyone. Part of my decision was quality of life. Living in a college town, working for an amazing university. The offerings that we have, whether it's the day, just your daily efforts, the quality of the smart town, nice town, safe town, sports, the lecturers, the opportunities, it's wild. And so the quality of life is really high, but it's different than the corporate spoils as well. So I get that. I think that the big one for me, and we learned this at Purdue, we created this at Purdue. And what I want to do here as well is prove, one, that we can credibly stand with the CMOs of industry, and two, that it's an incredible training ground for Marketers and their careers, whether they stay here or they go on to big industry opportunities, they can build such muscle. They can employ the fundamentals, they can cull great discipline in marketing here. When they're working with so much daily and having to drive it forward without being confused or distracted, I'm inspired.
- [22:09]
C
Someday I want to be a CMO at a university.
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B
It's wild. It's fun. It's fun.
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C
I love that. Are you seeing that more and more universities are hiring the CMO role? And were you the first CMO for A& M?
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B
They've been through a variety of ways of staffing this. I'm the first probably in some ways here in this regard, but I had a great boss at Lilly that gave me some principles of taking next jobs. And one of those was always take jobs where there's enough clay to mold something beautiful. And there's so much clay here at Texas A and M University as there was in my past employers, number one and then number two, one of my requirements is I report to the president. And so if someone calls and they don't, then we're done. And that happened briefly here. And then we went through some change. And this. They realigned this role and it reported the president. So that's critical for me. But yes, I mean, you've seen it in the Heckinger Report and the Washington Post, et cetera, this arms race idea of those that are being hired to do these roles and then the resources they're being afforded to tell their university's message to the world. I was fortunate to succeed Dan Hassler, who had an incredible corporate career at Lilly and is an incredible marketer trusted by Mitch Daniels. And so he laid the Runway there for me to succeed at Purdue. But it was early in my career at Purdue, actually, that I went to Arizona State and sat with Dan Dillon. And I think Dan's probably the perfect example of this job done well. He was a senior VP at Coke. He was a CMO at Outback, he was a CMO at Ruby Tuesdays. And so he allowed me to come and sit at his feet for a couple of days and really marvel in what he had created at Arizona State and go back with a lot of those principles and employ them the way I wanted to. And so you're seeing that more and more. He's at South Carolina now, but you're seeing more and more of industry jump over there. They're compensating it better to do so. The responsibility is there, the autonomy is there, the empowerment is there to really work your craft and the impact it can have on these places is material. There's a great appetite for what we're doing here. When I was hired, my president said, we don't know what good marketing looks like. We don't know what it takes, we don't know what it costs, but you do. And he trusted me to come in and try to fill those voids. And I think you're seeing that more and more across universities, not everywhere, but the ones that are getting it, I think are getting the returns of making that decision as well, so.
- [24:16]
C
Well said. Yeah. And look, I mean, I think it's a huge opportunity to grow a category. I mean, I hate to say that, like, I've spoken recently with people who have taken CMO jobs at law firms and obviously, I think financial services too. Some aspects of financial service that are put in that bucket, meaning professional services, higher education, these aren't things that traditionally have had a big marketing priority in the classic sense or in the way that we think about CBG or auto or retail, always having, you know, big, strong marketing focus. But I love that it creates new opportunities for really talented people and true marketing leaders who can come in as real business leaders in the C suite to help drive the business of the university. I mean, at the end of the day, that is the remit. So it's super exciting. I have two more questions for you. If we were to sit down here a year from now, what would you like to have had happen for A and M under your marketing leadership?
- [25:17]
B
Yeah, we're on an incredible journey right now, I think to become really a juggernaut of storytelling. You know, go back to your previous statement there. Organizations hiring CMOs need to be thinking about, especially in a landscape like this big $3 billion operation, 35004000 competitors. Right. Positioning is critical. Segmentation and identification of your audiences is critical. The promotion you're offering in that competitive space is critical. And the protection of your brand and your reputation is critical. And so those pieces, those fundamentals, those pillars of great marketing are needed here as they are at a law firm or anywhere else that you mentioned. So that makes perfect sense. We want to build the finest high performance marketing engine in higher ed and beyond. I want to compete with the firms that you recognize, that Seth Matlins at Forbes recognize, et cetera. I want you to look down here and say, unbelievable things are happening. Unbelievable. Marketing is sharing it with the world. And as a result, Texas A and M is the most visible, it's the most respected, it's the most trusted, and it's the most consequential university in the nation. Jeff Henderson's book helped me get to this line, but there's a line in our new commercial that I fundamentally believe in, and I get out of bed with this each morning, and that is that where a lot of places are focused. And U.S. news and world Report just came out with their rankings two days ago. A lot of places are really focused on. And we can debate all day what are the best universities in the nation. I have no debate. I have no question when I say that Texas A and M stands to be the best university for the nation. And so continuing to position as such as a force for good, which is the essence that we've landed on, is the idea that this place is about service, it's about momentum, it's about its magnitude, and it's all underpinned with its mission. And so continuing to share that with the country and the world and to reap the spoils, positively, altruistically, that come from that is what we want to continue to accomplish. But we want to make this place incredible. And at the same time, I do feel the weight of the industry, of making sure that we're seeing these great marketers making a giant impact in a place that the country needs, which is the state of and the value of higher education.
- [27:25]
C
I love that. I've spoken with some CMOs recently, CMO of an airline, saying, I don't want to just be the best airline brand in the industry. I want to be one of the best brands in the world, period.
- [27:35]
B
So we went to a conference a couple years ago, and I had felt like I had some people come back kind of with their chests out, feeling like they were kind of big deals. And I referenced the line from Yellowstone, where Rip tells Beth, there's always a bigger bear, no matter what it is, whether it's Chili's or it's Molson Coors, there's always a bigger bear when it comes to our marketing industry. We can always do this better, bigger, faster, more efficiently, different. So we can't become complacent whatsoever. And you can benchmark in higher ed. We don't. We're going to benchmark against the big brands that are doing the best marketing in the nation. And how.
- [28:08]
C
I love that. Ethan, this has been just inspiring, and I can't thank you enough. My last question for you is, who's next? Who's somebody that I should have on the podcast? It can be a CMO that you know really well or it can be somebody that you admire from afar and you just really appreciate the work they're putting out in the world.
- [28:25]
B
Yeah, I'm going to give you two. And they're both Aggies. So one is fed Muishan, the CEO at BodyArmor, formerly the CMO at Chobani. Just an unbelievable convicted leader mounting the charge to beat Gatorade with body armor and with Powerade together. And I just love what he's doing across the industry, the teams and the players and the leagues that he's acquiring. Doing it all with sort of the spirit of Kobe Bryant, but also an incredible product with less of the crap that's in these things. He's figured out how to take his product and make a giant difference with his marketing and his team. And so I just love the crusade he's on. And then my other favorite is a gentleman in Austin by the name of Tyler Merrick, who's the CEO and founder of Joyride Sweets, which has 80% again, less sugar and crap that you find in the candies, etc. They're going month to month as the number one or the number two candy in Target. And I just love what he and Ryan Trahan, the YouTube influencer with 21 million subscribers are doing. They're both incredible Aggies and they're incredible mentors of mine and they've been wonderful to sit at their feet and see what they've built and let that influence how we have success here. So the two of them are gems, total gems.
- [29:41]
C
I love that. You know what, maybe Ethan, you and I could work together and we could set up a day long symposium where we invite some of these incredible alumni marketers back to A and M's campus and just do it for the students and the professors. I've done that at other universities over the years. Bring back to the campus all these incredible people who are out there doing extraordinary things with brands and marketing and let the students in the university learn from them firsthand, hear from them firsthand. That would be really fun to do.
- [30:08]
B
So yeah, a novelty we're trying to stand up that I haven't seen in higher ed and I wasn't successful in doing it at Purdue. Is having an industry marketing advisory board for the Central Marketing Group and with the likes of those guys of SID at jll, we've got some great marketers across the nation for that matter. Fernando Palomo at ESPN, a 25 year commentator. These guys know how to spread the message and spread the gospel. And so we've got some incredible aggies in the space and we want them to come back and help us and also help our students. So I love that idea. Let's do it.
- [30:39]
C
Let's do it. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Ethan. In the meantime, congrats on everything you're doing. I look forward to talking with you again soon. And thanks for joining me on the Marketing Vanguard Podcast.
- [30:50]
B
Thank you. It was a pleasure.
- [30:52]
A
Thank you for listening to Marketing Vanguard, part of the Adweek Podcast Network and Acast Creator Network. You can listen and subscribe to all of Adweek's podcasts by visiting adweek.com podcasts stay updated on all things Adweek Podcast Network by following us on Twitter Dweek Podcasts. And if you have a question or.
- [31:11]
B
Suggestion for the show, send us an.
- [31:13]
A
Email@Podcastdweek.Com thanks for listening. Finding the right audience shouldn't feel like doom scrolling with Experian. He it doesn't. Experian syndicated audiences help you reach holiday shoppers, car buyers and more across over 200 top platforms with over 2,400 pre built audiences. There's no more doom scrolling. It's audience targeting you can trust. Made simple. Learn more at experian.com adweek that's E-P-E-R-I-A N.com adweek.