SPEAKER_01
You're listening to the Higher Ed Marketer, a podcast geared towards marketing professionals in higher education. This show will tackle all sorts of questions related to student recruitment, donor relations, marketing trends, new technologies, and so much more. If you're looking for conversations centered around where the industry is going, this podcast is for you.
Let's get into the show.
SPEAKER_00
Welcome to the Higher Ed Marketer podcast. I'm Troy Singer, and along with my co-host, Ann Kevin Hart, joke writer, Bart Kaler. And today, together, we're going to interview Ethan Braden, who is the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Purdue University.
And he is someone that I feel that is very well known within the Higher Ed Marketing community itself as being recognized as a dynamic marketer himself, but also leading an award-winning team.
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, Troy, that's great. It's a pleasure to have him back on the show. He was an inaugural guest back on episode one.
We talked with him about his, you know, he was awarded the American Marketer Association Higher Ed Marketer of the Year last year in 2020, as well as his team. So they kind of swept that with the AMA. But he comes back on today.
We wanted to talk to him a little bit about the recognition that Purdue University garnered in Fast Company Magazine. They were one of the only, they were the only university that was recognized as one of the brands that matter. And so we talked with him about that, how that's impacted Purdue, and then how his marketing team is helping to tell those stories.
So it's a really good conversation.
SPEAKER_00
He is so inspiring, full of wonderful, appropriate quotes, and I'm excited to pick the brain of the person who is leading one of the country's leading Higher Ed Marketing teams. So here's our conversation with Ethan Braden. It's our pleasure again to welcome Ethan Braden, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Purdue University to the Higher Ed Marketer Podcast.
Ethan, it's great to see you again and would love for the people who may not know who you are to give us a little bit about Purdue and a little bit about your role there.
SPEAKER_02
Sure. What's great to be back guys. Thank you for the opportunity.
In terms of Purdue, you know, we're a world-class research institution here in West Lafayette, Indiana, of about 55,000 people right now. Currently, we've got the number one basketball team in the nation. It's fantastic.
And a sweet 16 volleyball team and a bowlbound football team. So it's a good time to be a boiler maker. But yeah, I serve as the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications here, the Chief Marketing Officer for President Daniels, and look after a central marketing organization of about 70 individuals and then a marketing community that spans the campus of about 300.
So it's a pleasure. I've been here three years. I've got my dream job.
I have a get-to-job. I've got two jobs and couldn't be happier.
SPEAKER_03
Well, Ethan, it's great to have you back and really appreciate it. We've got a chance to talk a little bit about it, kind of another topic. We talked a little bit about brand the last time it was an episode one and appreciate you being our inaugural episode.
But I think that one of the things that we wanted to bring you back on was, you know, recently Purdue University has been named one of Fast Company's brands that matter. And I saw that come across in my issue of the magazine. I was really excited.
So that recognitions honors organizations that give people compelling reasons to care about them, offer inspiration for others and authentically communicate their missions and their ideals. So tell me a little bit about what that is all about and how that came about.
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, we're tremendously honored to be named to that list. You know, Fast Company magazine is, I think, a tremendous innovative, progressive publication. It has been for 20 years now.
And we've really aspired to break free and not necessarily when, you know, local market addies or necessarily even appear inside higher ed, etc. But we believe we've got an iconic brand, you know, 600,000 alums and our students on this campus, I think, validate this. And it's a brand that matters, especially today.
So to be, you know, chosen as the only university of the 95 honorees there with Nike, 3M, 4 General Motors, Sonos, Zoom, Yeti, etc. was a real honor. We're thrilled in many respects to have that affiliation.
And I think it's been very validating for our product, but also our marketers who can see the fruits of their labors and telling a powerful story and mattering in this day and age. So we couldn't be happier.
SPEAKER_03
That's great. And I can speak and I've been pretty transparent before as a boiler maker parent. My son's a sophomore in all transparency for everyone at Purdue.
And so I think I can join that community. I've just been so excited to be a part of the Purdue community even as a parent. It's been exciting.
And even in our first episode, we talked about how impressed I was with the protect Purdue campaign. You know, when my son was entering his freshman year in the middle of the pandemic, it was just refreshing to see that. And I know in the article, you kind of talked about one of your quotes was the fact that you've got thousands communicating on the behalf of Purdue daily.
No one can whistle a symphony alone. You know, it's got to operate like an orchestra. And I just applaud you.
And I think that's exactly right. And tell me a little bit about how does that how does that then evolve into this first class marketing engine that you also talked about into that?
SPEAKER_02
Well, you know, I think, you know, number one is we've got a tremendous product. And so as Jack Butcher says, right, he's like, hey, it's a really busy, noisy world. So what we need are 1000 people saying, you know, sharing the entire in the same story with the world over and over for some sort of saturation.
So we do we start with an amazing product with amazing support from our board of trustees, Mitch Daniels on down. And our group of 70, you know, has really pivoted, I think, from being the driven on campus, you know, of local needs of posters, flyers, things we talked about last time to the driver. And and what that meant and what that's meant in 2020 and 2021 is really, you know, pivoting to the chief storyteller, really feeling that we're a driver of inspiration of prosperity and growth at Purdue University by deliberately positioning our brand, promoting our brand and protecting our brand.
And then that spreads beyond the central marketing organization, but to our 13 colleges and the 13, excuse me, the 300 other marketers, communicators and graphic designers that we see across campus, again, in the Adam Grant spirit of not necessarily on brand, but in character. And how do we share those stories in a unified fashion, localizing to the college, but still under the umbrella of Purdue University being the very best version of ourselves at Purdue University with the world and parents and students like you know, Bart. So it's it's been tremendous.
But again, it starts with the product, right? They talked about the reasons we won. It's living our brand. Yeah, persistent innovation together.
It's the data mine, right? That's taking students from all of our 13 colleges and bringing them into a learning living community, no matter their major and making them data experts, data fluent for the days that they're after data science is working together from fashion to pharmacy and everything in between. It's initiatives like the Polytechnic High School, right? When we weren't seeing the underserved, the URM student coming to Purdue with the fervor and the frequency that we wanted, we went out and built their own high schools, three of them now in the state of Indiana. And so they're a pathway for students that were usually underserved by traditional high school and underrepresented in higher education.
And we just had 40 students, URM students come to us from that first graduating class, right? That's 4X what we were getting from the entire Indianapolis Public School system previously. So it's that commitment to persistently running in when others run out, you know, a commitment to innovation, a commitment to value and doing it together. But again, when we tell that story, we want to be on the same song sheet.
Everyone gets their verse, but we're going to sing the chorus together. And thankfully, that's been well embraced.
SPEAKER_03
That's great. That's great. I appreciate you sharing that.
And I appreciate you kind of talking about living the brand that was in my notes here on the article, you know, when you had the quote, it gave us a playbook to continue to show the world that we are and the persistent innovation that we stand for, even in the most uncertain of times, note they're living out the brand. And I think that's really one of the things that I think Fast Company was recognizing and you put you to put you in the pantheon of those other companies that they have. So Troy, I know you had a question.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah. And it was about the growing freshman classes that Purdue was experiencing. I know for the second year in a row, you are welcoming your largest freshman class ever, I believe.
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I think there's three things that really shine through in this last year or two. The students and their parents are telling us, you know, this is why we're choosing you and we're choosing even more often than we did in the past. Right? We've grown 20% in the last five years.
We essentially added an additional class of 10,000 students to the ranks at Purdue University over the last five years. That's incredible, I think, in the state of higher education, in the state of Indiana, and public universities, et cetera. It's bucking the trend that we're seeing nationally otherwise.
And so, you know, in-state students are voting with their feet to come here, but out-of-state students are too. And that's what made the big difference this past year. And they've told us three things.
They've said, number one, your reputation. I know coming to Purdue University, I'm going to get a rigorous education that will pay off as CNBC noted last year when I graduate. So, I have that great brand.
I have that great alumni network. I have that great training to live out the future that I'm aspiring to have, the ambitions that I want to achieve, number one. Number two, value.
Right? We just announced our 11th straight year of a tuition freeze. 60,000 students now are going to graduate having never seen the price increase while they were at Purdue University. Families across those 10 years, now 11, are going to save a collective $1 billion versus had we just raised our rates at the average of the big 10.
And now 60% of our students are graduating debt-free, which we've seen with generation Z is a huge piece, right? They're debt-averse. And that's versus a national average of about 39%. So, they're saying, hey, I can come and not only get this incredible product, the numerator is really good, but the denominator sings too.
And it creates an equation of value that's really powerful, whether we cross state lines or we stay in state. And then the last, again, right, speaking to the segment of students that Purdue University appeals to, and I get that, we're not for everybody. The Purdue student and the Pomona student are likely not the same student, and that's why we have to segment.
And that's why there's 4,000 degree granting institutions across North America. You spent 50 million to prepare to have the vulnerable protected to get de-densified to campus and bring us back and give us the most normal, open and active undergraduate experience you could imagine. We appreciated that.
And we want to do that in 21 and 22 and beyond. And so our response to COVID really shines through in our surveys right now of why students both in state and out of state are picking Purdue University to come with their four years.
SPEAKER_03
I think that's great. And I want to add to that, that I think that you go back, going back to what you said earlier, Ethan, it's having a product that you can kind of get behind and actually do something with. As marketers, I think sometimes we were kind of given, you know, unfortunately, some higher ed marketers are given this, this monumental task of selling something that's really not a product that can be sold.
And I think that that's a challenge sometimes. And it gets back to, I've quoted you often, the idea of being a short order cook versus a chef. And I think that you have to really have the proper ingredients to really be a chef.
And I think that that's one thing that I've noticed at Purdue, having a good product, having, you know, commitment beyond, you know, throughout the entire organization, like you said, from the board to the administration to President Daniels, who are committed to doing the things that are kind of bucking the system, whether it's freezing tuition, whether it's, you know, saying in April of 2020, we are going to come back and we're going to figure out how to do that to give our, you know, to give our students a real college experience, because that's what they invested in. That's what create and lead through that branding, create and lead through that marketing. You know, it's one thing to have a great product is another thing to have a great support system.
But then I think that as marketers, we actually have to do the work to get that to happen. Would you agree with that?
SPEAKER_02
Oh, absolutely. I mean, again, as you move from the short order cook to the things that really matter, right, we want to be critical and material to the collective contribution that realizes our goals at Purdue University, those being the board's goals, Mitch Daniels goals, our Provost goals, et cetera. Right. We're not here for marketing dust. I'm not here for logos and colors and pamphlets and, hey, can, you know, on Friday, can you make this prettier for Monday? I want to tell amazing stories that captivate audiences, that inspire audiences and create action, right? Whether that means you apply, you come work for us, you move, whatever it may be, you know, marketing is supposed to create action.
It's supposed to create change. We're supposed to be the catalyst to, you know, exceptional experiences with our brands. And so that's the, that's the perspective.
That's the orientation. That's the empowerment that our set, you know, team of 70 really needs and wants to have and the culture that we want to have in terms of the contribution that we're going to give people on a daily basis, right? John Gordon says, Hey, driving a positive high performing culture requires more than words after, you know, everyone's got a mission, but what you really need are people who are on a mission. And what I'm seeing in marketing here and a lot of other places across higher education are people on a mission to do great work, represent their brand, create change, create action, ultimately inspire folks with these iconic brands that we have, these iconic brands that people gravitate to, believe in, are defined by, advertise across their chest, put on their bumper stickers, put on their license plates, right? That's the kind of marketing I think that, that higher ed needs.
And thankfully many organizations these days are embracing it. I think we're seeing the, you know, the fruit of that.
SPEAKER_03
Yeah. And I know that we had talked to, you know, before we got on the, on the recording here today is about the idea of, you know, since you arrived at Purdue, kind of transforming that marketing communications from kind of being driven, you know, that shorter to cook, to being the driver of the chef. Tell us a little bit about, you know, how that transformation has been going.
I mean, it's been going through COVID-19. You know, I think you've been doing some pretty impressive things in the middle of that. Maybe you can give us a little bit of an update on that.
SPEAKER_02
Yeah. Happy to. So you're right.
You know, we had to earn that bully pulpit. So it really came from one, having the orientation and the charge from the board and the president on down to say, we are committed to having a high powered marketing engine and we're blessed to have that. Not everyone has that.
Not everyone has that orientation and that has to be a tailwind. I think to a team success. You know, number two, I got here in November of 18.
And of the 54 individuals that were here at that time, 33 have gone to different pastures at this point, whether they retired, whether we moved them along, whether they took promotions, et cetera. And we've added 33 back during that period of time as well. We've added 25 individuals since the beginning of COVID.
And the quality and the profile of those individuals is incredible. We're getting people, you know, out of Borschach, out of matchbook. We just got the associate director of creative services out of Vera Bradley.
Two weeks ago, you know, she's on a Friday shooting the holiday spot, the commercial for Vera Bradley and Sun Valley, Idaho. And she starts with us on a Monday thereafter because of her affinity for Purdue University and her ability now to remotely work. So we've had that transformation, but the big one is let's pivot.
Let's pivot again from the posters, the flyers. Let's pivot from the random maximum marketing. Let's pivot from the requests of the colleges and instead let's create a movement.
Let's create a movement that's really aligned and impactful and emotional and inspired by our brand. And let's get those 300, you know, swimming with us, rowing with us. And that's what we've been able to do over the last couple of years.
SPEAKER_00
Thank you, Ethan. I would love to know what you think is next for both you and your team at Purdue.
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, what's next? I mean, it's, it's always the pursuit of greatness right now. We're never done. I was asked the other day, will you have some time around the holidays, when you're busy seasons, et cetera, that I think higher ed marketers these days get it.
It's, it's never done, right? There's the next story, the next opportunity to tell the next foray. There's postulating into the future and seeing what's coming, especially with demographic decline and the diversification of Gen Z, et cetera. So lots, right? But I'd say probably the most exciting thing that we're looking at is really moving from the, the mirror, which is still very powerful Purdue University and West Lafayette to becoming, you know, a juggernaut portfolio in higher education.
Now we have our high schools and we're producing students that are coming to Purdue University. We've got our West Lafayette campus of 55,000, the top 10 most innovative, you know, innovative campus in America four times in a row now. Top 10 value, top 10 public, et cetera.
We've got an amazing thing going in West Lafayette. We have our two regionals in Fort Wayne and in Purdue Northwest and the Northwest side of our, of our state. But here at Purdue and West Lafayette as well, we've got our online offering, which was just ranked by Newsweek as the number three online education in America right now too.
And as we build that to say you can have that, that fully branded Purdue University degree, whether you're in West Lafayette or your Albuquerque, that's the next, right? And bringing that under the portfolio and then 60% over the age of 30, going back to school, fulfill this and the stories are amazing. So hopefully as we build out that portfolio and the way you would with Hilton, the way you will with BMW, whatever it may be within there, no matter where you're coming in your journey, there's a high quality Purdue University offering for you. Again, whether you're in Albuquerque or you're here and then all of that spits out into an incredible product, which is Purdue for life.
This notion of lifelong learning. This life, you know, this notion that we're going to continue to be associated with those 600, 800,000 alumni, no matter where you graduated, moving forward, Boilermakers, Purdue University brand, etc. So we're really focused on a portfolio that matters now and being really good, no matter where you enter in that segment.
SPEAKER_03
That's great. And I just to note that I wanted to say about that, I've been really impressed and to hear you talk about it and to hear where it's going, the story of Purdue Global. I mean, you know, President Daniels vision and the board's vision to be able to see how to take a for-profit company, purchase that and pull it under the Purdue brand and then to see you guys kind of merge that all together into the Purdue brand, I think is a great story.
I'm curious to kind of continue to see that play out. But I think again, that goes back to that business leaning that I think Mitch Daniels has. And I mean, he did a lot of very creative things as governor here in the state of Indiana.
And I just, I'm so excited to see him continuing to do that in higher ed as well.
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, you know, it's the 21st century land grant mission. I mean, that's the way we're articulating at this point in time. We were a land grant university.
We were formed and created for that reason to take education to the masses, to take practical application to the masses. And now we can transcend state lines using technology. I mean, that's incredible.
We talk about one of the attributes of our brand being accessible prestige, prestige through sustained excellence, not scarcity. And that's the idea of being able to take the Purdue brand wherever we need to with Purdue global on students terms, right, in ways that allow them to continue their schooling when life got in the way. And what they're telling us is challenge accepted.
I'll do it. And so we had two amazing speakers on Friday to our board. That's great.
Individuals who have persevered to their first and to their third degrees using Purdue global, again, adult learners on their terms getting valuable Purdue degrees, advancing their careers, advancing their families. It's the 21st century land grant mission for us. And we're committed.
SPEAKER_00
Thank you, Ethan. You're such an innovative and inspiring leader. So as we come to a close, we'd like to ask you to share at least one takeaway that other marketing leaders could benefit from in higher education and can be that can implement some time in the very near future.
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, you know, I've thought about that question that you guys posed in advance. And I've thought about what we've tried to do with our culture. We have a culture that's founded on four values here in marketing, okay, four virtues.
We talk about empowerment, optimism, excellence and care. We want people that are going to come in the door forward, leaning with a positive attitude, with a very high bar who love and care for each other, right. But we were talking about the other day, what really drives some of that.
And I think a lot of that is the curiosity that we're finding in the individuals and within the group of our culture. And so we're really committed to lifelong learning right now. We're consuming a lot of books.
We're consuming a lot of podcasts, whether it's Tim Ferriss, whether it's Shane Parrish's Knowledge Project, whether it's yours, right. Whether it's the higher ed marketer, whether it's Bart's emails. What I would encourage people to do is make sure that you're managing that schedule and allotting the time to lifelong learning, to curiosity, to continuing to absorb and capture that info and connect the dots.
Because what I'm seeing in my staff right now is them take readings, take podcasts, take other institutions' best practices and connect the dots and say, how do we do that here? But I think it was, well, you got a several. You got Mark Twain, I think it was said, the person that can't read and the person that won't read are equal. And I think it was Hawking that said that the biggest threat to knowledge isn't ignorance, it's the belief that you know it all.
I think our curiosity and I think our lack of ego, our humility combined, turns us into really powerful learners and thus marketers. So I just encourage people to allot the time to consume, to think, to connect, connect the dots and then execute.
SPEAKER_00
Thank you, Ethan. It's been a wonderful conversation with you and for anyone that would like to reach out or connect with you, what would be the best way for them to do so?
SPEAKER_02
I'm pretty easy to find. I'm Ethan Braden at purdue.edu and I'm our Ethan Braden on Twitter, but pretty married to the phone.
So shoot me an email if there's something we can do to help or a resource we can provide or an idea we can kick around together. I just so appreciate the collaborative nature of the higher education market and the people who have helped me along the way and those that like to help, if possible, moving forward. So anyway, I can give it back.
Happy to.
SPEAKER_00
Thank you. Mark, would you have any closing comments for us?
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, I just wanted to kind of pick up a little bit on what Ethan said there at the very end, that very last thing about being ongoing, lifelong learners. Another quote that I was thinking of when he was kind of quoting Hawkins and Twain was Alvin Toffler and what Alvin Toffler said was today where you can't walk in and say, oh, I know that marketing's enough to be able to realize that, okay, it's changing. It's changing rapidly and very fast and you've got to be willing to put your ego aside and say, okay, what I knew yesterday doesn't apply to today.
I have to relearn it for tomorrow. And I think that that's part of what I'm hearing that's the success of a lot of what Purdue's doing. And I really love always talking to Ethan and Ethan.
Thank you so much for being on the show and it's been a pleasure to have you again.
SPEAKER_00
Thanks everyone for giving us a listen.