They say a marketer’s job is never done. Cultural shifts can happen at an alarming rate that require brand custodians to constantly adapt to the ever-changing environment. Even the most iconic and reputable universities must future proof their brand and build a culture around continuous improvement.

One man eager to take on this challenge was Ethan Braden, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Purdue University and Purdue University Global. Having built a career dedicated to the bigger cause, from contributing to saving and improving lives through health to changing lives through education, he joined Purdue University in 2018 to develop one unique, compelling and consistent voice for the university that would flex across different audiences for years to come. Over the course of the last four years Ethan and his team have developed a brand approach that has been recognised through a plethora of awards including American Marketing Association’s 2020 Marketer of the Year, Higher Education Team of the Year, and selection on Fast Company Magazine’s inaugural ‘Brands That Matter’ list in 2021. In this article we explore how this evolution came to pass and how ‘The Next Giant Leap’ brand platform has provided a foundation to further unify how the Purdue story is told.

Whilst Purdue University has an incredibly strong legacy of Boilermaker determination and the persistent pursuit of excellence, Ethan spotted an opportunity to harness the powerful essence of the university and embed this throughout the institution to create a shared vision that every colleague could embody and be proud of.

It has a unifying power that transcends time, trends and current events. How well this is delivered externally goes hand in hand with how well it’s understood internally. What we stand for, what makes us different, and why people should care, all stem from how deeply we understand our brand, product and place. We invested into internal understanding before we rolled out the new campaign and it paid dividends. When it was time to launch, we rigorously prepared a two day brand event and the 400 colleagues who attended returned to their respective departments not only excited but informed, educated and hopefully inspired to share with their colleagues.”

With a clear vision and brand platform to underpin the progression of the Purdue University’s reputation and impact, Ethan recognised flexibility was needed within this to ensure it catered for the many stakeholders that come into touch with the brand. He and his team undertook rigorous research along the way to understand the audience requirements and reflect these in the output.

“We felt the giant leap was a good insight, but it was the tip of an iceberg as it had been a long time since we had deeply studied the Purdue University brand. So we set off into a year of deep market research to understand our essence and create an evolved marketing platform for ‘The Next Giant Leap’. We engaged, listened and learned from our audiences. We learned that for some, the notion of a giant leap was actually intimidating. A 17 year old coming to Purdue for the first time would tell us ‘I’m not sure I’m capable of a giant leap, I’m more about the small steps that it takes to get there’. We had to create a brand platform that had enough dexterity to flex and speak to a 17 year old, their parents, our most esteemed alumni and everything in between.

We arrived at a brand platform underpinned by six brand pillars; accessible prestige, safety and security, supportive transformation, shared drive, thinkers and doers and balance. These can be further distilled into an essence summarised by four words; persistence, innovation, together and value. We’re gritty, we bring incredible people together to solve the world’s toughest challenges, from putting people into space to curing forms of cancer, and we are committed to affordability and accessibility. These four unique legs of the stool make us distinct and different.”

Whilst the benefits of having a distinguished brand proposition and a united team working towards this shared mission are wide and far reaching, for many marketers it can be difficult to judge when it is the right time to take this next step. Ethan and his team were offered the perfect opportunity when a historic event opened dialogue across the institution and gave them the space to reinforce the university’s legacy by coming together.

“There were a few catalysts that springboarded our rebrand. We celebrated our 150th anniversary and it became the first time marketing and communications individuals came together to represent something much larger. It was a great opportunity to get individuals from across the university spectrum on the same song sheet and playing the same music. I have been fortunate in the last three years to reshape a team of incredibly talented people here at Purdue. They’re driven by their mission to be chief storytellers who are not steered by random acts of marketing or demands of the campus, but instead to steward the precious and powerful Purdue University brand. You can’t invest enough in the power, composition, culture and skills of your team. It’s been something that the Board and leadership level has afforded us the chance to do over the last three years, and our product is testament to that.”

For Ethan the concept of team extended far beyond immediate marketing and communications colleagues, encompassing partners from across the wider university and third parties to harness their knowledge and expertise to create a cumulative approach that was representative and consistent.

“People support that which they create. We worked with third parties and consultants to undertake a rigorous process to deeply understand our brand pillars, attributes, essence and narrative, then how it all came together. We did this with representatives from across the university and brought them to Chicago to see the research and roll up their sleeves and participate, so the ultimate brand platform was theirs. Everyone brought their own wood to the fire and it was a cumulative process, so when it became time to execute it there was great embrace and continuity. Senior leaders were highly involved including our Deans, Provost, President, Board and department chairs amongst others. Having alignment with senior leaders before launch was imperative, because when you have President Mitch Daniels supporting the message and strategy then you get endorsement all the way down.”

Within the intricacies of higher education decision making, unifying university departments and stakeholders to create a brand platform can be seen as a success in itself, particularly when brand investment can be restricted by the notion of intangible results. Ethan and his team were clear from the outset on what success would look like for them, and saw some pretty impressive results as a consequence.

“A harmonious, consistent identity was a core goal of ours. By following every department and college’s social pages we could measure in real time whether the visual identity and narrative constituted the Purdue University character. Over time, we’ve seen these get very tight and gel across divisions of the university. Alongside this we’ve had the highest enrollment numbers we’ve ever seen, when many schools were not experiencing that sort of demand.  We can’t take all the credit as we have an incredible product and colleagues, but we believe the powerful marketing we’ve injected into the collective equation has been very helpful.

Our efforts were rewarded recently when we became the only university worldwide to be selected by Fast Company Magazine as a brand that matters on a list of 95 brands that included Nike, Sonos and McDonald’s. To be amongst these brand giants highlighted the progressiveness of our university and validated the product, the people and the marketing we’ve been doing over the last few years.”

For the full story of Purdue University’s ‘Next Giant Leap’, listen to the extended conversation on The Brand Education podcast series here. If you’re interested in learning more about how to build a brand platform that can stand the test of time, get in touch with us here at The Brand Education. We offer thought leadership and workshops and we’re always excited to hear from you.