Transcript
WEBVTT
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The best friend promises out there are
those, in my opinion, that people
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begin to define for themselves, and
when you let go with that control a
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little bit and let others define and
make it personal to themselves, you find
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out things that and possibilities and created
the jam even thought us. You were
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listening to the Higher Ed Marketer,
a podcast geared towards marketing professionals in higher
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education. This show will tackle all
sorts of questions related to student recruitment,
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dontor relations, marketing trends, new
technologies and so much more. If you
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are looking for conversations centered around where
the industry is going, this podcast is
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for you. Let's get into the
show. Welcome to the High Reed Marketing
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podcast. I'm Troye singer and I'm
here with my cohost, Bart Taylor.
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How is it going today, Bart
try? It's going well. Thank you
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for asking. How about you?
I am wonderful and, as always,
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excited to get into our conversation with
today's Higher Reed Marketer. Today our topic
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is branding for your school. Branding
is a word that we often toss around,
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but it isn't as easy as it
seems. Tell us about the day's
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guests, bar yeah, we're going
to be talking to DD doubt all she
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has the vice president of marketing and
communications at Depaul University and it's going to
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be a good conversation because I think
you're right. We often consider branding to
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be a lot of things that it
is and isn't. I mean sometimes it
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gets confused with the low go or
with the Tagline, but I think is
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deed. He's going to explain to
us it's a lot more than that and
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it's really a way to really differentiate
your school. So true. So,
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without any further ado, I'm excited
to welcome D D Dabble, vice president
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for Communications and marketing that the Paul
University, to the conversation. Thank you
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for joining this, D D.
Thank you. It's good to good to
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be here. Troy and bar DD, before our professional conversation, could you
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share one or two things about your
personal life to give everyone a flavor about
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who you are? Well, I
don't know, it seems like in a
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year with a pandemic, it's maybe
do we all still know who we are?
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We're gotten to know where fills better
or maybe gone a little crazy.
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But that's so. I am at
the Paul University. I've been here for
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three years and I have been in
higher in for longer than I care to
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mention and prior to that worked in
agency business, much like Taylor Solutions,
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outside of the House and private sector. So it's been an interesting run,
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although I think all of us in
highered would say nothing has been more interesting
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than than the past year or so. You know I'm but I'm I consider
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myself lucky to pause a great place
and it's an interesting time to be part
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of a higher in, probably more
than even if it's not fun, certainly
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interesting. That's great. And DD
when we first spoke about doing the podcast,
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you were telling us a little bit
about the new branding campaign that the
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par recently launched. Maybe you can
tell us little bit more about that as
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we kind of get into the professional
part of the conversation. Sure, jotted
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down a few notes here because it
seems like it's been I guess we launched
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it in two thousand and nineteen,
in the latter half of two thousand and
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nineteen, which was interesting because we
did things in a little bit of a
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reverse order. I could say.
I would not recommend this at home.
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It's not the typical way that we
would want to do things and I think
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in higher education institutions I worked at
previously, branding was very much about doing
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that research, doing all that homework, engaging your constituents, and that is
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are tried in through process. That's
desirable. However, because of the number
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of things that were happening at the
Pau and surrounding to pause at that point,
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including a presidential transition, we had
to put some things on pause and
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so we and we shared the campaign
idea and creative and when I say the
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campaign, it was the brand,
really a brand promise that we had and
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some research discovery we had done from
the past couple of years with the trustees
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in the cabinet over the summer and
they really liked it and didn't want to
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delay despite the presidential transition, and
so we launched as students were coming in
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that fall of two thousand and nineteen. And then, as you know,
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we were in market for five months
and the bottom fell out of the world
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and the bandemic kit and so right
about the time we're ready for measuring all
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those results and that that happened.
Prior to that it seemed to be going
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really well. There was a lot
of enthusy asn't and despite the fact that
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our constituents didn't see it in advance, they sort of saw it as it
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was rolling out. We had done
enough testing to know that the idea of
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gold within, which was the brand
promise that encapsulates what Depauli is and what
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we stand for, we had done
enough for search to know that it would
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resonate. Were pretty confident in that, and so we did those three and
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forty presentations with constituents. At the
same time we were rolling out and market
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and art. I believe you saw
some of that in Indianapolis. Exce's the
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that's our major market where we willing
a lot of it. Yeah, I
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was very impressed with it and I
think that it's a great testimonial to your
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to your campaign, in the fact
that you know that gold within I think
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says a lot about the paw and
kind of what that's all about, and
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then to be able to just see
the the outcomes on the on the billboards.
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I think that was such a smart
move to do it that way.
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And and you kind of talked a
little bit about some of the challenges with
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the presidential transition and then with the
pandemic and then also just kind of the
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the order that you had to do
things. What did you have to do
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anything else as far as really pivoting
in the midst of the pandemic? I
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mean I'm guessing that even some of
the messaging that you were doing for enrollment
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had to shift a little bit just
because campus visits stopped. You know,
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there was a lot of other things. Absolutely we had to really hit pause
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on everything. There was, as
most of us did, when schools,
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when a lot of colleges were closing
and sending students home. We were still
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very much in the beginnings of this
virus where we didn't know what what was
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causing it, where it was coming
and we didn't know what we know today,
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and so there was no way that
you can try to be out there
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with positive advertising and all of the
all of the wonderful things that we were
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doing at and those two things that
just don't go together at all. So
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so we did have to hit pause. We felt like we had a lot
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of momentum going into it, but
we felt it was the right thing to
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do to hit pause on that and
to get through the rest of the turn
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and number one priority at that point
became taking care of our students making sure
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they got home safely. Everything shifted
to internal and focus on the students and
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certainly taking care of our staff back
at that time. So other than outdoor,
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which of course was contracted, everything
else was put on hold until this
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fault when we relaunched efforts great again. Great. One of the things I
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think we did do prior to that
that we loved about the campaign was we
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asked alumni to participayment, and so
what we did in Indianapolis area we found
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those outstanding alumni and also students from
local schools in Indianapolis and we featured them
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on the outdoor boards as representing that
quality, that outseeing not just academic but
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overall student experience, that the Paul
and outcomes that that leads to, which
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is that gold standard, the gold
wooden touches on. And so we had
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very prominent alumni, everyone from Brad
Stevens who in the Indianapolis area. We
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had the CEOS and CFOs and broadcasters, just terrific alum I who didn't even
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hesitate. The minute they saw the
concept there they said we're in, and
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you know there was no cost to
that. They were happy to participate.
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So you know it was rolled out. Literally all of the creative work was
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done internally and rolled out and in
nine days we launched that outdoor campaign.
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was almost thirty participants, different individuals
in it who are willing to be highlighted,
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and you told me in advance we
would have been able to do that.
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If I had time to think about
it. Yeah, what if?
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So, how are you? How
are you? Obviously you have some great
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stories. I mean thirty alumni.
Are you? How are you kind of
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transitioning that into like your alumni magazine
and other ways? Are you? Are
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you kind of taking that content and
then repurposing it in other ways? Yes,
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absolutely so, online and with our
students. We've spent a lot of
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time asking students now. Once,
once we sort of figured our pathway forward
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in the pandemic and students started returning
to classes or hybrid and even our remote
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students, we ask them what you
know? What is it the gold within
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means to you, because the best
brand promises out there are those, in
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my opinion, that people begin to
define for themselves. And when you let
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go of that control a little bit
and let others define and make it personal
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to themselves, you find out things
that and possibilities and created the Ja hadn't
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even thought of. So a lot
of our students just said here's what that
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means to me, and then we
ask our professors what does what does that
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mean to you? And internally on
us the interview that on campus we have
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banners featuring our faculty all over campus
so that students can meet the first year
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cinem our faculty on those banners and
and just calling out their quality of gold
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within the classroom experience and video and
social we carry that through the Hashtag just
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got going to gold with them Hashtag
whenever we talk about someone who's done something
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wonderful on their career pathway or in
terms of service or giving, and we
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call that that gold within spirit,
which of course relates to our spirit color,
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which is that bold goal. And
bringing all of that together with the
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more we've done, the more we
said, wow, we can do this
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and we can do this, and
that's that's what I love about a brand
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of concept and a brand promise that
is malleable and adaptable and it just kind
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of takes along life of its own
and that's when you know, I think
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you've got some magic. That's pretty
cool, that's great and so I want
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to go back to something you said
earlier, because you've got you said that
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you did most of it internally.
We've done some work together det out.
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Just kind of say that you know. So everybody knows that. But I
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know that you have a pretty small
staff. So you know, tell me
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about the staff makeup and how you
were able to pull off what you've done,
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because you know a lot of schools
that are listening to this, they
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might have just a very small marketing
department, maybe one, two or three,
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maybe five people. I know there
are other schools. State schools often
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have thirty, forty, fifty.
I know that Eden Ethan Braden was on
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a couple weeks ago on the podcast
and he's at perdue and he said I
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have four hundred people on campus.
It you have something to do with communications.
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To Pat doesn't have four hundred people
in marketing and communications. But tell
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us about the makeup of your of
your department and how, I'm sure people
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wear different hats and do different things. Rolling out a brand campaign on your
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own. There's a lot of factors. So I will qualify that the same.
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First of all, yes, we
have a small team. I would
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I call him small, but mighty
super creative and and just. But we
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really didn't have when I came aboard, we did not have a central marketing
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communications department. It was there were
really just for people who primarily did designs.
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So we really just introduced this after
two years of building that core central
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team to serve as the you know, the entire campus to support and consult
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with, and most of that was
done by just tremendous talent that was located
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throughout the university that came together in
a central arm so that we could probably
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those resources. And of course we
had outstanding partners in our enrollment and development
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and advancement areas, and so that
helps. And we have all those alumni
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who helped make up for some of
that marketing team we don't have. But
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I hear exactly what you're saying.
Or my previous university, which is actually
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Miami University, we had had more
than an I know Jamie's going to be
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a guest on delightful and wonderful place. Prior to that I was at Auburn
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and I'm accustomed to having forty something
people in the central, you know area.
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So having fourteen to do that who
you know, we had help with
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research in terms of the past couple
of years. When I first came in
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there was a firmed that during the
transition to my role, was doing some
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marketing research and some personality research on
what to Paul is like, and then
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very briefly we transition to an external
agency to help us take that forward and
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sort of modernize it and refresh it. So they helped us with getting that
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concept down and then, because our
budget is small, then we sort of
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took it and has some enrolled it
out ourselves. So but yeah, it
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was primarily the internal team and we
have, you know, a design team,
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we have a small wet team that
moved over from the ITER ISS area
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of campus and we have a project
manager and I think we all work about
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eighty hours a week. We have
writers the magazine. Also we had a
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new editor and she was able to
incorporate the gold within and especially as the
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new president came in, very important
there that your ultimate brand champion at any
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university as university president. And so
Dr Lori White came in on July first
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and under the theme of gold within. You know, we embraced her and
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welcomed her and she has continued to
carry that forward and to tie that meaning
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directly to our core values. So
what we like a lot about gold within
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other than the looking at Our Name, to Paul, which is spelled DPA
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uw that AU is the symbol for
gold, and seeing that and having that
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pointed out to us. We have
been using gold and had terrip it,
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test responses and advertising, terrific results
and very prompt and we just couldn't take
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it to that next and the minute
we saw that were it was one of
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those dumb you know what's right there
in our night. I thought that was
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extremely clever. Just to be able
to pull out that a you with a
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box around it. I just thought
was brilliant. It was a lot of
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fun. So and actually that's something
that just opened up all sorts of opportunity
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playing off gold and bold and just
the idea of that gold standard of the
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academics which we believe the liberal arts
experience for lives. It just all interest.
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Everything sort of connected at that point. And then, so again we
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had a new president who coming in
during a pandemic, which is a whole
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podcast right there, right becoming a
new president a pandemic and historically at that,
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the first black present, first be
no, president for the paw making
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history, and she has it.
She has directly connected gold with into who
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we are and what we stand for
and our core values, which not sure
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if that directly answers your questions.
A little bit of rambling, but they're
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just so many components there. Now
that's that's excellent. So regle to reinforce
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that and even include it when moving
forward with a new strategic planning effort and
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very much those core values and that
idea of gold within is a broad thing
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within that strategic planning as well.
DD. Kudos to you and you're small
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and mighty team. If you could
help us understand how many different departments or
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stakeholders did you have to go to
or to work with, and how did
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that small and mighty team engage ship? Wow, that's a great question.
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We had a lot of departments.
Again, enrollment managemment very key to that
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process, the mission counselors carrying it
out, teams bringing forth. We had
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the internal team, my team concept
at an idea at the very end of
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all of two thousand and nineteen.
Like goodness, it's all blur, but
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it followed two thousand and nineteen of
sending off the students into their final exams
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with a big event and we called
it to Choo Choo at the call.
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We love to play with the D
of Her name and add it towards it's
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just a little thing we do.
And and we called it to Chot and
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we actually rented a train that went
up, you know, up and down
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for part walk in the main central
area of campus and gave students lifts and
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we handed out swag and and gold
within cookies that were gold within and and
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t shirts and they all but,
you know, and just and hot chocolate
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and just really the tight stuff,
tigers with the gold of the in Tshirts,
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the keychains, you know, the
whole thing, and just made it
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a big fun event. And and
in the middle of winter and it was
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breezing, but it was it was
wonderful instand. Of course, staff and
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faculty very much part of that and
that's what's been key, I think,
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as we had so many staff and
faculty embrace it and and really seem to
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be saying this is what we've been
waiting for, something that that showcases the
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kind of quality education that the Paul
provides. That really, we like,
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captures it. There are many universities
out there that are certainly small, all
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private universities, small classes right that
are showcase or definitely who we are,
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those relationships with faculty members. But
how do you define all that? And
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At de Paul we were able to
define it within the scope of a color
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that represents a really gold spirit.
It just became it. When you hit
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something that just hits the right note
and everybody felt like they could own it.
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Our HR department, human resources,
has a gold learning academy. They
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have the gold you know, they're
wrapping honors for the year within that gold
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them just carrying that through. So
so I would say so many people across
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campus embraced it, not the least
of which the faculty and staff in many
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departments and Roman advancement career service it. You know, the Hubbard Center that
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we had, the Prindle Institute for
Ethics, we so many of our centers
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and institutes. Everyone just said we
can make this and adapted in a way
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that fits our individual area that also
unites with the campus. And so I
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would say it's kind of a long
winded answer, but I would say we,
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as part of the development of the
brand, we developed a messaging hierarchy
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that said, you know, it's
not just the brand promise, it's what
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are those pillars? And so we
had forty five main pillars, which is
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the gold standard education. You know
all about the outstanding faculty and how they
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mentor our students and those small classes. Incredibly you are incredibly successful alumni.
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We are. We have just a
for a small university, just a unheard
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of level of I I've never really
does. One of the reasons I came
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to the Paul was that. So
that was a pillar, the launch pad
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for leaders. We were known for
leadership programs for students, and then the
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goal commitment, which which basically says
we stand behind our you know, ninety
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eight percent of our students are successful
when within six months of graduation, and
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we stand behind the outcome of every
degree. And then the powerful support network.
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So we had those brand pillars and
then with in each of those pillars,
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every department on campus can then have
the proof points that prove out each
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of those pillars and what they stand
for, so you can adapt the message
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across departments but also at the university. Yeah, that's that's great and I
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particularly like the fact that, and
I you know, I run across this
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so many times because you've really got
a differentiate yourself from everyone else. I
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mean you can't use the typical we've
got small class sizes were, you know,
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mentors for your teachers. Everybody can
say that. That's in a certain
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range of small private to small to
medium private colleges. But I really like
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the fact that you've taken this this
branding campaign, the messaging that goes with
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it and actually to find it out
so that everyone on campus can actually have
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the ability to articulate that very well, whether it's a professor or faculty others.
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I think that's that's that was great. So tell me a little bit.
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What are the plans moving forward?
I mean, this is in place
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coming out of the pandemic. You
know, how are you going to continue
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to kind of put the fuel back
in the tank and get it moving?
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We might just happen, we might
just get out of we really do so.
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So we the previous class because we
rolled out midway through the year.
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Of course, that class that came
in the fall of two thousand and twenty
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had not seen gold within yet because
we it was we, they were here.
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So it actually this next class of
two thousand and twenty one will be
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the first incoming class that will be
able to carry that being forward through for
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four years right, and so that's
what you want, is that longevity behind
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a campaign. So we're looking forward
to that and we're looking forward to so
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much of the brand promise of gold
within is those interactions on campus. So
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I do. I'm just looking really
forward to the interactions that naturally will pave
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the way towards more ideas around the
concept, but but certainly with video,
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once we can get back on in
class and on the campus, evolving more.
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As with the incoming class and what
they think and their first impressions of
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gold within, we have those in
mine. We have more faculty that we
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want to showcase and other alumni lined
up who are in students, especially recent
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graduates, who are eager to participate
in the campaign and and have asked to
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be part of that. And the
storytelling, let's not the storytelling is a
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huge part of that. Telling.
That a Paul Story. On our home
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page and elsewhere. We try to
weave in that the experience and the stories
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of how people are using their to
Paul experience to live out their lives and
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wrap that within the content of gold
within. So we have just tremendous like
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colum the social media guy, because
he's just got a bring such a great
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sense of humor and and just real
strategy there that where he brings out a
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sort of natural bubbling up of ideas
just from the Pete, from from our
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constituents and our stakeholders that naturally arise
just because of the way he approaches social
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media. And so none, nothing
is scripted, and that's what we really
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like about this brand. But but
we do we're very excited because we did
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in two thousand and nineteen, right
as the pandemic hint we got notified that
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we want national gold at the case
circle excellence for compressially just institutional branding.
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Hey, we had to bring it
home to the Midwest because Syracuse. We
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we be out Syracuse with very good
laugh that they actually have a trrific campaign
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too. So we were very excited
and so that that that they gave us
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some affirmation that we needed that we
were on the right track. And really
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I feel like it's just the beginning. We're just really wanting to get back
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on dd you gave accolades to your
social media person and said that they do
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a great job of bringing out stories, and I would like to say I
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think the same of you and as
I've gotten to know you before and during
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our talk today, I definitely think
you have a knack for portraying the story.
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As we kind of bring this to
a close, we try to give
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at least one takeaway to our listeners
that they may be able to apply right
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away. So, as you think
about this brand refresh, what one or
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two things do you think that you've
learned from that experience that you could give
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to them? You know, I
really think I touched on it already and
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maybe it could be a little more
clear, but I think, and certainly
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I've experienced this at previous institutions and
even in the corporate sector. Private sector
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is that used to be that brands
are the idea of branding was something that
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entities controlled, organizations controlled, and
this is an era of social media at
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that, you know, shows no
end in sight, and I've really found
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that when you let go a little
bit of that control and let things sort
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of bubble up like water in a
sprain, you know, you let that
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magic happen, I really think that's
when. Yet there they'll always be negative
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things that happen. Positive things that
happened there with there will be. But
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if you let people define things in
their own way and then let that guide
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you in your creative efforts. That's
one thing I've learned that has worked better,
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I think it to pall, than
anywhere I've ever been, is that
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people didn't obsess over what's that,
what's that out? Exact outcome. We've
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been willing to let go a little
bit and let others take some ownership of
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the brand promise, and that's how
you're small but mighty team becomes mightier exactly.
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It's a great group. I'm really
excited, I should say. You
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know that with the new president,
who is just well, talk about Petit,
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00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:51.079
petite and mighty. She probably or
eleven. I mean so much energy.
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She is out and about on that
campus, even in this pandemic,
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and I think she's already exemplify that
goal within spirit. So I think skies
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a linen. DD. I want
to express much gratitude on behalf of Bart
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and I. I've enjoyed this conversation
and I'm sure I can say the same
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for Bart and. I believe that
we've achieved our goal of putting out insights
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00:24:12.259 --> 00:24:17.579
and ideas that people other marketers can
glean from. So thank you for your
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time. Well, thank you,
and I know on behalf of some other
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high edit marketers out there, this
is wonderful thing you're doing. We're happy
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00:24:23.529 --> 00:24:30.009
to just thank you into everyone out
there. The Higher Ed Marketer podcast is
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00:24:30.089 --> 00:24:34.650
sponsored by Taylor solutions and education,
marketing and branding agency and by Think,
347
00:24:34.730 --> 00:24:40.880
patented, a marketing, execution,
printing and mailing provider of Higher Reed Solutions.
348
00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:45.039
On behalf of my cohost Bart Taylor, I'm troy singer. Thank you
349
00:24:45.160 --> 00:24:52.119
for joining us. You've been listening
to the Higher Ed Marketer. To ensure
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00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:55.990
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