Guest Speaker – Jason Cook used to be Vice President of marketing at TAMUHe’s a senior associate athletic directorLeveraging Change to Elevate a BrandA&M’s Brand is very important to AggiesA&M (College Station) Is in the middle of the Texas Triangle (Houston, Dallas, Austin/San Antonio)Today we have 58,000 studentsA&M has done $700 million in research that’s top 20 in the nation“Vision 2020” – university strategic long-term goalsgoal is to be recognized as one of the top ten public institutions in the nation by the year 2020BUT there was a problem other people tried to define the aggie brandOur number one marketing vehicleSEC – the power of athletics is amazingFootball provides opportunity to introduce peopleto Aggieland, our traditions through commercials during Saturday football gamesA&M has a consistent brand identityOnly one logo.The move to the SEC was called, “the 100 year decision” – dr.Lofton basically means that moving to the SEC was a long-term decision.SEC DECISION FACTORS – We were being regionalized in the Big121) We wanted to increase our institutional visibilitywanted to raise A&M’s national profile.2) Financial Opportunity – Additional ways to generate revenue through ticket sales, sponsorships, licensing ( A&M logo on Apparel)3) Conference Stability – SEC is the most dominant conferenceThe SEC is the number one brand in college sportsBrand Triangle between A&M – SEC – ESPNA&M was paired with SEC & ESPN this is leveraging their brand strengths to elevate ours (A&M)“TEXAS A&M THIS IS SEC COUNTRY” – Brand differentiating factorLessons LearnedPower of ‘12’ –Think Future, Not TomorrowA&M almost moved to SEC in 1990, when the SEC was starting to expand, but GOV Anne Richards prevented us from goingAlmost went again in 2010, but then actually entered SEC in 2011Have a planAll great brands have a focused plan to enhance valueBack in 2010, TEXAS UNIVERSITY had a plan, to launch longhorn network and to go to the PAC10A&M established a focus plan, “ANNOUNCEMENT STRATEGY” – to move to SECIntegration is KeyDivision of Marketing and CommunicationsMarketing, Communications, Business DevelopmentA&M works in an integrated manner, by combining all of these functions and working together to expand A&M’s brand.Get everyone on the bus (12th man)A&M has the SEC busAlso from a leadership perspectiveDr.Lofton,Needed a new athletics directorNeeded a new football coach (Kevin Sumlin)Needed to get the board of regions on the board.This is your showBe first and form the messageHad to be aggressive in message to move to SECA&M always receives when they win the kickoffDecisions was made about A&M’s Future not about TEXASWe wanted to win the media markets that are winnableHouston, San Antonio, Dallas, East Coast were targeted to receive Aggie MessageBe respectful, Kiss the ringsMoving was a brand strategyBefore A&M entered the SEC they bought two ads to show commercials about A&M during SEC football gamesThe media is in crisisA lot of superficial analysisReporters going off assumptionReporters aren’t being accurateDon’t play it safeA lot of passionate fans on online message boardsWent to fan forums and introduced A&M to them12th man, Aggie Brand, Reveille, etcBillboards in NYC, digital billboard right across street from Heisman ceremony.Johnny Manziel – was on billboardA&M bought every available Ad space on Espn.com, SI.com, USAtoday.com, Dallas morning news, Houston Chron, The Eagle, Texags, etcClaim your turfThis is my market segment/target marketWe claim the state of TX as SEC countryBillboards when you enter the state and in many different spots in texas spread out in many different citiesEmpower External ResourcesWhen Johnny was about to win the HeismanDigital Billboards were being tested, nationwidePlan your own partySell is continuously6.5 million in media exposurewhen we beat bama in 2012, we had 37 million of media exposurethe sale of licensed apparel grew from 23rd in the country to number 12 in the countryLocal Community – 200million dollar impact, athletic attendance, living arrangements, restaurants, etcAcademic Impacts – Athletic success brings in more applicants10 % increase in applicationsMore people are applying to come to A&M than any other school in TEXASNext chapterEstablishment of SEC NETWORKGetsecnetwork.com * -> go register.MGMT105, 4.4Guest Speaker – Jason Cook used to be Vice President of marketing at TAMU-He’s a senior associate athletic director-Leveraging Change to Elevate a Brand-A&M’s Brand is very important to Aggies-A&M (College Station) Is in the middle of the Texas Triangle (Houston, Dallas, Austin/San Antonio)-Today we have 58,000 students-A&M has done $700 million in research that’s top 20 in the nation-“Vision 2020” – university strategic long-term goalsogoal is to be recognized as one of the top ten public institutions in the nation by the year 2020oBUT there was a problem other people tried to define the aggie brand-Our number one marketing vehicleoSEC – the power of athletics is amazingFootball provides opportunity to introduce people to Aggieland, our traditions through commercials duringSaturday football gamesoA&M has a consistent brand identityOnly one logo.The move to the SEC was called, “the 100 year decision” – dr.Lofton basically means that moving to the SEC was a long-term decision.oSEC DECISION FACTORS – We were being regionalized in the Big121) We wanted to increase our institutional visibility wanted to raise A&M’s national profile.2) Financial Opportunity – Additional ways to generate revenue through ticket sales, sponsorships, licensing ( A&M logo on Apparel)3) Conference Stability – SEC is the most dominant conference -The SEC is the number one brand in college sports-Brand Triangle between A&M – SEC – ESPNoA&M was paired with SEC & ESPN this is leveraging their brand strengths to elevate ours (A&M)-“TEXAS A&M THIS IS SEC COUNTRY” – Brand differentiating factor-Lessons LearnedoPower of ‘12’ – Think Future, Not TomorrowA&M almost moved to SEC in 1990, when the SEC was starting to expand, but GOV Anne Richards prevented us from goingAlmost went again in 2010, but then actually entered SEC in 2011Have a planAll great brands have a focused plan to enhance value-Back in 2010, TEXAS UNIVERSITY had a plan, to launch longhorn network and to go to the PAC10-A&M established