Raising Awareness Globally
Breaking News through Media Relations, Strategic Communications
On top of its normal duties, our Media Relations and Strategic Communications team saw a sharp increase in media relations activities after the COVID-19 pandemic hit and Purdue emerged as a national leader among schools that opted to keep their campuses open in Fall 2020.
The result was a significant jump in media requests for the year:
- 131 major broadcast news stories featuring Purdue University and Purdue researchers — up nearly 40% from 95 in 2019 and an increase of more than 50% from 87 major broadcast news stories in 2018
- 3,200 media requests
Top Newsmakers
Mars rover landing marks latest step in researching the red planet
Researcher: Briony Horgan
326 placements
Audience reach : Over 2.0 Billion
Diabolical Ironclad Beetle: Unlocking the secrets of its super-tough design
Researcher: Pablo Zavattieri
800 placements
Audience reach: Over 1.2 Billion
Tech makes it possible to digitally communicate through human touch
Researchers: Sheyas Sen and David Yang
69 placements
Audience reach: Over 22 Million
Major Media Outlets
Awards and Accolades
Our team’s ability to launch the new “Next Giant Leaps” brand platform, execute the critical Protect Purdue campaign, support our campus partners and live the brand essence throughout the year drew awards and accolades from several prominent sources:
- AMA: R. Ethan Braden, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communication, named 2020 Higher Education Marketer of the Year
- AMA: Purdue Marketing and Communications selected Marketing Team of the Year
- Additional attention: Ad Age, Inside Higher Ed, Convince and Convert, Indianapolis CBS Channel 4, Salesforce, Enrollify
