December 1, 2025 Marketing and Communications Update

Howdy,

As we move into the final weeks of the fall semester, it’s a fitting time to recognize the momentum and collaboration happening across our campuses. The dedication of our community continues to drive meaningful outcomes for our students, the university and beyond.

Let’s finish strong, knowing the impact of our work extends far past the classroom and shapes a brighter future together. Thank you for your commitment and focus as we close out the semester and year.

Brand Activation

Fueling a Force for Good

On Nov. 22, we showcased our commitment to our veterans during the Military Appreciation Game at Kyle Field against Samford University. We had the honor of recognizing Matt Williams ’25 as the ninth Aggie to receive the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award for valor, and re-emphasized our Motorsports partnership with two Texas A&M-branded NASCAR racecars displayed outside the stadium. These cars, driven by Cole Custer during the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series, included a military-inspired livery paying tribute to fallen service member Capt. Ronald Forrester ’69 (whose daughter came to visit once again!) and a design highlighting the university’s “Force for Good” messaging. Also present was the Texas A&M Formula SAE team, featuring the student-built racecar that reflects Aggie engineering talent and innovation.

The NASCAR partnership is particularly meaningful as a large segment of NASCAR fans share a connection with the military community, making it a perfect platform to honor veterans and engage with a supportive audience. Texas A&M’s dedication to supporting veterans extends beyond gameday celebrations, as demonstrated by our extensive resources provided to student veterans through the university’s various programs and support centers.

This activation underscored our continuous efforts to connect with our military roots and honor the commitment of service members, while also celebrating the engineering excellence of our students.

Read the recap story

View the activation photo gallery

• Gallery Password: TAMU_Howdy

Community Resources Available to You

Standing Together as a Force for Good

Now that we’ve just passed the two-month mark of our new brand strategy and creative platform launch, we’re excited to share that the university’s commercial has collectively surpassed more than 10 million views! 8.7 million of those views have been garnered on our YouTube post alone, with an average watch time of 54 seconds on the 60-second spot. The momentum that stemmed from the initial launch continues as you and your teams partner with us to bolster storytelling efforts and proactively use the tools and resources developed to help us show up as one university, boldly and consistently.

As we continue to make progress in this area, we are asking you and your teams to review websites, both internally and externally facing, to confirm that all guidance in relation to the brand drives readers back to the guidance on the Division of Marketing and Communications website. Over the summer, significant updates were made to our university brand guide, so for the most up-to-date guidance, it is important to link back to the brand guide to ensure accuracy and avoid duplication, especially in relation to the appropriate use of logos, templates, taglines, email signatures and other commonly referenced resources.

University Calendar Platform Updates

On Oct. 30, LiveWhale — the official university calendar platform — underwent a fairly extensive upgrade to align the public-facing appearance of the calendar with our new brand platform. Your partnership as avid users helped move forward the timely completion of needed refinements as the team worked with the vendor to address unexpected “bugs.” As you continue to create events and utilize the updated fields and sorting features, please reach out to the team via email at digitalexperience@tamu.edu if you have any questions or need additional support.

Design Counsel

Design Counsel is a collaborative space for Texas A&M’s visual storytellers to connect, share ideas and shape the future of creativity and collaboration across the university. Each meeting explores a different topic related to marketing and communications.

Don’t forget about the Show + Share at the Dec. 10 meeting! Show + Share is a time for individuals or groups to brag about a marketing project completed for the university in 2025. Each presentation will be allotted five slides and five minutes to present. Virtual presentations are welcome. Sign up using the link below!

If you have questions, please contact Emme Benefield at emcmurray05@tamu.edu or via Slack or Teams.

Register for upcoming meetings

Aggie UX Open Office Hours

The Division of Marketing and Communications Web team hosts virtual office hours every Thursday from 10-11 a.m. This is a great opportunity to get support with Aggie UX, AUX Cascade themes or any other web-related questions. Drop in for help, guidance or a quick chat about anything related to web or Aggie UX design system tools.

When: Thursdays, 10-11 a.m.
Join Zoom Meeting | Meeting ID: 995 7531 4621| Passcode: 646167

We look forward to seeing you there! Other practical advice for creating web content, applying best practices and using the Aggie UX design system is available on the MarComm site. Be sure to sign up for Aggie UX-specific communications by joining the Aggie UX email list.

Research Communicators Network

The Divisions of Research and Marketing and Communications co-host a biweekly meeting for communicators to connect, share updates and collaborate around promoting Texas A&M’s research enterprise. These meetings are a valuable opportunity for everyone who attends, and we encourage you to send a representative if you do not have someone already participating from your unit, college or school.

When: Every other Tuesday, 10 a.m.

This informal virtual gathering is open to all communicators supporting research initiatives and researchers themselves. It’s a chance to ask questions, get feedback and align on research messaging across the university.

Contact Tim Doty, Assistant Vice President for National Media and Public Relations, or Rusty Cawley, Director of Research Communications, to be added to the calendar invitation