About the Episode
About The Episode:
In this insightful episode from the AMA Symposium, Mallory sits down with Marina Cooper, Senior Associate VP for Brand and Marketing at Johns Hopkins University. The conversation dives into two critical topics: Johns Hopkins' upcoming 150th anniversary celebration and the evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education marketing. Marina shares her perspective on leveraging institutional milestones and her journey toward integrating AI into her workflows, offering a candid look at the challenges and opportunities of AI adoption.
Key Takeaways
- Celebrating Milestones Creatively: Institutional anniversaries like Johns Hopkins' 150th are opportunities to connect with internal and external audiences meaningfully.
- AI Adoption in Higher Education: AI use in marketing is on the rise, but barriers like time, familiarity, and accessibility hinder broader adoption.
- AI for Personas and Campaigns: AI has untapped potential in creating dynamic personas and testing campaigns, helping teams better understand audience behavior and reactions.
- Time as the Biggest Barrier: Many leaders find it challenging to dedicate time to learning and experimenting with AI, even though it's critical for staying competitive.
- AMA Symposium's Growing Influence: Next year’s AMA conference will return to the DMV area, promising engaging discussions on team-building and marketing innovations.
Episode Summary
How Can Institutions Leverage Major Milestones?
Marina discusses Johns Hopkins University's upcoming 150th anniversary and how the institution plans to use this milestone as a platform to share its achievements and vision with the world. For Marina, it’s about more than just celebrating history—it’s an opportunity to strengthen the university's brand and inspire stakeholders. Attending sessions like "Happy Birthday to Us" at AMA is helping her team strategize creative ways to leverage the anniversary for broader institutional storytelling.
Anniversaries like this serve as powerful tools for connection, Marina notes, providing an avenue to communicate not only with alumni and current students but also with prospective students, faculty, and global audiences.
Why Is AI Still an Afterthought for Many Leaders?
Despite Johns Hopkins' prominence in AI research, Marina admits that integrating AI into her personal workflows is still a work in progress. While her team has embraced AI for tasks like photo selection using advanced asset management systems, Marina finds herself defaulting to traditional methods, often realizing afterward how AI could have streamlined the process.
This candid admission reflects a broader trend in higher education: while teams are exploring AI, many leaders struggle to make it a consistent part of their routine. The key barrier? Time. Leaders often lack the bandwidth to experiment with tools like ChatGPT or Claude, even though these technologies can simplify everything from brainstorming to content creation.
What Are the Most Promising Uses of AI in Marketing?
Marina shares her curiosity about AI's potential in building more effective student personas and testing campaign ideas. By simulating how different audiences might react to campaigns, AI could help teams refine their messaging and better align with audience needs. This approach could significantly improve the accuracy of marketing strategies, moving away from reliance on assumptions and toward data-informed decision-making.
Mallory emphasizes that the key to overcoming adoption barriers is experimentation. As AI technology evolves and becomes embedded in existing tools, it will become more accessible and less intimidating for teams to integrate into their workflows.
What Can We Expect from Next Year’s AMA Symposium?
Looking ahead, Marina teases exciting plans for the next AMA Symposium, set to return to the DMV area at National Harbor. She highlights the conference's unique ability to bring together professionals across marketing disciplines, fostering open, behind-the-scenes conversations about challenges, strategies, and successes.
Marina is particularly excited about discussions around team-building and expertise development in marketing organizations. These conversations will be critical as higher education continues to adapt to new technologies and changing audience expectations.
Connect With Our Host:
Mallory Willsea
https://twitter.com/mallorywillsea
About The Enrollify Podcast Network: The Higher Ed Pulse is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you’ll like other Enrollify shows too!
Some of our favorites include Generation AI and Confessions of a Higher Education Social Media Manager.
Enrollify is made possible by Element451 — the next-generation AI student engagement platform helping institutions create meaningful and personalized interactions with students. Learn more at element451.com.
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