From Dr Pepper to the Dallas Cowboys, Rob Sender, class of ‘09, has made his way around the marketing world and back. Since graduating from Trinity, Sender has climbed the ranks of the marketing industry from a minor league baseball gig after graduate school to marketing some of the most recognizable brands in the country.
“I had absolutely no clue what I wanted to do when I arrived at Trinity,” Sender said. “What I think Trinity offered me that was most beneficial was the liberal arts education. I think back to some of my favorite classes even though I started as a business major. I took an acting class and a literature course. I think the notion of a liberal arts education really pulls curiosity out of people.”
Sender made the most of his time at Trinity and was involved with several different organizations. He served on SGA, participated in Greek life and competed on the trap and skeet shooting team. However, Sender still graduated unsure about what he wanted to do. He said that this, along with the uncertain job market at the time, led him to graduate school at Baylor University.
“That master’s program was in sports management, and that’s where I started to tighten the guardrails and think, ‘This is a field I’m excited about,’” Sender said.
This led Sender to a job in minor league baseball, but according to him, it still wasn’t for him. He ended up pushing the eject button and made a pivot towards the agency side of marketing.
“It was the best thing I could have ever done,” Sender said. “I recommend to students all the time that if they want to get into marketing, they should start with agencies. You’re going to work with a lot of different brands and wear a lot of different hats. You build up broad experience pretty quickly.”
Sender spent eight years in agency marketing working with different brands, however, an opportunity came up that he couldn’t refuse — working for Dr Pepper. According to him, the job checked a lot of boxes for him and his family, but the interview with his direct supervisor may have been what sealed the deal.
“It wasn’t just a traditional interview,” Sender said. “It was very much like, ‘We’re going to roll up our sleeves and work hard. We’ve got some tall tasks, but you have autonomy. And by the way, we’re not curing cancer, we’re selling soda. It’s a serious job, but let’s not take it too seriously’. I was sold.”
While at Dr Pepper, Sender worked on one of the most prominent advertisement campaigns in the company’s history, “Fansville.” To this day, the campaign still runs and is impossible to miss when watching a college football game.
“It’s clearly a successful campaign, because I think it’s in year nine now,” Sender said. “It’s a traditional big creative process where we were doing research and flying around the country doing focus groups. It was a group effort. Big ideas don’t just happen through one person, so a lot of impressive people were involved with different skill sets.”
Other organizations noticed Sender’s success. After COVID-19, he got a text from a friend of his that worked for the Dallas Cowboys asking him to apply. According to Sender, they were rebuilding their marketing team and thought an outsider would be a great addition. They hired him and Sender has been there ever since.
“The Cowboys are a unique football club, because there’s so much in addition to football,” Sender said. “At the end of the day, my job is to grow the next generation of Cowboys fans.”
NFL teams only have eight or nine home games a year, compared to NBA, NHL and MLB teams, who all have at least 40. That means their biggest focus is reaching their audience through meaningful brand opportunities instead of selling tickets, according to Sender.
“We’ve got all types of in-person, real-life events,” Sender said. “We have flag football camps, dance camps that our Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders lead, the Star – which is a mixed-use entertainment district. There are all types of ways to interact with our brand that aren’t traditional American football.”
Despite Sender’s career success and living in a different city, he still makes time for his alma mater. At Trinity, he currently helps teach an upper-level sports marketing class, and wants to be a resource for students.
“My goal is simply this,” Sender said. “It’s one, to be a resource for students because a lot of people have done that for me, and I want to give that back. And number two, I want to help elevate the Trinity brand. When I was there, people said Trinity is the best kept secret in Texas. In my opinion as a marketer, we don’t want that. We want people to know that Trinity is an incredible place.”
It took him longer than he thought, but Sender found a career path he’s passionate about. Things don’t always fall into place immediately, but when they do, the results can speak for themselves.
