Real-world opportunities underpinned by the satisfaction of addressing complex, people-focused challenges propelled Bravo’s Megan Madsen into a career where she could mix the turbulence of public policy, the quirks of human behavior and her own marketing smarts to make a difference in people’s lives for more than 20 years.
After serving as marketing manager for the American Medical Association in Chicago, Megan caught the West Wing bug and took on the mantle of C.J. Cregg for the PA Health Department. As press secretary, she managed public health demands while developing major marketing initiatives spurred by the national tobacco settlement. She embraced its staccato work pulse, idealism and chaotic excitement at the intersection of marketing and politics and never looked back.
Megan leveraged that energy across multiple organizations, building experience and wins along the way: Communications Director for the PA Department of Community and Economic Development, where she added economic development marketing to her portfolio; Senior Vice President for the Neiman Group, where she helped the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program repeatedly exceed enrollment goals and captured teens’ attention by managing the state’s youth tobacco and teen drinking-and-driving campaigns.
She returned to the midwest as Senior Vice President for Laughlin Constable in Milwaukee where she worked on the national award-winning “No One Deserves to Die” campaign for the Lung Cancer Alliance, calling out the stigma attached to lung cancer patients, and handled the new dawn of digital content for national clients in health care, finance, tourism, and major retail.
Still, she longed for the work that made a difference in people’s lives and ultimately joined Bravo Group. With its campaign-style, non-siloed approach to communications, marketing and advocacy, it was the perfect home for her passion.
Nearly 10 years in, she’s made her mark in education, health care and other areas that embrace underserved populations. Some of the successes she’s helped lead include:
- Pennie – Bravo not only stood up Pennsylvania’s health insurance marketplace from scratch but found, connected with and enrolled the hard-to-reach most in need of health insurance.
- CCA – In pre-pandemic days, parents in diverse neighborhoods were growing increasingly disillusioned with their brick-and-mortar schools but didn’t understand cyber schooling. Bravo helped propel CCA into the state’s largest cyber charter school which was 100% ready to educate a pandemic population without missing a beat.
- MSUK – Substantially increased donations to Mercy Ships, which brings hospital ships, hope and healing to people in sub-Saharan Africa who have no access to everyday medical care. Results included a 227% increase in annual digital revenue over three years as well as a 421% increase in annual recurring revenue.
- Feeding PA – Convincing Pennsylvanians to support a consortium of nine food banks that feed our friends and neighbors who face hunger.
- MQ – Raising awareness of the funding dearth for mental health research, Bravo worked with the U.K.-based charity to drum up government support while increasing donors. Bravo grew MQ’s online marketing revenue by 45% over the previous year, increased its donors by 30% and collected over 2,000 signatures for members of Parliament.
As nonprofits, government organizations and businesses feel their way through the country’s constantly shifting social fabric, Megan believes they’ll need to make crucial marketing and advocacy decisions around these issues in 2025:
- AI – Artificial intelligence tools open a world of possibilities for efficiencies and data crunching but simultaneously unleash a maelstrom of legal and creative issues.
- Social media presence – How do brands navigate social issues? Brands must understand who they really are and who they really serve before latching on to the latest fad or influencer.
- Channel selection – As the social media landscape evolves, agencies must double down on helping clients understand not only what content will resonate with their audiences but also what channels are appropriate for building relationships.
