‘For the Good of America’: Texas A&M’s message of working together resounds in Washington, DC

The university-sponsored No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda, driven by Felix Rosenqvist, featured a patriotic Aggie paint scheme shown throughout the record-shattering Fox broadcast of the Aug. 23 IndyCar series race, which celebrated America’s 250th anniversary.

The event quickly proved to be much larger than anyone could have guaranteed when Texas A&M committed to it. Nearly 288,000 people requested roughly 100,000 available general-admission tickets, and more than 215,000 spectators attended across the two-day weekend. For an inaugural event conceived and built in a matter of months, the combination of ticket demand, live attendance and national television audience established the Freedom 250 as one of the year’s most significant new sporting events — drawing so much attention that it generated more than $2 billion in media exposure, exceeding even Indycar’s Indianapolis 500 records.

“Texas A&M had made its decision before any of those results were known,” said R. Ethan Braden, vice president and chief marketing and communications officer at Texas A&M. “When the executive order creating the race presented an unusual opportunity in the nation’s capital, we moved quickly, assessed whether Texas A&M had an authentic reason to participate, and then built a much broader brand strategy around the event.”

That push brought Texas A&M’s story — that together, we stand as a force for good — into the national spotlight, merging the race, the university’s annual flagship commercial and other marketing. The overall effort featured prominent advertising across Washington; amplification through local and national media, such as Rosenqvist’s appearance on the Fox and Friends morning show; events for building and deepening the relationships that help the university serve the nation; praise of the car by President Donald Trump; and the broadcast debut of the flagship commercial, which has far more breadth and depth than a typical higher-ed spot, bringing an inspiring message as the country is commemorating its 250th anniversary and Texas A&M is celebrating its 150th.

The commercial highlights what makes Texas A&M special: its consequential breakthroughs, service by leaders of character, partnerships that matter and overall spirit. The soundtrack, a new version of the 1970 hit “Let’s Work Together,” is performed by legendary musician and Aggie Lyle Lovett ’79, perfectly distilling what sets Texas A&M apart, set to clips of Aggies working together for the good of Texas and America.

That ethic has remained unchanged since the university’s founding 150 years ago. The Texas A&M of today — with more than 80,000 students and $1.4 billion spent each year on research that is creating solutions to some of the world’s most difficult problems — is proof that the American ideal is still very much alive, and that what we can do together remains far greater than what any of us can do alone.

The key to bringing that message to the nation was recognizing that, rather than debuting the commercial during football season, it should first run during the Freedom 250 race.

“The breakthrough was realizing how much more powerful those two things could be together,” Braden told Volt, one of several industry publications that wrote about the campaign. “The ingredients were pretty extraordinary: an inaugural race in the nation’s capital during America’s 250th anniversary year, Texas A&M celebrating its 150th, Felix Rosenqvist arriving as the Indianapolis 500 winner, Fox carrying the race nationally, a custom Texas A&M car, helmet and fire suit, Lyle Lovett, and a two-minute anthem built around ‘Together, We Stand as a Force for Good.’ Any one of those things could be interesting. Together, they become much more powerful.”

The Texas A&M-sponsored No. 60 Honda was a tangible, easy-to-grasp entry point for those unfamiliar with Texas A&M. The car’s paint scheme combined the university’s iconic maroon with red, white and blue and American flag-inspired graphics. Across the rear wing, the “Together We Stand” motto faced forward toward Rosenqvist, while “A Force for Good” faced the field behind him and “Serving Texas and the Nation” stretched across his aeroscreen. The car and Rosenqvist’s specially designed helmet — which included the Aggie Ring on the crown and the Texas A&M logo on both the front and the back — took full advantage of how IndyCar is televised to bring the university’s message to the widest possible audience during the broadcast. The Aggie story was not just visible to the audience, but legible.

The audience included the leader of the nation. A meet-and-greet between President Trump and the seven Indianapolis 500-winning drivers in the Freedom 250 field, as well as their team owners, happened directly in front of the No. 60 car and was captured by Fox. Seeing the No. 60, the president remarked to one team owner, “Texas A&M, beautiful car, beautiful car.”

An Aggie former student was also in the spotlight just before the race began. Matt Williams ’25, an Army veteran and Medal of Honor recipient, escorted the green flag around the track, presented it to the president, then stood alongside the president and First Lady Melania Trump as the president waved the green flag to start the race, setting the No. 60 car and its competitors roaring through the nation’s capital. Rosenqvist spent much of the race contending near the front of the pack, often within the top six.

“It was an honor to carry the Texas A&M colors in Washington, and I hope we gave all the Aggies something to be proud of,” Rosenqvist said. Before the race, he appeared on Fox and Friends, touting the university’s 150th anniversary as the broadcast was filled with Aggie imagery, including the logo and multiple shots of the No. 60 car. Fox also independently produced and aired Texas A&M-related content during the broadcast, while Indycar used its own editorial platform to explain the partnership, paint scheme, anthem and the broader “A Force for Good” message.

As Rosenqvist was drawing national attention, the university’s commercial welcomed viewers into Texas A&M’s story. In it, scenes from across the university unfold from a first-person perspective as Lovett sings about the value of working together. A cinematic reflection of the university, it depicts a simple proposition: Aggies work together, serve others and are a force for good for Texas and the nation.

The message is striking a chord with audiences. In testing, it performed in the top 1% of all education ads and approximately the top 2% of all television ads, regardless of category, tested by System1 since 2017, a highly regarded tool that predicts how well an advertisement will resonate with viewers. After just a week, the commercial already has 4.5 million YouTube views.

At two minutes, it is four times longer than a typical spot aired during a national race. Texas A&M’s story is not compressed into a traditional 30-second advertisement but given room to breathe, allowing the viewers to immerse themselves in the people, values and impact of Texas A&M — and, just as importantly, to understand what connects them.

The commercial made its national broadcast debut on Fox at the optimal time, 2:30 p.m. ET, running for two of the 15 minutes of the Freedom 250’s viewership peak of 3.48 million. The university logo was prominently displayed on screens across the nation during that time along with the scenes of what makes Texas A&M exceptional, reaching the largest non-Indianapolis 500 Indycar audience since 1995.

Nearly half of that audience had not watched another Indycar race this season, according to ratings data from the Nielsen agency.

“We were participating in a moment when the sport was breaking well beyond its normal audience,” Braden said. “We did not simply have 30 seconds somewhere inside a large sports broadcast; we had two full minutes to tell the Texas A&M story at precisely the moment national attention was highest.”

Local and national media outlets covered the promotional effort, which earned praise across social media for being among Texas A&M’s best advertising.

“Taken alongside the System1 testing, the early evidence suggests people are not simply seeing the work; they are understanding and feeling it,” Braden said. Adweek, one of the world’s leading industry publications, called it “a new track of consumer brand marketing.”

That branding is ultimately in service of Texas A&M’s people, work and mission. Because the university is leading the way in dealing with some of the nation’s most pressing issues, the pre-race messaging included Aggie ambassador of good Hayden Schott ’25 conducting a series of social media interviews with university experts in food security, energy, health and national security — which affect the lives of all Americans.

A reception two days before the race underscored Texas A&M’s commitment to finding solutions to those pressing issues. Part of the appeal of the Freedom 250 was that Washington, D.C., is home to one of the largest collections of Aggies outside the Lone Star State. At the reception, an influential audience of around 150 Washington-based Aggies, invited race guests and government officials saw a special screening of the commercial, learning the depth of Texas A&M’s commitment to working together toward solutions. Large LED displays featuring vivid footage showcased that work by highlighting: 

• the Bush Combat Development Complex’s testing of innovative defense technologies to strengthen national security;
• Texas A&M AgriLife’s leadership in initiatives to eradicate New World screwworm and secure our food supply;
• the School of Public Health’s research into artificial intelligence tools to help identify and better treat early symptoms of dementia;
• the Texas A&M-RELLIS Technology and Innovation Campus’s Energy Proving Ground, which is developing efficient, always-on energy technology to secure the nation’s energy future.

Guests could also preview the No. 60 car and admire a mural by Washington-based artist Camila Leao commissioned through the Secret Walls art collective.

On race day, Texas A&M guests and Washington-based Aggies gathered at the Elephant and Castle pub to cheer on Rosenqvist and view the commercial.

The in-person events added depth to the breadth of Texas A&M’s messaging across Washington. Starting the day before the race, 15-second commercial spots ran on consecutive days across 100 digital screens at the 10 Washington Metro locations closest to the race. A surge in ridership meant that tens of thousands more people witnessed scenes and headlines demonstrating Texas A&M’s commitment to working together to solve America’s energy challenges, fight disease, protect our food sources and secure our nation. Between those spots, station advertising and a pair of Washington Metro cars featuring university-branded maroon-and-white wraps and interior signage, Texas A&M combined “Working Together for the Good of America” and “A Force for Good” imagery into a coherent narrative playing across the nation’s capital.

The storytelling continues even now. The Metro cars will continue spreading the Aggie message through high-visibility placement until mid-September. The university’s growing Washington footprint — including Bush School DC, the Washington teaching site of The Bush School of Government and Public Service, where leaders and mid-career professionals receive advanced education in national security and international affairs — will also ensure that Aggies continue working for good in the symbolic heart of America.

The flagship commercial will also run throughout the year, with its collection of 41 individual scenes providing the basis for shorter pieces of content for social, digital and independent-media use; events; and other channels this year and beyond.

That approach reflects the larger opportunity of 2026: a confluence of national and university commemorations. Throughout the year, Texas A&M will continue celebrating the traditions and values that have made the university’s story unique yet broadly relevant to all Americans, while also finding new and unexpected ways to introduce Texas A&M to the next generation of students, families, partners and supporters.

At a time when trust in higher education and other institutions is being tested, Texas A&M has an opportunity to prove the value of its contribution rather than simply assert its greatness. The goal is not only for more people to see Texas A&M, but to better understand what it stands for and why its work matters to them — and America.