Alumni in the news

Watch Brandcenter Alumni Super Bowl commercials

See the list of Brandcenter Super Bowl spots that Brandcenter alumni worked on this year.

Decency, fear and other lessons from Super Bowl LIII ads brought to you by VCU Brandcenter alumni

Marika Wiggan comes from a family of advertisers. But she’s the first to have an ad air during the Super Bowl. 

In fact, last night’s game debuted Wiggan’s third career Super Bowl ad. The spot for SimpliSafe is the launching point for a larger campaign that Wiggan’s firm, Preacher, has developed for the home security company.

Brandcenter alum Yichi Zhang named to Forbes China's 30 Under 30

Brandcenter alum Yichi Zhang (CBM, 2015) was named to Forbes China 30 Under 30 in 2018 after launching a creative consultancy in Beijing that focuses on personal branding.

Alum Jennifer Clinehens releases first book

This week VCU Brandcenter alum Jennifer Clinehens released her first book, "Creating a Customer Experience That Sings: An Introduction to Customer Journey Mapping for Marketers." The book is about understanding your customer - how they view your brand, how they make choices, and how the customer experience shapes their purchase decisions.

Brandcenter Alums Make Adweek's 18 Most Inspiring Super Bowl Commercials

Two Brandcenter alumni spots made Adweek's list of 18 Super Bowl Ads that Inspired the Creative Industry to Step Up Their Game: Volkswagen's "The Force" by  David Povill (CW, 2003)\ and his team at Deutsch in 2011 and Google's "Parisian Love" by Tristan Smith (CW, 2009) and his team at Google Creative Lab in 2010. 

Brandcenter students complete first ever BC Sprint

Second year students spent the end of their winter break working vigorously on a brand challenge for client sponsor Casper in the Brandcenter's first ever BCsprint. Briefed on Thursday afternoon and presenting on Monday morning, the ten student teams had four days to problem solve, come up with ideas and prepare presentations in a real world "sprint" scenario.

Brandcenter alum started an agency from a rented billboard

Sam Dolphin (Copywriting, 2011) and his creative partners were looking to reintroduce some risk and fun to advertising. So they rented a billboard in Oakland, CA and are using it as a canvas to connect to the community. "In a lot of ways, creativity has turned into a math formula, and we wanted to get back to the fun-unknown-experimentation world that initially inspired us to get in this business.”

Brandcenter alum Rachel Mercer interviewed on We Are Next podcast

Brandcenter alum Rachel Mercer (XD, 2012), Executive Strategy Director at R/GA, talks about why she graduated early to go to VCU Brandcenter, how she found more opportunities when she wasn't given enough work to do at her internship, what newsletters she reads to stay a step ahead of her clients and build their trust, how building a diverse team brought more value to her agency (and the proof!), and her secret to increasing your perceived value in this We Are Next podcast interview.

Board member brings AICP Show featuring alumni work to Richmond

Brandcenter board member and AICP President & CEO Matt Miller brings the AICP Show, 'The Art & Technique of the American Commercial" from New York to the historic Byrd Theatre in Richmond every year so that Brandcenter students can see the best work in the industry. This year 13 Brandcenter alums have work in the show.

It's A Hard Knock Start-up Life

Brandcenter alum Charles Hodges (CW, 2009), founder of Arts & Letters in Richmond, and other leaders of new agencies are featured in Communication Arts, sharing great advice for starting an agency or creative company. Charles' answer to one question, "What do you want your agency to be known for 5 years from now?" particularly stands out: "If we could be known as one of the most talented and kind places in the business of ideas, I think we’d all be pretty proud."

Haymaker’s Chief Creative, alum Jay Kamath (AD, 2007), Values Hybrid Talents Above All

Jay Kamath went from architecture student to agency co-founder. He and a former 72andSunny coworker started Haymaker in 2017 with a multidisciplinal attitude, hiring people with hybrid talents - and that approach is reflected in the far-ranging avenues that many of Haymaker’s creative endeavors take. In this Adweek article, Jay shares advice and lessons he's learned along the way. 

Hunter Kelly, Strategy Intern & Akin Abode, Copywriting Intern at HAYMAKER

We Are Next podcast and blog interviewed Brandcenter alum Hunter Kelly (Strategy, 2018) and second year student Akin Abode (Copywriting, 2019) about their internship experience this summer at Haymaker, a young agency started by Brandcenter alum Jay Kamath (Art direction, 2007).