News

Brandcenter students develop unusual marketing campaigns to improve transit safety

For Brandcenter students at Virginia Commonwealth University, a lonely ghost, a catchy jingle and colorful murals are tools to deter road accidents.

Fifteen students in Kelly O’Keefe’s creative brand management class volunteered their spare time to develop marketing campaigns for Richmond’s participation in Vision Zero, a strategy to reduce traffic and pedestrian fatalities and injuries. 

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.

Watch Brandcenter Alumni Super Bowl commercials

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

Adweek’s Creative 100: The Names You Need to Know Right Now in Marketing, Media and Tech

Brandcenter alums Casey Rand (CW, 2008) and Karen Land Short (AD, 2008) at Droga5, and Ryan Niland (CW, 2015) at Wieden + Kennedy, PDX, made the list of names you need to know right now in marketing, media and tech.

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.

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. 

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 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.

Now hiring an art direction professor

The VCU Brandcenter is hiring a full-time art direction professor to refine our students and share valuable insight and experience from working in the industry. Read the job description and apply online today.

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 professor designs a barricade to stop school shooters in their tracks

After Sandy Hook, VCU Brandcenter Professor Scott Witthaus knew that something had to be done about school shootings. He began to think of ideas for a product that could actually help stop shooters in their tracks. He and his creative partner Chris McCann invented DropLock, an easy-to-deploy barricade system that can keep shooters at bay for about 10 minutes, buying time for students before law enforcement could arrive.

Brandcenter professor Kelly O'Keefe featured on NPR podcast

Brandcenter professor Kelly O'Keefe was recently a guest on NPR's "With Good Reason" podcast in an interview entitled "Brand Survival in the Trump Era." He explores what happens when brands take a stand in a politically divided world, and how communicators can use their talents to make the world better.