News

WE ARE NEXT interviews Brandcenter Alumni at Recruiter Session

In this special episode recorded at the VCU Brandcenter Recruiter Session, WE ARE NEXT sat down with three Brandcenter alumni—Lizzy Hopkinson (2017), Copywriter, Nitin Dua (2016), Senior Strategist at Fallon, and Brandon Viney (2012), Creative Lead at Google Brand Studio—to talk about the start of their careers, early lessons they learned, and their best advice for graduating seniors.

Day of Giving for Brandcenter Scholarships: April 24th

April 24th was our 2nd annual Brandcenter Day of Giving, when we asked alumni and friends of the Brandcenter to give back. The results are in: 145 donors, most of which are VCU Brandcenter alumni, current students, faculty and staff, raised $16,309 for scholarships to help Brandcenter students pay for their education. 

Advertising legend Joyce King Thomas to speak at VCU Brandcenter commencement

The VCU Brandcenter is thrilled to announce Joyce King Thomas as its 2019 commencement speaker on May 11th.

Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of McCann XBC (ExtraBoldCondensed), Joyce is best known as the creator and writer behind Mastercard’s Priceless campaign, which ran in 100 countries and was spoofed by everyone from Ralph Nader to Bart Simpson. She was one of the 100 most award-winning chief creative officers of 2018. 

Adweek: With a new advisory council, VCU Brandcenter charts its future course

Executive Director Vann Graves and the VCU Brandcenter announced a new advisory council designed to address the new order of brands, creativity and marketing.

The Brandcenter's Director’s Council includes several influential leaders in the more traditional agency and brand space—Omnicom, Universal McCann and MetLife are represented—but also tips its hat to technology, media and entrepreneurship. Amber Guild, for example, is the president of T Brand Studios at the New York Times and Howard Jordan, Jr. (a Brandcenter alum and Richmond native) is a story editor and TV writer at Netflix.

Director Vann Graves & Adweek celebrate 15 classic campaigns by black creatives

“We have these same conversations [around diversity in advertising], and there seems to be no traction, but those conversations are easy to sell,” said VCU Brandcenter executive director and former JWT Atlanta CCO Vann Graves. “Whereas where there are successes, they’re rarely celebrated.”

Graves and other industry pros discuss iconic work like McCann Worldgroup's "Hilltop" for Coca-cola (1971) and others that helped shape our industry - and were co-created by people of color.

VCU Brandcenter director Vann Graves has a 'reputation as a strong, thoughtful and effective leader'

“A lot of schools will only teach the process of how to make something pretty or how to only execute something, while at the Brandcenter we first step back and ask, ‘what is the concept?’” Graves explained. “How does it solve a business problem, and how do you approach that?"

Learn more about our Executive Director Vann Graves, his advertising career, and his journey back to Richmond to lead the VCU Brandcenter.

Droga5 NY promotes Brandcenter alums Casey Rand and Karen Land Short to ECDs

Since joining Droga5 in 2013 and 2012 respectively, Casey Rand and Karen Land Short have helped lead the charge for some of the agency’s most defining work, including Under Armour’s ‘I Will What I Want' and the Clinton Foundation’s ‘Not There’, as well as multiple campaigns for Chase, Dixie, Prudential, Newcastle, YMCA, Covergirl and more.

Executive Director Vann Graves: Brands Still Have a Lot to Learn About Diversity and Creating Inclusive Work Environments

"It’s 2019, and we’re still seeing what should be obvious racially insensitive missteps." VCU Brandcenter executive director Vann Graves' opinion article in Adweek explores the need for "a new workplace norm that embraces a culture of diversity."

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.