News

Alumni win two Cannes Grand Prix for New York Times campaign

The New York Times’ “The Truth Is Worth It” campaign from Brandcenter alumni and their team at Droga5 won the Grand Prix in both the Film and Film Craft categories at the Cannes Fesitval of Creativity. This marks the first time a single campaign has won the top honor in both those categories in the history of the festival.

Internship placement and summer Instagram takeovers

Brandcenter rising second-year students will be traveling and interning in cities all over the world this summer. Check out our internship placement and see what they're up to during our summer Instagram takeovers from June 14 through August 18. 

Seven Brandcenter alumni make Adweek Creative 100

Each year, Adweek celebrates the Creative 100, a roster of gifted professionals who inspire current and future generations not only with their work but also their passion for creativity across advertising, media, art, literature, animation and more. See which seven VCU Brandcenter alumni made the list. 

Ray Page of WE Communications extols Brandcenter's team-based structure in Forbes interview

Ray Page, Executive Vice President of Digital & Experience Technology (DXT) at WE Communications and long-time recruiter of the VCU Brandcenter, extolled the Brandcenter program's structure in an interview with Forbes on how unconventional team pairings can make the work better and less expected, entitled "The Trifecta: How Art, Data And Technology Drive Creativity At WE Communications."

Brandcenter Alum Mira Kaddoura is one of AdAge's Women to Watch in 2019

Mira Kaddoura grew up in Beirut, speaking Arabic and French. She lived through multiple wars there and witnessed firsthand the suddenness and finality of death. Even after moving to Virginia to attend VCU Brandcenter, she worried about friends and family back in the Middle East. Those experiences colored her design philosophy, and after 10 years at Wieden & Kennedy Portland, she founded the agency Red & Co., which she says focuses on “nondisposable” work for brands.

Brandcenter alum Jeff MacDonald talks about his experience design career on WE ARE NEXT podcast

Jeff MacDonald, Experience Design Lead at Epic Signal at Mekanism, brings us high-level ways to think about our careers as we navigate through them. Hear about how he found Experience Design (formerly Creative Technology) at Brandcenter, how creative technology has evolved, how to roll with the ups and downs of working in advertising, processing your emotions after being let go, and the importance of actively redefining your career along the way.

Class of 2019 job placement update

It's been a little over a week since they graduated, and the Class of 2019 job placement has reached 33%. Jobs are coming in every day. Check out where our recent grads are getting hired.

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.