News

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.

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.