Master’s in Strategy

You might be a Strategist:

If this sounds like you:

• You often find yourself falling through interesting rabbit holes on the Internet
• You like to use both sides of your brain—creative and analytical—to solve problems
• You have good intuition about the people around you and why they behave like they do; you are interested in people in general—be it psychology, sociology, history, or even why some songs have become popular while others haven’t
• You love having deep conversations with people about anything, and people feel comfortable opening up to you
• You’re always looking for a better way to do things—from the best spot to wait for the subway to the non-obvious, but ideal parking area at the airport

If a day in the life of a strategist sounds fun:

• Conducting primary research (qualitative and quantitative), secondary/syndicated research; category and competitive reviews
• Developing brand positioning, brand strategy, comms plans, creative briefs, user personas, as well as platform, product, and service design strategy 
• Understanding the culture of, and how people are using, new media and tech platforms, and how brands can participate
• Building and connecting campaigns into ecosystems across media and tech platforms  
• Being the best partners in the building—working with traditional creatives, account and brand managers, and experience designers

• The Ask: Get Gen Z to see Upwork as a place for real opportunities
• The Insight: Gen Z draws a thin line between their work and their passion
• The Opportunity: Show Gen Z that Upwork doesn’t have the gatekeepers of the corporate world. With Upwork, you build your career, your way.
• Strategy: Your Career, Unscripted
• ​Campaign Idea: Free Your Work 

Master’s in Strategy at the Brandcenter

Studying Strategy at the Brandcenter prepares you to hit the ground running as a Strategist or Account Planner at ad agencies, in-house creative studios for brands, consultancies, content studios, or tech startups.

Graduate Program Curriculum

At the Brandcenter, you will not only perfect your craft in Strategy, but you will also work collaboratively with your classmates across concentrations.

Here’s what you’ll do on all-concentration team projects as a Strategist, as well as what your teammates will do:

Here’s what your sixty weeks at the Brandcenter will look like:

Strategy Prerequisites

Here are the prerequisites for strategy applicants and all applicants:

Strategy Lead

Jess Collins

Professor, Strategy

• Background: The deodorant category, focusing mostly on scent and performance, has two main messages: “Smell like a man, man.” and “Don’t sweat it, handle it.” These messages don’t resonate with everyone—particularly the people who don’t believe that your deodorant/scent has anything to do with what kind of man you are; it just needs to work and keep you from smelling like BO. Arm & Hammer (and its secret weapon, baking soda) is known for and has a proven track record of neutralizing smell.
• Strategy: The next worst thing to smelling like BO is to smell like a try-hard. The best smell is not smelling at all.
• Idea: Smell boring

Ready to apply for Strategy?

Explore the concentrations