VCU Brandcenter

Students earn a Master of Science in Business, with a concentration in one of five tracks:

• Art Direction
• Copywriting
• Creative Brand Management
• Experience Design
• Strategy

Students take classes within their track as well as well as across tracks. The program is project-based, designed to simulate a real-world agency/client setting. Brandcenter students concentrate in one of the five tracks - art direction, copywriting, strategy, creative brand management, or experience design. They study within their given track, as well as collaborate with all tracks on team projects that culminate in presentations to their faculty, peers, and real-world clients.[2][3]

The VCU Brandcenter opened as the VCU Adcenter in 1996 under the leadership of founder Diane Cook-Tench, a former senior vice president and creative director at The Martin Agency. Cook-Tench worked with then-president of VCU Dr. Eugene Trani to create the school. She helped put together a board of directors that included Jay Chiat, founder of TBWA\Chiat\Day, and Dan Wieden, president of Wieden + Kennedy, from her contacts in the industry. The school began with 51 students in three tracks: art direction, copywriting and strategy.[4]

Rick Boyko, former Co-President and Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, took the position of director in 2003[5] and led the school for eight years.[6]

In 2005, the program was ranked the top graduate advertising program by Advertising Age’s Creativity Magazine.[7][8] After introducing the new Creative Brand Management track in 2007, it was named one of the world's 60 best Design Schools by BusinessWeek magazine.[9]

In 2008, the school changed its name from VCU Adcenter to VCU Brandcenter "to better reflect [the] evolving industry" and moved into a newly renovated building designed by Clive Wilkinson to "promotes creativity and collaboration."[10] Later that year, the Brandcenter introduced its Creative Technology track "to emphasize the increasingly central role that digital media plays in advertising."[11] It was named by AdAge as one of “The Country's Top Five Digital Media and Marketing Schools.”[12]

In 2010, the Brandcenter building was formally named Mike Hughes Hall after the President and Co-Chief Creative Officer of The Martin Agency and co-founder of the VCU Brandcenter board of directors.[13]

In 2012, Rick Boyko retired and Helayne Spivak, former Chief Creative Officer of Y&R and JWT, became the new director of the VCU Brandcenter. The Brandcenter also moved from the College of Humanities and Sciences at VCU to become part of the VCU School of Business,[14] and the degree changed from a Master of Science in Mass Communications to a Master of Science in Business.[15][16]

In 2015, the Creative Technology track evolved into Experience Design to focus on “the industry’s shift from brand communications to brand experiences.”[17]  

In 2018, Vann Graves became the executive director of the VCU Brandcenter. Prior to joining the Brandcenter, Vann had been Chief Creative Officer at JWT Atlanta.[18]

The current VCU Brandcenter building, Mike Hughes Hall,[19] was designed by South African architect Clive Wilkinson.[20] It was originally the carriage house for the Jefferson Hotel. The school moved into this building from its original location in Richmond's Shockoe Slip in 2008.[21]

The Brandcenter holds an annual recruiter session (often referred to as a "reverse career fair") every April. Over 250 recruiters from the nation's top agencies and companies come to the school to meet and recruit the graduating class.[22][23]

SIXTY is the VCU Brandcenter's annual magazine. The title derives from the sixty weeks that students spend earning their master's degrees. It contains student work/projects, information on the school and its five tracks, and features on alumni, industry leaders and student life.[24]

The Brandcenter Director's Council is composed of brand leaders and visionaries that represent some of today's most innovative businesses. This group of founding council members, representing a wide range of professional diversity and highly specialized expertise, will help reimagine how the Brandcenter prepares its students to lead the workforce of tomorrow. They are our direct link to the business world, poised to support the development and advocacy of the Brandcenter.[25]

• Brad Blondes, VP, Global Brand Design, MetLife
• Kristen Cavallo, CEO, The Martin Agency
• Michael Chaney, Co-founder and Managing Member, Sephina Spirits
• Carl Desir, Global Executive Director, Diversity and Inclusion, R/GA
• Hermon Ghermay, Director, GraceBlue
• Amber Guild, T Brand Studio President, New York Times
• Ben Hughes, Creative Director, Squarespace
• Sloane Humphrey, President, Powell Communications
• Howard Jordan, Jr., Story Editor / TV Writer, Netflix
• Daryl Lee, Global CEO, Universal McCann
• Val Middleton, Head of Marketing, Brand Curry Under Armour
• Pam Royall, Head of Research, Enrollment Services, EAB
• Peter Sherman, Executive Vice President, Omnicom
• Sherice Torres, Marketing Director, Google
• Khartoon Weiss, Global Head of Verticals, Spotify
• Ali Wysong, Account Executive, Waze