Alumni Newsletter March 2019

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WHAT'S NEW

VCU Brandcenter Director's Council Announced This week the Brandcenter announced our new Director's Council. We're excited to be working with such a diverse group of forward-thinking leaders who will help guide our school into the future. The council represents agencies and companies spanning traditional advertising to technology, media, and entrepreneurial brands. We're proud to have Brandcenter alum Howard Jordan, Jr. (CW, 1999), story editor and TV writer at Netix, joining the council, as well as members from R/GA, Spotify, Squarespace, Universal McCann and more.

Learn about our Director's Council and see the full list of members in the Adweek feature on our website. Â

World IA Day at VCU Brandcenter On February 23rd, the local user experience design community ooded the Brandcenter for World IA Day, hosted by Richmond UX, Ladies that UX Richmond, and RVA Content Strategy. It was incredible to be part of this oneday, global festival of all things Information Architecture, UX, Interaction Design, and other related disciplines. Students in our experience design track learned from and mingled with experts from Capital One, ICFNext, Genworth and more.

Watch on Facebook Live > #WIADRVA on Twitter > Â

2018 Alumni Panel at Friday Forum Continuing our spring semester tradition, we brought back several alumni to share insights and advice from their ďŹ rst year out. Alums from The Community, Arts & Letters, The Martin Agency, Google Creative Lab and Wieden + Kennedy talked about life after Brandcenter and how to overcome imposter syndrome in your new job. A few tips: be very critical of your own work, ask questions when you don't understand, dig deeper for solutions that aren't easily seen, and walk into every room like you deserve to be there.

See full schedule

Brandcenter Takes NYC Thanks to Director's Council member Michael Chaney and his wife Larissa for opening up their beautiful home to host our "Brandcenter Takes NYC" event on March 13th. Brandcenter staff had a great time catching up with our local alumni, Director's Council members, and guests.

See more event photos >

SAVE THE DATE

#Brandfamgivesback: Day of Giving is April 24th

"I felt it was important to give back to the school that gave so much to me." Matty Smith (CW, 2010), Creative Director at TBWA\Chiat\Day. In 2018, we asked you to step up and participate in the first-ever Brandcenter “Day of Giving.” We received more than 100 gifts from alumni, students, faculty, staff, and industry leaders, which went towards scholarships for Brandcenter students.

For our 2019 Day of Giving on April 24th, our goal remains the same: participation from as many alumni and friends as possible, no matter the size of the gift.

See why Matty Smith gave back >

Donate now

Recruiter Session & Alumni Preview Night: April 23-25th Brandcenter Recruiter Session is April 24-25th, and we'd like to invite you to another Alumni-Only Preview Night on Tuesday, April 23rd. Come meet the Class of 2019 and see their work before the recruiters arrive.

Register for Preview Night > Register for Recruiter Session > We are also looking for a sponsor for Preview Night. Please let us know if your

company would like to sponsor a food truck or treat for the evening. Contact Katherine Keogh if interested: kakeogh@vcu.edu.

Learn more

WE'RE HIRING

Director of Recruitment and Admissions Position Open We're looking to fill one of the most important positions at the Brandcenter: the first point of contact for our students. The Director of Recruitment and Admissions will lead Brandcenter recruitment efforts, manage the admissions process, and welcome the newest members of the Brandfam.

Since the Brandcenter is more similar to the industry than to other academic programs, we're looking for candidates with industry recruiting experience to source the talent for our program. If you know anyone who would be interested, please share the job description and application. The application deadline is April 12th, 2019.

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

Droga5 Promotes Casey Rand and Karen Land Short to ECDs “Casey and Karen are among our absolute best and brightest,” said Droga5 Chief Creative Officer Neil Heymann. “Their sharp minds and exceptional talents have led to some of this agency's most powerful work. They're strong leaders with a conscience, compelled to use their considerable powers to help causes they believe in.”

Since joining Droga5 in 2012 and 2013 respectively, Brandcenter alums and newly promoted ECDs Karen Land Short (AD, 2008) and Casey Rand (CW, 2009) have helped lead the charge for some of Droga5's most defining work, including Under Armour’s "I Will What I Want," the Clinton Foundation’s "Not There," and multiple campaigns for Chase, Dixie, Prudential, Newcastle, YMCA, Covergirl and more.

Read more >

See more alumni news

ALUMNI WORK

Ten Brandcenter alumni worked on Super Bowl commercials this year: Hyundai's "Elevator" and Audi's "Cashew," both of which made the top ten in USA Today's Ad Meter, as well as Pringles, Toyota, Simplisafe, Coca-cola, CBS Network and the Cleveland Clinic. Watch all eight spots on our Alumni Super Bowl Youtube playlist and ďŹ nd out what it was like to make one. Â

We love this fun sing-along work for Cheerios by Eric Dennis (AD, 2011), Simon Philion (CW, 2011) and their team at 72andSunny New York, deemed "Next-gen Schoolhouse Rock" by Adweek. It launched on National Friend Day. Watch the spot >

"Human meets machine" is some powerful new work for BMW from Mackenzie Beer (ST, 2016) and her team at Goodby Silverstein & Partners. The spot features Italian racing legend Alex Zanardi, who lost both of his legs in a car crash in 2001. This year, he raced in 24 Hours of Daytona with help from the BMW team who built him a one-of-a-kind steering wheel so he could drive using only his upper body.

Watch the spot >

View more work

Alumni Salary Survey | Donate | Update your info News to share? Email Ashley Sommardahl at asommardahl@vcu.edu.

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