ADV-BA - Advertising

Program Website

The Temerlin Advertising Institute offers students pursuing a B.A. in advertising the opportunity to focus their studies in one of three concentration areas: creative, digital media strategy or strategic brand management. Students must apply to both the major and a concentration area concurrently. Students may apply to more than one concentration area but will be admitted to only one. All SMU advertising students are required to take a core set of advertising courses that includes survey, society and ethics, consumer behavior, research, media, business communication, professional seminar, and campaigns. In addition, advertising majors must declare and complete a second major or a minor outside of advertising. Because SMU is in the center of a dynamic U.S. advertising market, many students participate in internships for course credit.

The creative program prepares students to enter the world of advertising and marketing as art directors and copywriters. The curriculum covers all aspects of content creation for communicating a brand’s identity to consumers. Courses focus on conceptual thinking, approaches to ideation, the creative process, discovery and execution of the big idea, and communicating information in an effective way across a variety of traditional and digital media. Students will learn to create compelling work, present and justify their ideas, and develop a personal aesthetic.

The digital media strategy program prepares students to enter the world of advertising and marketing as digital producers, digital strategists, content managers and media specialists. Marketing in the digital age means understanding when and where to communicate to consumers when they are most receptive to receiving and sharing messages. Students admitted to the concentration will learn to maximize consumers’ engagement with marketing messages using paid, owned and earned media to achieve this goal.

The strategic brand management program prepares students to enter the world of advertising and marketing as account or brand managers, project managers, planners/strategists, consumer insight experts, event and promotion specialists, and new business developers. This concentration examines the approaches to management in advertising agencies and on the client side. Topics include strategies for the identification of marketing-related problems and the processes needed to find solutions through messaging, promotions and other forms of consumer engagement to build brand equity and market share. Students learn how to think critically, work collaboratively in an interdisciplinary environment, develop strategy, hone their communication skills, assess the metrics of their work and present concepts in an engaging way.

Courses for each concentration must be taken in sequence.