Today’s agencies and brands want strategists who take risks, think differently, and solve problems. They’re seeking creatives who can generate ideas and work with others to make them happen. And they need empaths who can guide their brands to be authentic, courageous, and committed to social good. Build those skills and the confidence to apply them.
Advertising at the SOJC
Advertising is no longer just about selling products. With our innovative Creative Strategist model as your guide, you’ll learn how to follow your curiosity, solve problems creatively, cultivate strategy, and deliver campaigns that move people to action. You’ll build core skills in design thinking, media planning, and brand management—and the portfolio to prove it. You’ll meet advertising’s top minds through agency networking trips and class visits from industry leaders. And you’ll join a creative community that will challenge and support you every step of the way.
What You Can Do with an Advertising Degree
Our graduates forge career paths across the creative and media economy and land jobs at leading global agencies, client brands, and nonprofit organizations. They are account managers, copywriters, designers, media analysts, brand strategists, and more. But they also use their creativity in hybrid ways:
- An art director/designer might land a job for Charity:Water in New York or for 72andSunny, a great agency in Los Angeles.
- A conceptual writer might write scripts for Blizzard Entertainment or give voice to social issues in advertising for NikeAdidas, or Patagonia.
- Producers go on to lead projects for filmmakers in Hollywood, ESPN, and sports teams around the country.
- And our strategists get placed in landmark agencies around the nation—like Wieden + Kennedy, WONGDOODY, and Johannes Leonardo—where they develop ideas for environmental projects, new business pitches, and modern brands.
Check out what three of our graduates are up to now:
Our classes and student experience are based on brand responsibility, rock star creativity, and brave thinking for the world we live in. Our students:
- Campaign for real clients in the student-run Allen Hall Advertising agency, Ad Society, and the National Student Advertising Competition
- Network and learn at top agencies in Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles
- Travel around the globe, from our annual Creative Week trip to New York City to Science & Memory projects in Alaska, Oregon, and Ghana
- Work with the United Nations to solve global problems
- Attend innovative events like SXSW or Cannes Festival of Creativity in France
Advertising, Tevin Tavares '17 believes, isn’t just about selling things. It can also inspire. Make waves. Bring people to tears.
The filmmaker and the SOJC student/alumni group he founded, Combined Culture, have been making waves of their own with powerful short films that have gone viral, propelling them into positions with major brands like Nike and Adidas and winning a College Emmy. From their eye-opening take on sneaker culture, to a short film inspired by Pulitzer Prize–winning hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar, to the story of a school shooting told through the eyes of a survivor, Tevin and Combined Culture use their creativity to elevate and inspire.
Create Campaigns for Real-World Clients
Problem:
The UO women’s basketball team is the top-ranked team in the PAC-12, but its games weren’t drawing the crowds you’d expect.
Solution:
With support from SOJC alum and Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle, the team hired Allen Hall Advertising, the student-run ad agency.
Results:
In less than two months, AHA's student-created "Wonder Ducks" campaign increased year-over-year attendance at games by more than 71 percent.
Inspired by their backgrounds in Girl Scouts and Campfire Girls, advertising students Rachel Benner '18 and Hannah Lewman '18 developed the Change Rangers, a new type of Scouting that teaches young people valuable skills for our changing climate, like water management and sustainable gardening. The campaign was one of 13 projects—out of 384 entries from 70 countries—to win the international What Design Can Do Climate Action Challenge. As winners, they earned two trips to Amsterdam to further develop their idea with expert guidance.
Deb Morrison holds many titles—SOJC advertising area director, co-founder of Science & Memory, two-time winner of the Marshall Award for Innovative Teaching, NYC Experience trip leader, grandmaster of the global Art Director’s Club. But the title she loves most is “industry change agent.” Watch her video to learn how advertising can change the world for the better.
"It’s no secret that UO advertising is full of experiential learning. [In Allen Hall Advertising and Ad Team], we were able to see a whole new side of the program—the functional side—[and] learned how these tiny organizations, a metaphor for the real-world industry, worked from the perspective of both mentors and mentees."
—Chris Puma ’16, Copywriter, Beyond