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
With our innovative Creative Strategist model as your guide, you’ll follow your curiosity, embrace your creativity, 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. Last year, SOJC ad grads claimed starting positions or internships at top companies around the nation, including Nike, 72andSunny, Wieden + Kennedy, WONGDOODY, Johannes Leonardo, Starbucks, Intel, and Disney. Check out what three of our graduates are up to now:
We believe the learning process isn’t complete until you practice your skills out in the world. Our students do real client work in the student-run Allen Hall Advertising agency, Ad Society, and the National Student Advertising Competition. They network and learn at top agencies in Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. And they travel around the globe, from our annual Creative Week trip to New York City to Science & Memory projects in Alaska, Oregon, and Ghana.
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