"Branding" trumps "Advertising" at Virginia Commonwealth
The "Adcenter" at Viriginia Commonwealth University is dead.
The "Brandcenter" at VCU is alive and well.
That's the story reported this morning by AdAge at http://adage.com/article?article_id=123007
AdAge calls this "a telling nod to the radical changes afoot in the marketing world." The story recounts how faculty, students, and trustees deliberated and decided that the link to advertising in the old name was too narrow for today's marketing world and would likely impact the ability of future graduates to find top jobs.
The change includes a $9 million move to a new physical location and a new website.
While the name has changed, the 4 tracks that students can follow while spending two years as full-time students to earn a master's degree have not. The selections are:
- Art direction
- Copywriting
- Creative brand management
- Communications strategy
Alas, the movement on the new website hasn't happened as fast as the AdAge article appeared. A search for www.brandcenter.vcu.edu as reported by AdAge doesn't yet go to the new site. If you use that link without a search, it will take you to the current AdCenter page to see the old front page before it disappears. Or, go direct to http://www.adcenter.vcu.edu/
Whatever path you take, you'll find a website entry point that looks and acts as if it was created by ad agencies.