Advertising
By Emma Prest
Published: 15 August 2004
What do you come out with? BA
Why do it? Because you want to enter a glamorous world where the men wear Oswald Boateng suits and the women strut around in Jimmy Choo's. You may have a creative streak you want to explore. Perhaps you are just fascinated by ads.
What's it about? You learn how messages are communicated to their audience and through which media. You learn how to develop advertising strategies and media campaigns, and how to reach a wide audience while also targeting specific groups. At Lincoln, advertising is only studied as a joint degree, but you can choose from 18 other subjects from forensic science to food studies to international relations. The most popular combinations are advertising with marketing or public relations. At Lincoln there is emphasis on the management aspect, as this is a course designed to prepare you for a career in advertising. Although the course does have a creative side, it covers topics such as clients and agency relationships, account holders, strategic planning and advertising's impact on society. Students will get involved in real advertising projects for local organisations. At Thames Valley they currently run a BA Advertising and are about to launch a new degree called BA Creative Advertising. You will take courses in advertising's relationship with the media and the production of ads as well as running your own advertising campaigns. In the third year you can specialise, deciding whether you want to follow the business side or the creative direction. There are 21 different courses you can combine it with. The course at the Southampton Institute was designed by asking advertising executives what they wanted from graduates. The result was lateral thinking and problem solving which is at the heart of this degree. The course is made up of compulsory courses in the first and second years. In the third year you have five options. You also do a 10,000 word dissertation or campaign/ new media project. Lincoln also get local businesses involved in the course and set students up into teams with account planners and so on. The degree in creative advertising at Central Lancashire involves a lot of graphic design with an exhibition in the third year. You can choose to study an elective module such as a language.
How long is a degree? Three years.
What are the students like? Most are creative. Although you don't have to be. At Thames Valley there are quite a few students from continental Europe as advertising is not offered by many continental universities. The balance between males and females tilts slightly toward the females.
How is it packaged? No exams. Most institutions rely on continual assessment which can take many forms: reports, presentations, role-playing or campaigns.
How cool is it? Very. Advertising is an cool profession. You're right at the heart of glitzy consumer capitalism.
What A-levels do you need? Anything goes at most places. Bolton Institute want art as graphic design forms a large part of the course.
What grades? BBB (300 UCAS points) at Bournemouth; CCD (200 UCAS points) at the Southampton Institute; CC (160 UCAS points) at Lincoln; C and a D (140 UCAS points) at Thames Valley.
Will you be interviewed? Yes at Thames Valley, especially if you have non-conventional qualifications. Yes at Central Lancashire and in addition they want to see your portfolio. Sometimes at Lincoln and the Southampton Institute.
Will it keep you off the dole? Should do. "You can work for multi-national companies or for Greenpeace," says David Gannon, senior lecturer at Lincoln. There is big money to be made in the major ad companies.
What do students say? Ann Nguyen, 20, studying Advertising, Marketing and Communications, going into her third year at Bournemouth "It is a very vocational course and really does prepare you for when you enter the industry. There is lots of hands-on experience."
Chris Spore, 23, Advertising BA, Southampton Institute "I enjoyed studying the idea behind the ad and the art direction. I particularly enjoyed the creative stuff. It was useful to learn the business side which provided an insight into the industry. Other useful sections were on marketing and psychology. I am now moving to London to seek my fortune?"
Where can you do it? Bolton Institute of Higher Education, Bournemouth, Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College, University of Central England in Birmingham, Central Lancashire, University College Chester, East London, Gloucestershire, UHI Millennium Institute, Huddersfield, Hull, Kent, Lancaster, Lincoln, London Institute, Luton, Manchester Metropolitan, Newcastle College, University College Northampton, Oxfordshire School of Art and Design, Southampton Institute, Sunderland, Surrey Institute of Art and Design, Swansea Institute of Higher Education, Teeside, Thames Valley, Trinity College Carmarthen, Ulster. West Herts College, West Thames College.
Where's the cutting edge? Thames Valley is strong on new media and globalisation aspects of advertising. At Lincoln it's the ethics between press and advertising and the impact of changing technology on advertising; at the Southampton Institute ambient media, gorilla advertising and problem solving and lateral thing techniques are hot topics. At Bournemouth it is on-line PR and issues of management and corporate and social responsibility.
Who are the stars? Vernon Churcher, Judy Coulton and Nik Oakley at Thames Valley. David Gannon and Andy Corcoran at Lincoln. Lynn Sinclair and Mike Moran at Central Lancashire.
What can you combine it with? Advertising can be combined with a strange variety of courses. At Ulster you can study linguistics with advertising; at Thames Valley digital animation, music technology or broadcast broadcasting can be combined with it; at University College Chester they offer a degree in computer science with advertising; at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College it can be studied alongside psychology or creative writing. More commonly, it is studied jointly with marketing, public relations, media and graphic design.
