Become a Strategic Planner
WHAT DOES A STRATEGIC PLANNER DO?
Student Work
Details & Dates
What kind of background do I need to have?
How long is the program and what are the application deadlines?
In 12 mind-expanding weeks you’ll learn to understand and analyze data, develop insights and write creative briefs. You’ll be partnered with an art director and a copywriter. Your team will develop campaigns based off of your insights. The strategic planning boot camp culminates with a real project presented pitch-style to the client.
Each week your instructor will be a different strategic expert. A dozen planning directors from top agencies like The Barbarian Group, Google, Droga5 and Ogilvy take you through 3-day sessions that cover different aspects of account planning.
In the final week of the boot camp visit a variety agencies and meet with planning directors. See first hand the different types of planning environments. You’ll meet the people in the strategy departments and increase your network of industry contacts.
The strategic planning boot camp is a 3 month, 12-week program.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: August 27th – Classes start October 1st.
*The strategic planning boot camp is a 3 month, 12-week program. Strategic planning students take 5 lecture/critique/demonstration classes each week, each class is 3 hours long. This program is a total of 15 total credit hours, 300 clock hours. Schedules are set by the registrar and can not be modified.
What are some of the courses I'll take?
THE PITCH: Throughout the quarter, planners will have the opportunity to work with several different art director/copywriter teams to develop ad concepts from a brief developed by the account planner. Develop the variety of skills you need to work with creatives.
UNDERSTANDING THE ISSUE: A planner’s first job is to ask the right questions. Winning strategies come from rigorous consumer/market analysis. Examine the role of desk and ad hoc research while learning how to develop the six-step sequence strategic foundation. Define the role of advertising and which models apply.
BRIEF WRITING & BRIEFING: Briefing is the tool to unleashing the creative forces of the art director/copywriter team and the creative director. The briefing must inform, but more importantly the briefing must inspire. Learn how to write a good brief, discriminate between good and bad briefs, and present a brief well.
MEASURING IMPACT: Analyze conventional and unconventional ways of effectiveness and create systems that translate campaigns into measurable business value. Learn how analytics professionals capture data and signals generated by paid, owned and earned activity in order to inform, evaluate and optimize campaigns.
Is there a job placement program?
At the end of the strategy boot camp, students will spend an intensive week visiting the strategy departments in advertising agencies and companies. The representatives will inform the students on their company’s philosophy, culture and give insight into their social media department.