Finding Courses for YOUR Advertising Major

Mallory Pomerantz

Coming into college is an adjustment within itself. Adjusting to dorm life, new friends, new surroundings, as well as taking on a degree at a new University is not at all easy. However, the College of Media creates an effective and impactful advertising track for all students to follow to get a feel for the world of advertising. The advertising track is designed to give you exposure to different parts of advertising including content creation, account management, data analytics, research methods, brand strategy, etc. Taking so many different Advertising classes has not only expanded my palette but has allowed me to discover my interests and what I want to study further post-graduation.

After taking Advertising 283 and 284, I found myself interested in account management. Advertising 283 is designed to help students acquire brand decision-making skills. This involves understanding the content a consumer requires, how the consumer will come in contact with the brand, and the goal of the connection between consumer and content/contact. Furthermore, Advertising 284 focuses on methods of eliciting consumer insight. In particular, this class introduces the process and applied outcomes of consumer insight in terms of building a brand strategy. After these two courses, I realized I want a role where I can communicate with clients and work with them to meet their artistic visions and business goals. Account management seemed like the perfect “middle man” where I could still assist in creativity but also communicate with the client effectively to meet their needs.

Furthermore, the advertising track also provided courses that challenged me and pushed me to think differently. Specifically, I am talking about Advertising 390. Advertising 390 explores the theories of creativity; situates creativity and creative practices within the social structure of organizations that develop creative content; examines the relationship between creative strategy, creative concepts, and creative executions; exposes students to the practice of creating content for traditional and non-traditional media vehicles. For this class, I was assigned to make an ad campaign for the Ninja - Foodie 2 Air-Fryer Basket. I didn’t think this could be hard, but the constant feedback stumped me. I started to realize that the perfect ad campaign was not created overnight. It would take days and days of editing, tweaking, and playing with words and graphics until it all clicked. Although this was not my most favorite course on the track, it helped me realize that my interests may be more in account management than creative.

All in all, the advertising degree is designed effectively to expose each student to different segments of the advertising industry. Taking an array of classes allows you to recognize what you like, don’t like, what challenges you, and what keeps you thinking. If you want to take a closer look at the advertising degree requirements at UIUC, you can check that out here.