Advertising

Program Overview

Advertising majors choose from two areas of emphasis: Management or Creative. The Management track teaches strategic planning, ad media placement, research, and campaign promotional idea generation. The Creative track is designed for students interested in the written and visual components of the advertising strategy, including copywriting, print and broadcast production, traffic and creative services.

Program Size

Approximately 125 students are enrolled in the major. Average class size is 24 students.

Faculty

Professor Birgit Wassmuth joined the faculty in Fall 1999. She has taught at the University of Missouri, University of Florida, Temple University and the University of Kassel, Germany. She has 19 years of full-time teaching experience. Her area of emphasis is the creative side of advertising.

Dorothy Skiba Pisarski is Visiting Assistant Professor of Advertising.   Pisarski taught at Saint Francis University and Mount Aloysius College, both in the Allegheny Mountain region of Western Pennsylvania.  A native of New York City, she has extensive professional experience in marketing and advertising, in both consumer and industrial products.  Pisarski earned an MBA from the Stern School of New York University and holds a BS from Siena College (Albany, NY).  Pisarski is particularly interested in the evolution of how children learn consumer behaviors.

Required Credit Hours and Courses for a Major

All students working for a bachelor's degree at Drake must complete the Drake Curriculum (Areas of Inquiry). A minimum of 124 total credit hours are required to graduate, including 31 to 37 credit hours in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication(SJMC). All SJMC majors must successfully complete JMC 30 Communications in Society, JMC 40 Pre-Professional Workshop, JMC 54 News and Reporting Principles, JMC 59 Introduction to Visual Communications, JMC 66 Race, Ethnicity and Media (JMC 66 Required of students entering Drake after Summer 2003), and JMC 104 Communications Law and Ethics. A minimum of 65 credit hours must be taken in Arts and Sciences course work and must include Economics 1, Political Science 1 and Sociology 1. 40 credit hours must be in upper division courses numbered 100 or above.

Area of Concentration:In addition the JMC graduate must have completed a 21 credit-hour block of non JMC courses approved by the adviser and dean. This concentration, taken in a single department or as a unified area of concentration crossing departmental lines, usually is one particularly appropriate to the student's major or otherwise of special interest. At least 12 credit hours in the concentration must be taken in courses numbered 100 and above. Courses taken to satisfy other graduation requirements also may count toward this requirement.

Required Advertising Courses for B.A. Management Track

JMC 121 Advertising Principles
JMC 130 Advertising Research
JMC 132 Advertising Media Planning
JMC 140 Business Communication
JMC 145 Advertising Campaign Strategy

Download a PDF version of the Advertising Management checksheet

Download a PDF version of Other Requirements for All JMC Majors

Required Advertising Courses for B.A. Creative Track

JMC 56 Broadcast Principles
JMC 121 Advertising Principles
JMC 124 Advertising Copywriting
JMC 141 Advanced Advertising Copywriting
JMC 145 Advertising Campaign Strategy

ART 21 Digital Print Production

Download a PDF version of the Advertising Creative checksheet

Download a PDF version of Other Requirements for All JMC Majors

Required Courses and Credit Hours Outside Major

All advertising majors must include in their programs Marketing 101 and 115; Economics 2; and Psychology 1.

Organizations

Drake has an active student chapter of the American Advertising Federation. The Drake Ad Pros chapter organizes and hosts the "Student Addys" awards competition, in which communications students from Midwestern colleges and universities submit creative work that is judged by Des Moines area communication professionals.

Drake IMC is a student-run agency that develops advertising and public relations campaigns for nonprofit organizations.

Special Opportunities/Internships

There are numerous opportunities for advertising-related internships and part-time employment as well as work for Des Moines area nonprofit organizations as a member of Bow Wow, the student-run advertising agency.

Career Options

Advertising majors prepare for careers in agencies, business and industry, publishing, broadcasting organizations, and nonprofit associations.

Scholarships

The Advertising Professionals of Des Moines awards one or more scholarships for students demonstrating a potential for professional achievement in advertising. The Erik Isgrig Scholarship is also awarded to student majoring in advertising. The Beth Walters Peterson Award is an annual prize given to a student for outstanding accomplishment in copywriting.

The Lottie and Robert Brown Fellowship is awarded annually to a student entering the School of Journalism and Mass Communication based on outstanding records of academic and extracurricular achievement in high school. The Katherine Farber Futch Scholarship, based on the same achievement criteria and financial need, is also awarded annually. Both may be renewed for each additional year of study with the maintenance of appropriate academic standards.

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Advertising Minor

The advertising minor is designed to provide students who anticipate careers involving an advertising component, such as Marketing, Management and Business, with a well rounded background in advertising principles and concepts. In addition there will be some exposure to advertising's creative process. The minor is made up of 21 hours in required and elective courses.

Required courses:

JMC-030	Communications in Society (Spg only)	3 hrs
JMC-59	Visual Communications	3
JMC-121	Advertising Principles	3
JMC-145	Advertising Campaigns	3

Students must choose three of the following:

JMC-56	Broadcast Principles	3
JMC-124	Advertising Copywriting	3
JMC-132	Advertising Media Planning	3
JMC_ _ _	JMC Elective	3

Advertising minors must also include in their program ECON 1 and 2, PSYCH 1, MKTG 101 and SOC 1.