Ready to transform your creative career?
Pursue a master’s degree at the Brandcenter
Discover a world of boundless opportunities and become part of a diverse group committed to transforming the advertising and branding industry while staying true to their unique selves.
At the Brandcenter, we embrace bold creativity and insatiable curiosity. With over 25 years of expertise, we offer a transformative and immersive journey unlike any other. Our comprehensive two-year, full-time master’s program with concentrations in Art Direction, Copywriting, Creative Brand Management, and Strategy ensures that you will become a master in your chosen field.
Ready to make your impact? Together, we can craft the bold ideas that bring new ventures to life.
M.S. in Business/Branding
Harness Your Creative Potential
The Brandcenter is your gateway to a world of innovation and limitless possibilities. As part of our dynamic community, you'll collaborate with talented individuals driven by a shared purpose: to face the future and to shape it.
Choose from one of four concentration areas that represents an important industry discipline. You’ll master your craft in your chosen concentration and work collaboratively with your classmates across concentrations. At the Brandcenter, no one is only creative or strategic, everyone is both. This makes the ideas bigger and smarter and the work better. Approximately 70% of the work you’ll do is collaborative, leading to creatives who think strategically, and account managers and strategists who fully understand the creative process.
At a Glance
- Full-Time, in person
- 14 total courses
- Total transformation in 60 weeks
Four Concentrations
- Art Direction
- Copywriting
- Creative Brand Management
- Strategy
-
Art Direction:
Where Visual Storytelling Becomes Brand Identity
Art Directors often collaborate with Copywriters to create concept-driven work, bringing a brand’s story to life through design, typography, color, and imagery. This concentration is the right path if you want to build a career as an Art Designer (and potentially advance to a Creative Director role) at ad agencies, in-house creative studios for brands, content studios, or tech start-ups.
-
Copywriting:
Where Words Shape Big Ideas into Bigger Results
Copywriters come up with concepts and ideas to solve creative challenges and create buzz for brands with their storytelling ability. You’ll write across formats and channels, from headlines and taglines to full scripts, and develop a sharp ear for brand voice. If you want to be a Copywriter—or maybe someday a Creative Director—at ad agencies, in-house creative studios for brands, content studios, or tech start-ups, the Copywriting concentration is for you.
-
Creative Brand Management:
Where Strategy Meets Creative Leadership
CBM is for future brand-side and client-side leaders who thrive where strategy and creativity intersect. Business-, people-, and leadership-savvy, Creative Brand Managers lead client and agency teams to accomplish business objectives through creative solutions. If you enjoy collaborating with creative teams—but you’re not aiming to be a copywriter or designer—CBM gives you the tools to shape strategy and move ideas forward.
-
Strategy:
Where Insight Creates Impact
Use the power of curiosity about people, culture, and brands to drive strategy for advertising and brand communications. You’ll draw on research to understand the consumer and use those insights to point the way forward and spark stronger creative ideas. If you want to be a Strategist or Account Planner at ad agencies, in-house creative studios for brands, consultancies, content studios, or tech start-ups, the Strategy concentration is your next step.
The Brandcenter has challenged me in the best ways. I have pushed myself as a creative to do things I always thought about but never did. The collaborative process at The Brandcenter has given me the opportunity to get to know, work alongside, and learn from so many new people across the different concentrations. It’s my favorite part.
— Eleni Alafoginis (Art Direction, 2023)
You Choose Us.
Then Employers Choose You.
- Browse Student Portfolios Our real-world approach to advertising and branding combines the best aspects of portfolio schools with cutting-edge academic programs. Operating like an agency or creative studio, we provide unmatched opportunities for hands-on experience and career preparation.
- Meet Our Faculty Master your craft under the mentorship of professors with extensive industry experience. Our full-time faculty all continue to operate as practitioners in the industry, and our adjunct professors spend all day building and leading world-class brands, such as Google, Capital One, and Campbell's.
- Learn About Alumni Outcomes Brandcenter alumni work on behalf of the world’s most renowned brands, at some of the most creative and innovative companies in the world, and at the world’s leading advertising, design, and innovation agencies and consultancies.
Where Our Alumni Unleash Their Talents
Your Future Is a Smart Investment
Agencies and companies love to hire Brandcenter grads! Why? Because our grads are known for being excellent collaborators, big thinkers, strategic risk-takers, great problem-solvers, and sharp presenters. Not only do they hit the ground running in their jobs, but they also tend to move up quickly.
In addition to an outstanding return on investment, the Brandcenter offers scholarships and financial aid to help ease the cost of attendance.
$2,500
Apply by January 15, 2026
If you apply by January 15 and are admitted, you will receive a guaranteed one-time $2,500 award and will automatically be considered for an award increase of $10,000 or full tuition.*
*No separate application is required for these awards, and early-round applicants remain eligible to apply for additional scholarships. Awards apply to the first year of the program only.
Unparalleled Excellence
As a Brandcenter student, you'll become a part of an exceptional network of alumni working at the most innovative companies across the globe. Our graduates emerge as trailblazing leaders, adept at crafting compelling ideas and molding the future landscape. Experience the thrill of unrestrained creativity at the Brandcenter while honing the essential skills for your professional growth.
Discover why students thrive at the BrandcenterFind Your Place at the Brandcenter
From the moment you join the Brandcenter, you’ll be part of a group of smart, creative, talented, and deeply committed people from diverse backgrounds. Plus, the Brandcenter’s location in Richmond, Virginia, puts us at the center of a vibrant community of 1.2 million people that is a top destination for creative thinkers, entrepreneurs, foodies, artists, and more. Richmond is a great place to work, with the highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies of any urban area in Virginia. Our students have found employment at well-known companies, such as CarMax, CoStar, Capital One, and more.
Discover RichmondWant to learn more?
Get started on your path to success with the Brandcenter.