Miami Ad School is an for-profit technical school focused on Art Direction, Copywriting, Graphic Design, and Photography with multiple locations throughout the United States. Students can also receive a Bachelors of Arts in Advertising, Media Production, and Business Administration, and a Master of Science in Mass Communication through joint programs with universities in Florida, Spain, and Germany. It was founded by Ron and Pippa Seichrist in 1993 in Miami Beach, Florida. The school is currently headquartered in Wynwood with locations in four U.S. cities, and in eight other countries.
Foundation and programs
Miami Ad School was founded in 1993 by Ron Seichrist, a former creative director, and his wife, Pippa. Miami Ad School is accredited by the Council on Occupational Education, having initially been a candidate for accreditation in 1994, and received accreditation in 1995. It has since been described as among "the most prestigious institutions of higher education" in the field of design. Among its programs, the school offers three-month Boot Camp's for Account Planning and Social Media. According to industry journal Adweek: "The facility operates in many ways like a traditional agency, in that students direct spots, write advertising copy, and learn to manage budgets." In May 2012, the school also launched its "Miami Ad School Pro," program a workshop to provide instruction on recent trends for advertising industry professionals. The program was launched in Brooklyn, New York.
Notable campaigns
In 2013, Miami Ad School students in the school's San Francisco campus created an ad campaign for The Trevor Project, highlighting the danger of the bullying of LGBT youth leading to suicide. Also in 2013, Miami Ad School students in New York developed "a fictional promotion for the New York Public Library that would leverage public transportation," allowing commuters to temporarily download excerpts from best-selling books. The proposal drew some interest from local libraries, and a similar promotion was eventually launched in train stations in Philadelphia. In a similar campaign in 2014, "Miami Ad School students teamed up with Pandora to create the "Underground Stations" campaign highlighting subway musicians." In 2011, students in Miami Ad School Europe developed a marketing campaign for a Russianvodka brand involving a virtual "Russian roulette," where four participants would provide their Facebook login details, with the "loser" having his Facebook account permanently deleted, and the "winners" being entered in a sweepstakes to win a trip to Russia. In 2007, the school advertised its own programs by creating a magazine ad containing perforated trading cards representing famous advertising industry people, and in 2010 it did so by creating its own bottled water brand, named "Smudge Slobber" after the founder's dog.
