In OCAD U’s Advertising program, the only four-year program of its kind in Canada, you will learn storytelling from many different points of views and be encouraged to challenge tradition. You’ll benefit from guest speakers from Canada’s biggest ad agencies and have opportunities to do internships.
In your fourth year, you’ll work in boot camps with real clients and create real campaigns; in the past, students have worked with McCain Pizza Pockets and Sony PlayStation. This means you can say you’ve sold a creative concept before even finishing school – a huge advantage when you’re looking for a job.
Notable alumni include many top creative directors including Elspeth Lynn, Creative Director for Saatchi & Saatchi in London, UK; Wain Choi, Global VP ECD at Cheil Worldwide in Korea; and Carlos Moreno, Global Chief Creative Officer for Cossette.
Program Highlights
At the End of this Program...
At the end of this four-year program, you will earn an Honours Bachelor of Design degree
Admissions Requirements
- For Ontario high school students, a minimum overall average of 70%
- Portfolio
- Statement of Intent
- Official transcripts
- See detailed academic requirements here
Jobs You Can Get
More than half of fourth year students have jobs lined up before they even graduate. Many of Canada’s top advertising creatives are graduates of OCAD U’s program.
- Advertising agencies and marketing firms
- In-house marketing for companies
- Digital agencies
- Design companies
- Production and film studios
Internships & Experiential learning
OCAD U offers so much more than co-ops because creative careers take many forms. Our career services help you build a professional community, valuable experience and skills you need for a meaningful career. Get access to:
- Short experiential learning placements from among hundreds of organizations
- Creative in-class projects with real-world industry partners
- Exclusive summer internships
- Gallery exhibitions of your work
- Freelance creative opportunities
- Jobs after graduation
What You'll Do in the Program
In first year, you’ll take intro to advertising courses and a good base of art and design classes including:
- Typography
- Drawing
- Colour and two dimensional design
- Writing
- Design history
In second year, you’ll learn advertising strategy and concept. You’ll also take:
- Digital advertising design
- Typography
- Photography
- Your choice of classes in English, social sciences or humanities
Third year features your choice of art classes and:
- Advertising concepts
- Advertising research
- Persuasion
- Advertising storytelling
- Advertising copywriting
- Retail advertising
- User experience
- Your choice of classes in English, social sciences or humanities
In fourth year, you’ll work with real clients in an advertising boot camp, creating campaigns from scratch and pitching to brands like McCain or Sony
You will do an independent thesis project and showcase your work at OCAD U’s GradEx, the biggest free art and design exhibition in Toronto with over 40,000 visitors.
Minors
In all undergraduate programs, you can choose a minor to go along with your major. A minor gives you the opportunity to pursue a focused secondary field, helping you expand your practice, skills and knowledge. They can make you stand out to employers, graduate schools, or in grant applications by showing expertise in more than one field.
You don’t need to choose a minor on your application; once you start at OCAD U, you can choose from over 90 electives to build towards one of our 25 focused minors. Learn more about Minor Programs here.
Take the Next Step
