BA (Hons) Advertising is a multi-award winning course with students gaining accolades at Cannes Young Lions and Future Lions, D&AD UK and The One Show New York amongst others. It has been crafted to help you realise those essential skills you'll need for a successful career in the advertising industry.
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If you choose BA (Hons) Advertising at LCC you will be exposed to a variety of platforms. The course will prepare you as a multi-skilled communicator, developing your own unique creative voice and forward-facing approach.
You will be taught how to develop innovative thinking, creativity and enterprise skills and an understanding of the theoretical and practical aspects of every level of the advertising industry.
As a student on BA (Hons) Advertising at LCC, you will learn how to:
The course is structured to emulate a real-life advertising agency. You will practice your craft and come to appreciate the conceptual, theoretical and practical aspects of advertising from strategy through to initial ideas, creative execution and client presentation.
There will be a set programme of academic and live project briefs set by creative directors and there will be opportunities to raise your profile through student competitions and self-initiated projects. In doing this, you will draw on taught techniques for ideas-generation, research, consumer planning and storyboarding as well as pitching your idea for funding, and creatively realising your work to achieve strategic and brand goals.
You will leave the course having developed a very personal and professional approach to advertising, with a strong portfolio of work, having learnt how to think differently, in order to create your own future as a leader in this highly creative arena.
All students are advised to set up a profile on portfolio.arts.ac.uk, UAL’s new portfolio platform, which can be done at any point during your time at LCC and will last for up to 12 months after graduation.
This platform is often used to source student work for promotional use on the website, social media and for print and can be a great way of getting your work seen. You may also be asked to have a portfolio profile for the selection process when it comes to degree shows.
In common with all courses at the University of the Arts London, this course is credit rated. Years one and two must be passed to enter into year three. Your degree is attained through full completion of the third year. Your degree classification is determined by the relative level of grades attained in the third year.
Units summary:
Introduction to Advertising: Industry, Culture and Practice: This unit aims to introduce you to your course and its subject specialism as well as to effective learning and studentship at undergraduate level. It will orientate you to the practices and knowledge-base needed to understand your discipline and help you to develop your skills for independent & collaborative learning, reflection and your own self development.
Launch: Every Advertising Agency tries to define and hone its own particular view of the world. The Saatchi brothers, Dave Trott, John Hegarty and David Abbott had their own singular approach to the business of advertising. In Launch you will do exactly the same, setting up your own Advertising Agency, learning as a team how to develop a set of working practices and encouraging everyone to nurture or create their individual and team voice.
Agency Life: This unit will introduce you to the histories, cultural backgrounds and working practices of agencies operating in the global advertising universe. Through investigation and exploration, you will discover how they work, what they do and why they do it and, using practice-research, use their methods, procedures and techniques.
Pitch: Build on the skills and techniques you have learned in Launch. All your practical and theoretical research knowledge, understanding of advertising and communication skills will be brought to bear on developing a project that defines the Agency you launched in Autumn term.
Advertising: Theories and Contexts: This unit introduces you to histories, theories and debates which relate to the field of advertising. It will focus on the development of twentieth and twenty-first century ideas in advertising, media and visual communications and explore the common themes and cross-fertilisations that occur between theory and culture.
This year introduces you to the psychological and consumer behavioural aspects that underpin advertising communications, how they relate back to practice and give you the technological tools to future proof. Year two is an important step to enabling you to formulate ideas for your dissertation in the third year. Tutors will be on hand to help you develop the ideas that will eventually form your dissertation.
Creative Futures: This unit is designed to give you the skills you need to consistently generate and showcase your creative and strategic ideas. This is in an industry undergoing massive changes as technologies rise and fall; one in which media and cultural practices evolve and shift and clients become increasingly risk averse. As creative-strategists or strategic-creatives, you need to find ever more meaningful and creative ways to communicate. Creative Futures looks at models that can help you.
Advertising Futures: The aim of Advertising Futures is to future-proof your creative skills as a creative, for example as a content creator, advertising artist, art director or copywriter. It will give you the critical and practical tools to become self-sufficient in realising your creative concept through to the finished article, by engaging with cutting edge media and utilising them in the formulation of ideas for advertising communication.
Consumer Insight: This unit will introduce students to a wide array of research methods including qualitative, quantitative and ethnography.
Creative Strategy: In this unit, you will explore social media, multimedia and integrated plus interactive media. You will be crafting, planning, executing and evaluating a complete digital campaign.
New Media and Digital Cultures: The aim of this unit is to broaden the student’s perspective of how advertising fits into a larger mediated and digital framework by providing conceptual tools that will forge concrete connections with the other units taught in the BA (Hons.) Advertising in Year 2.
Collaborative Project: You will be given the opportunity to take part in a collaborative project with students on other courses or with real clients on live projects and in competitions when available.
In year three you will develop your individual practice and consolidate learning outcomes in the culmination and creation of a portfolio of work and dissertation.
Creative Entrepreneurship: This unit is about entrepreneurship, enterprise and professional networking. Establishing a professional presence within advertising networks and associations requires focused effort and a particular skillset.
Dissertation: This unit provides you with the opportunity to utilise the knowledge and analytical skills acquired in relation to the critical and contextual study of advertising.
The Big Idea: You will work on a single major project developing a content-led creative/strategic solution for a specific client’s management issue. To do that you will engage in ‘practice-research’ – using practice to answer your (and your client’s) research question.
Information provided by the University is accurate at the time of first publication. Courses, however, remain subject to change. Changes may be necessary to improve the quality of educational services, in order to meet the latest requirements of a commissioning or accrediting body, in order to bring course content in line with best practice activities across the Higher Education sector, in response to student feedback, and/or due to a lack of student demand for certain units or options.
Events may arise outside of the reasonable control of the University which lead to changes to courses. Such events may include industrial action, civil disorder, severe weather, and changes in applicable laws and/or safety requirements.
If you have accepted a place on a course, we shall notify you of any changes as soon as reasonably practicable.
We will update this webpage from time to time with new information as it becomes available. In the meantime, if you have any questions, use our register your interest form.
Course Leader, BA (Hons) Advertising
Associate Dean, Media School
Associate Lecturer
Lecturer, BA (Hons) Advertising
Acting Co-Course Leader, BA (Hons) Contemporary Media Cultures
Acting Programme Director, Communications and Media
We are committed to making university education an achievable option for a wider range of people and to supporting all of our students in achieving their potential both during and after their courses.
We welcome applications from people with disabilities. If you have a disability (e.g. mobility difficulties, sensory impairments, medical or mental health conditions or Asperger’s syndrome) we strongly encourage you to contact us on disability@arts.ac.uk or +44 (0)20 7514 6156 so that we can plan the right support for you. All enquiries are treated confidentially. To find out more, visit our Disability & Dyslexia webpages.
The course team welcomes applicants from a broad range of backgrounds from all over the world. The course attracts students who apply direct from A-level (or equivalent) or from Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, or other art or design courses, as well as mature students who may have previously worked in industry.
80 UCAS tariff points, which can be made up of one or a combination of the following accepted full level 3 qualifications:
And 3 GCSE passes at grade 4 or above (grade A*-C)
Applicants who do not meet these course entry requirements may still be considered in exceptional cases. The course team will consider each application that demonstrates additional strengths and alternative evidence. This might, for example, be demonstrated by:
Each application will be considered on its own merit but we cannot guarantee an offer in each case.
IELTS level 6.0 or above, with at least 5.5 in reading, writing, listening and speaking. Please check our main English language requirements page for more information.
All classes are conducted in English. If English is not your first language you will be asked to provide evidence of your English language ability when you enrol.
The details on your UCAS application (including the academic reference and your personal statement) will be assessed against the following criteria:
Your application form is reviewed when you apply to the University. If you have achieved or expect to achieve the standard entry requirements we will consider you for a place on the course.
We make our offers based on the strength of the whole application, and therefore don’t routinely invite applicants to interview. To find out more, view our Undergraduate Application Process page.
This course doesn’t require you to provide a portfolio.
This is an important part of your application and should demonstrate to the team that you are interested in advertising, and that you have thought carefully about why you want to study on this course.
You can demonstrate this through your previous work experience or study, personal experience and your ambitions for personal development as a student at LCC.
You should ensure it is written clearly, and free of any spelling mistakes. It is your chance to impress the team by demonstrating your appreciation of what the course can offer you and how you feel it will help you in the future.
State what you personally would bring to the course, and explain what motivates you to learn, explore and experiment.
Apply for this course though Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), where you'll need to provide the following information:
London College of Communication courses are listed under University of the Arts London.
We recommend you apply by 15th January for equal consideration. However this course will consider applications after that date, subject to places being available.
Home/EU applicants are permitted to make a deferred application. International applicants are not permitted to make a deferred application.
If you have successfully completed year 1 of a degree course at another institution and wish to continue your studies at LCC, you can identify the point of entry as year 2 on your application, and consideration will be given by the course admissions tutor.
LCC will consider applications for entry at Year 3 in exceptional cases only.
The University operates a cross-referral system, where applicants can be considered for and offered a place on an alternative course, if the admissions tutor feels they are more suited to that course. If you wish to opt out of the cross-referral process you can do so at the application form stage.
For further information on Erasmus and UAL exchange schemes, please visit the Erasmus and Non-Erasmus Exchanges section on the UAL website.
International applicants can apply through either of the following routes:
If you are applying through UCAS you will need the following information:
London College of Communication courses are listed under University of the Arts London.
Further information on applying via UCAS is provided on the University Applying through UCAS page.
For full details on the application process, visit the Undergraduate application page.
International applicants are not permitted to make a deferred application.
The University operates a cross-referral system, where applicants can be considered for and offered a place on an alternative course, if the admissions tutor feels they are more suited to that course. If you wish to opt out of the cross-referral process you can do so at the application form stage.
International undergraduate students can apply to join BA (Hons) Advertising for a period of up to three terms as a Study Abroad student.
Visit the Study Abroad page for details of how to apply.
After you have successfully submitted your application, you will receive an email confirming we have successfully received your application and providing you with your login details for the UAL Portal. We will request any additional information from you, including inviting you to upload documents through the portal. You should check your UAL Portal regularly for any important updates and requests.
International applicants may be invited to interview in person at LCC, or via Skype if overseas or unable to attend. Details of this interview will be sent via the UAL Portal.
International applicants, whether applying online via UCAS or through a UAL representative or by direct application, you will need to complete an immigration history check to establish whether you are eligible to study at UAL. If you do not complete the check, we will not be able to proceed with your application.
We will advise you of your application outcome through UCAS Track. If you are an International applicant and have applied directly or through an agent, we will notify you through the UAL Portal.
We invite all offer holders to come to London College of Communication to attend one of our Offer Holder events. Offer holders will have the chance to meet the team, find out more about the course, and see our diverse and vibrant student community in action.
Successful applicants will be guided through the rest of our admissions stages and towards enrolment on the course.
If you are offered a place for 2019/20 but wish to defer to 2020/21, information on how to do this and who to contact can be found in your offer letter.
International applicants will have to pay a pre-payment in order to defer. In all cases, deferred places will be held for one year.
£9,250 (2019/20).
Tuition fees for undergraduate degree courses have been set at £9,250 per year for full-time study. This applies from the 2019/20 academic year, subject to changes in the law.
Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students, in line with an inflationary amount determined by government. Please visit our Undergraduate tuition fees page for more information.
£19,930 (2019/20).
In addition to tuition fees you are very likely to incur additional costs such as travel expenses and the cost of materials. Please read the information on our additional costs page.
Find out about the accommodation options available and how much they will cost.
There are a number of scholarships and awards available to students on this course. Use our search tool to find out more information.
Our graduates have gone on to work in some of the leading advertising and communications agencies in the world, taking the strong narrative skills acquired during the course into successful careers as creatives, content creators and account managers for advertising agencies, and production and film companies.
Graduates include:
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