| Facade of the main building of Miami Ad School in Miami, Florida, featuring work from international street artists | |
| Type | Private for-profit portfolio school |
|---|---|
| Founders | Ron Seichrist, Pippa Seichrist |
| Location | , , United States 25°46′49″N80°08′26″W / 25.7804°N 80.1405°W |
| Website | www.miamiadschool.com |
| |
Miami Ad School is a private for-profit portfolio school headquartered in Miami, Florida. The school was founded by Ron and Pippa Seichrist in 1993 in Miami Beach. [1] It has locations in three other U.S. cities and affiliate schools in eight other countries. [2]
Miami Ad School was founded in 1993 by Ron Seichrist, a former creative director, [1] and his wife, Pippa, also a former creative director. [3] Miami Ad School's four US locations are accredited by the Council on Occupational Education, having initially been a candidate for accreditation in 1994, and received accreditation in 1995. [4] It has since been described as among "the most prestigious institutions of higher education" in the field of design. [5]
Among its programs, the school offers three-month Boot Camps for Strategic Planning and Social Media. [6] 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." [1] In May 2012, the school also launched its professional training workshops to provide instruction on recent trends for advertising industry professionals. The program was launched in Brooklyn, New York City. [7]
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. [8] [9]
Also in 2013, Miami Ad School students in New York [10] 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. [11]
In a similar campaign in 2014 [12] , "Miami Ad School students teamed up with Pandora to create the "Underground Stations" campaign highlighting subway musicians." [13]
In 2012, Miami Ad School New York students [14] created an unsanctioned guerrilla installation of American-flag crosswalks across SoHo, the Financial District and Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to mark the anniversary of September 11. The crosswalks — painted with red and white stripes, white stars on blue, and the words “Live For Today 9/11” — were intended to "symbolize unity and remembrance" [15] through everyday urban space. While short-lived, the project anticipated a wider movement of crosswalk art later adopted by cities as part of public art and placemaking initiatives.
In 2011, students developed a marketing campaign for a Russian vodka 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. [16] [17]
In 2007, the school advertised its own programs by creating a magazine ad containing perforated trading cards representing famous advertising industry people, [18] and in 2010 it did so by creating its own bottled water brand, named "Smudge Slobber" after the founder's dog. [19]