Applications Open! Enroll for Summer 2027 at 2026 Tuition Pricing Until Sept 30
Create and optimize a digital campaign in this 3-week advertising academy for high school students at UCLA Anderson.
Rated 4.3 out of 5 for classroom experience by students who took this course in 2026.
Course Description
Why do some digital campaigns earn attention while others disappear in the feed? Students begin by defining a target audience and brand objective, then examine how entertainment, sports, media, and consumer brands use positioning and storytelling to build interest.
The academy moves from strategy into production. Students develop campaign concepts, plan content for different platforms, write ad copy, create sample visual and video assets, and consider how influencer partnerships can extend a message. They also work with measures such as reach, engagement, and conversion to judge performance and recommend changes. Case discussions, workshops, critique, and revision show how creative choices and business goals shape one another.
The work builds toward an individual digital campaign portfolio for a selected brand or entertainment property. Students bring together an audience profile, campaign objective, positioning idea, channel plan, sample content, measurement framework, and data-informed recommendations, then present the strategy and explain their decisions.
This three-week full-day high school academy takes place at UCLA Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles, California. The program is developed by UCLA Anderson and offered in partnership with Summer Discovery. The academy is available to residential and commuter students. Beyond class, students connect focused academic work with campus life, growing independence, and clearer direction about what they may want to study or pursue next.
What Will You Do?
• Define a target audience, campaign objective, and brand position
• Analyze digital campaigns from entertainment, sports, media, and consumer brands
• Plan platform-specific content and write persuasive ad copy
• Create sample visual and video assets for a campaign
• Interpret reach, engagement, and conversion metrics
• Build and present an individual digital campaign portfolio
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Develop a digital campaign strategy for a defined audience and objective
• Create platform-appropriate content that supports a clear brand position
• Analyze campaign metrics and recommend evidence-based improvements
Students will leave with a digital campaign portfolio, stronger strategic and creative skills, and greater clarity about studying or pursuing marketing, advertising, media, or business.
Why Digital Advertising Skills Matter?
Digital advertising requires both creative judgment and analytical discipline. Defining an audience sharpens research and empathy, while positioning and message development teach students to make purposeful choices rather than simply produce more content.
Performance data adds another layer. Comparing reach, engagement, and conversion helps students test whether a campaign is working and explain why they would change it. These habits are useful in school projects, team decisions, presentations, and any setting where an idea must connect with a specific audience and produce a measurable response.
Who Should Attend?
This academy is for high school students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade and are interested in advertising, social media, brand strategy, content creation, entertainment, sports, or consumer behavior. Students must demonstrate academic achievement with mostly A and/or B grades in their high school courses.
Students should be ready to discuss campaign examples, create and revise content, interpret basic performance data, collaborate during workshops, and explain the reasoning behind their choices. The experience can help students decide whether they want to explore marketing, advertising, media, analytics, or business more deeply.
Recommended by More Than 4 out of 5 Students
Based on students surveyed in Summer Discovery’s 2026 UCLA high school program.
Why UCLA Anderson School of Management?
UCLA Anderson’s Digital Advertising and Brand Strategy Academy places students in Los Angeles, where entertainment, media, sports, technology, and creator businesses compete for attention every day. Led by UCLA Anderson, the academy connects consumer insight, positioning, creative strategy, and campaign decisions to a city where brands are continually built, tested, and reinvented.
Students work through case studies, workshops, team projects, and a capstone while developing practical skills in analysis, communication, and presentation. Residential life and activities extend the student experience beyond the classroom. Students live alongside peers, gain independence, and leave with a clearer view of how marketing works in practice and whether advertising, brand strategy, media, or business may fit their future study and career interests.
After successfully finishing this course, you will be awarded a certification completion for your accomplishment.
*This is a preview, not what you will receive