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Create a community-centered advertising campaign in this 2-week program for high school students on the University of Michigan campus.
Course Description
A local issue needs more than an audience’s attention. Build an advertising campaign with a reason for people to act.
In this course you will examine advertising’s influence on culture, public opinion, and consumer behavior. Cases from iconic brands and social campaigns reveal how emotion, positioning, segmentation, and market research shape who notices a message and how they respond.
Analyze target markets, compare campaign results, and try digital advertising activities. Research Ann Arbor’s social, cultural, and economic context, then choose a local business or nonprofit. Define the people you want to reach, the communication challenge, and possible community partners.
Your community-centered campaign turns that research into messages and tactics. Set goals and create materials across media such as social content, web pages, video, print, or billboards. In the final presentation, explain the research and creative choices behind the work, showing how the campaign supports both the organization and a relevant local issue.
This two-week Summer Discovery course takes place on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The course is available to residential and commuter students.
What You Will Do
• Analyze how advertising influences culture and consumer behavior
• Research a local organization, community issue, and target audience
• Apply segmentation and positioning to a campaign strategy
• Evaluate factors behind campaign success or failure
• Create advertising assets across multiple media
• Present and defend a community-centered campaign
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Analyze how audience insight and positioning shape campaign strategy
• Develop coordinated advertising across appropriate channels
• Evaluate and present a campaign using strategic and creative evidence
You’ll leave with your multi-channel campaign and a certificate of completion.
Why Advertising Strategy Skills Matter
Advertising strategy connects creative work to evidence about an audience. Market research and segmentation help students move beyond messages intended for everyone, while positioning clarifies why a particular organization or idea should matter.
Evaluating campaign effectiveness adds accountability. Students consider whether creative choices support the objective and how different media work together. These skills strengthen research, writing, visual communication, teamwork, and the ability to make purposeful choices in media-rich environments.
Who Should Attend?
For students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade.
An interest in brand stories, design, digital media, or a community issue can be your starting point here. You’ll research an Ann Arbor organization, collaborate, and create in more than one medium. Explaining why the audience, message, and creative choices fit together is part of building a campaign with a clear strategy.
Recommended by More Than 9 out of 10 Students
Based on students surveyed in Summer Discovery’s 2026 program at the University of Michigan.
Your Summer at University of Michigan
Programs on the University of Michigan campus give high-school students the experience of exploring an academic interest in Ann Arbor, a college town where campus and community life blend together. Tree-lined streets, downtown bookstores and cafés, the Nichols Arboretum, and trails near the Huron River create different ways to experience the setting beyond class.
Students learn alongside peers, navigate a large and active campus, and gain independence through everyday choices in a new environment. The experience helps students understand what university life can feel like while giving them space to deepen an interest without having every next step decided. For families, the program offers a meaningful combination of academic depth, community, personal growth, and clearer direction about what a student may want to study or pursue next.
After successfully finishing this course, you will be awarded a certification completion for your accomplishment.
*This is a preview, not what you will receive