The Bachelor of Science degree in Advertising at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh offers a unique combination of courses from the worlds of advertising, design, marketing, and business including marketing research, organizational behavior, media and strategic planning, sales and persuasive techniques, brand strategy, public relations and promotion, and financial management. In concert with these are course offerings traditionally from the creative and graphic design worlds, including color theory, concept development, typography, digital illustration, writing for multimedia, and storyboarding. All courses in the Advertising program are also available online.

Students in the Advertising degree program apply practical concepts gleaned from real-world case studies in areas such as branding, online marketing, advertising campaign development, and account planning, taught by experienced faculty currently working in business or advertising agencies as sales managers, Web designers / editors, account managers, and media buyers and planners. In their first career positions, Advertising program graduates may act as the liaison between the client and creative teams, tracking key consumer and industry trends and the results of marketing research, then translating the data into visual language to create effective advertising campaigns.

The Advertising program receives invaluable input from its Program Advisory Board whose volunteer members are ad agency presidents and business owners, marketing consultants and multimedia designers, nonprofit managers and executive directors of creative and account service teams. These industry leaders share their experience to develop unique internships and jobs, and to identify and arrange field trips and professional speaker opportunities for Advertising students. Advertising program graduates will build a unique skill set to prepare them for entry-level career positions in account service, public relations, brand management, corporate marketing, entertainment and the arts, and organizational behavior and marketing research.

The mission of the Advertising Bachelor of Science degree program is to prepare graduates for careers in the advertising profession by providing a foundation in the business aspects of advertising while helping them develop the basic creative and technical skills necessary to create and implement targeted advertising solutions that meet professional standards of excellence. Graduates are prepared to develop their careers in a number of growth-oriented fields, from entry-level positions and beyond, through the disciplined practice of lifelong learning.