Strategic Planning Bootcamp: Miami Ad School

Why?

I chose to take the Strategy Bootcamp at Miami Ad School to deepen my understanding of strategic thinking in advertising and to build a stronger foundation in crafting impactful campaigns. The bootcamp provided an opportunity to sharpen my skills in connecting creative ideas with client objectives and better grasp how to approach marketing challenges from a strategic perspective. bit.ly/4i4xsB6

What I Learned:

Week 1: Thinking Strategically: Creative Briefs 

Week 2 Research & Insights: Learning Plan

Week 3 Defining The Problem: Navigating Solutions (Symptoms vs Problems)

Week 4 Brand Architecture: Brand blueprints/models (Brands are memories)

Week 5 Power of a Good Briefing: Planning experiences (Good briefing > Good brief)

Week 6 Comms Planning: Journey Mapping 

Week 7 Owning The Process: Facilitating the creative process (Taking responsibility)

Week 8 Pitching is Storytelling: Engaging Presentations (Facts don’t stick, stories do!)

Week 9 Measuring Effectiveness: Did the work work? (Reproducibility)

Week 10 Owning Your Career: Your portfolio is you

Project Management Certificate: Cornell University College of Engineering

Why?

I chose to get certified in Project Management through Cornell to better understand the behind-the-scenes work of executing an advertising campaign. It’s important to me to not only be creatively engaged but also to grasp the logistics and strategic planning that ensure a campaign’s success from start to finish. bit.ly/4epn6uh

What I Learned:

  • Focused on practical strategies for aligning resources with tasks, bringing projects back on track, and managing project creep

  • Broke down projects into pieces that could be scheduled, tracked, and controlled

  • Applied risk-management tools to identify, quantify, and control risks, while analyzing past projects to evaluate outcomes, identify leading indicators, and calculate the probability of on-time project completion

  • Learned that traditional project management assumptions often don’t align with reality, and that building flexibility and agility into the process—especially through incremental work and client feedback—is key to success