Advertising
Kickstart your career in Advertising at USW. Work with top agencies from day one through guest speakers, real-world industry briefs and internships, all in the heart of the city.
How to apply Apply through UCAS Book an Open Day Chat to Us/prod01/channel_2/media/university-of-south-wales/site-assets/images/08-subjects/advertising/Sven-Krister-Marnot.jpg)
Key Course Details
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UCAS Code
N561
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Start Date
September
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Location
Cardiff
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Campus Code
B
Fees
Home students
£9,790*
International students
£16,800*
- Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.
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Start Date
September
-
Location
Cardiff
-
Campus Code
B
Fees
Home students
£804*
- Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.
Release your creativity and your strategic and business ideas, and learn to craft powerful messages that make people listen and engage. In this course, you'll develop original ideas, master content creation and campaign production, and work on real world client briefs, all while honing your skills to appeal to consumer audiences and thinking through advertising platforms.
Designed For
Excited about a career in advertising or marketing? Passionate about tackling social issues? Whether your background is in art, design, business, media, psychology, or sociology, your unique perspective will shine in our BA Advertising course and open a variety of career paths.
Expert network
- Member of CACHE (Creative Advertising Collective for Higher Education)
Career paths
- Art Director
- Copywriter
- Social media content creator
- Account manager
- Digital marketer
Skills taught
- Problem-solving
- Critical thinking
- Real-world project management
- Industry experience
- Interpersonal communication
2025 Advertising Showreel
Course Highlights
Module Overview
Graduate from USW’s BA Advertising course ready for the industry with a robust mix of creative, business, and strategic skills. Your comprehensive expertise will be highly transferable and sought after in the global creative, marketing, and social media sectors.
Year one
Advertising Fundamentals
Creative Process 01
Advertising for Print
Creative Content 01
Copywriting*
The Advertising Industry
Year two
Customers and Consumers
Experiential Advertising
The Agency*
Account and Media Planning
Creative Process 02
Content Creation 02
Year three
Competitive Advertising
Advertising Collaboration
Case Study
Creative Advertising*
Professional Project
*Part of these modules can be studied through the medium of Welsh
In your first year, you'll smoothly transition to degree-level study. We'll help you build your creativity, strategic thinking, and software skills, all while creating advertising and marketing concepts in a friendly, supportive studio setting.
Advertising Fundamentals
Learn the basics of advertising with a focus on creative and business strategies, target audiences, and various platforms to kickstart your industry knowledge.
Creative Process 01
Explore how to generate and develop innovative ideas. Use research, strategic thinking, and the creative process to craft compelling campaign concepts and outcomes.
Advertising for Print
Learn to use Adobe Suite to design traditional print ad campaigns, combining written and visual elements. You'll also work on a live brief for a real client.
Creative Content 01
Master the skills to create captivating advertising content using movement, sequence, and sound. You'll produce audio ads and short-form videos designed for online platforms.
Copywriting*
Craft engaging content for all advertising mediums, from social media and print ads to scripts and brand storytelling. Develop versatile writing skills for diverse marketing campaigns.
The Advertising Industry
Explore various job roles in advertising, from creative positions to business roles. Learn about agency processes and how campaigns are developed across all media platforms.
*Part of this module can be studied through the medium of Welsh
In your second year, you'll cut your teeth with real-world advertising briefs from Cardiff, the UK, and international clients, and explore various advertising roles. You can also take part in a European exchange through the Erasmus program and get hands-on experience with industry-led work placements.
Customers and Consumers
Understand consumer behaviour, lifestyles, and retail habits to grasp audience insights. Learn to choose the best media platforms to engage with them effectively for brands.
Experiential Advertising
Explore cutting-edge, technology-driven advertising. Focus on experiential and digital media to create innovative campaigns that effectively engage target audiences.
The Agency*
Work on live briefs from top industry agencies to create integrated campaigns within real-world budgets and timelines. Your campaign could be used by the agency for their next project.
*Part of this module can be studied through the medium of Welsh
Account and Media Planning
Learn strategies for successful ad campaigns with a focus on account planning. Explore consumer insights, market intelligence and trend prediction to boost media planning.
Creative Process 02
Build on your first-year skills to refine and develop your ideas. Use advanced research techniques, strategic thinking, and creative methods to create an integrated campaign.
Content Creation 02
Develop your storytelling and narrative skills while learning technical techniques for creating motion-based digital ads, from social media content to cinema commercials.
Your final year is your industry-focused year, getting you ready for a career in advertising. You'll compete in national and international contests and work closely with professionals through internships and real-world briefs, gaining hands-on experience and building your portfolio.
Competitive Advertising
Respond to industry competition briefs from agencies and tackle a specialist project addressing cultural, social, and economic issues in advertising.
Advertising Collaboration
Create an integrated campaign with social media and cinematic content. Work with national charities to improve your film and digital editing skills via production workshops.
Case Study
Carry out in-depth investigative research and create a detailed case study to support your professional project, analysing key insights and findings.
Creative Advertising*
Build your professional digital portfolio and skillset while preparing for the ad industry. With support from our Careers Team, you'll be ready to tackle any role in this field.
Professional Project
For your final project, create a self-directed, integrated media piece to showcase in your portfolio. This flagship project highlights all the skills you’ve developed.
*Part of this module can be studied through the medium of Welsh
Course Highlights
How you’ll learn
Study the exciting and ever-changing world of advertising and marketing in our relaxed Cardiff campus studio. Explore creative direction, consumer behaviour, and strategy while creating campaigns for both traditional and digital media. You'll have access to modern campus resources and enjoy working with peers across different courses. The good news is there are no exams - just coursework! You’ll submit your work each semester through campaign concepts, presentations, and case studies.
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Teaching staff
You’re in good hands at USW. The advertising course team, led by Senior Lecturers Lee Thomas and Molly Owens, brings extensive industry and academic experience. Specialist staff handle key modules, while our in-house tech support and workshops provide extra hands-on learning.
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Placements and work experience
At USW Cardiff, industry connections are at the heart of your advertising course. You’ll meet top professionals, tackle real-world briefs, and get hands-on experience through work placements in Years 1 and 2, and internships in Year 3. You’ll work on live briefs with agencies, receiving direct feedback and honing your skills. Past students have secured placements with local agencies like Rebel Lion and Spin Dogs and worked with brands such as Au Vodka, Nike, and Google. Live briefs have included major brands like Amazon, Clarins, Fosters, and Pringles, and working with these projects has led to internships and job opportunities.
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Facilities
The course is set in the heart of the city, and our modern digital campus reflects this ideal location. You'll have access to top-notch Apple computers and Adobe Creative Suite. We offer inductions to 3D printers and laser cutters in our on-campus workshops, along with photography and film equipment. Plus, you can borrow specialist gear like digital cameras, lighting, and laptops.
Equipment
At our Cardiff Campus we have a vast range of equipment that you will be trained to use as part of your course. To help support your studies we have a Media Loans facility that allows you to hire the equipment, at no cost, for you to then use for your assignments and practical work. We have both basic and high-end film and photography cameras, portable lighting and sound equipment as well as a range of professional studio recording microphones, instruments and associated equipment to use in our music studios or on location. The team of technical officers and instructors are also available to help you with any queries and technical issues.
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Sven Krister-Marnot
Advertising student
Tina Hjertas
Advertising student
Jenna Drennan
Advertising student
Ivan Jenkins-Jones
Advertising student
Chloe Buckley
Marketing student
Christopher Chidiebere Ejiogu
Marketing student
Holly-Rose Jenkins
Marketing student
Sam Dunlop
Marketing student
Cole Vyas
Marketing student
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ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
UCAS points: 104 (or above)
Typical qualification requirements:
- A Level: BCC
- Welsh BACC: Pass the Advanced Skills Baccalaureate Wales with Grade C and BC at A Level
- BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Distinction Merit Merit
- Access to HE: Pass the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 104 UCAS tariff points.
- T Level: Pass (C and above)
Additional requirements include:
The University normally requires a minimum of 5 GCSEs including Mathematics/Numeracy and English at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent, but consideration is given to individual circumstances.
International applications welcomed:
We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.
English language requirements
International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 4 overall and a minimum of 4 in each component or equivalent.
Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.
If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.
If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.
Contextual offers
We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.
USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.
We're here to help
Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.
Fees and Funding
£9,790
per year*£16,800
per year*£804
per 20 credits*Additional Costs
As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.
Media Loans
You can hire a range of equipment, for your assignments and practical work, for free from our Media Loans facility.
Media LoansUniversity Quality Assurance
At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.
If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.
Why USW?
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Why USW?
100%
of USW BA (Hons) Advertising Design students were satisfied with their course.
National Student Survey 2025How to apply
All applications for full-time undergraduate courses or foundation degrees should be made via UCAS. Take the next step: Apply through UCAS. You can apply to us directly for all part-time undergraduate courses, if you’re seeking advanced entry or you’re an international student. To apply directly, please choose the application form below for your preferred start date and mode of study (full-time or part-time).
Advanced entry
If you already have a relevant qualification or experience related to the course you're applying for, you may be eligible to start at a later stage of the course. For example, students from partner colleges can ‘top up’ their qualifications to a degree by joining us in Year Two or Year Three of a course. This process is known as ‘advanced entry’, you can apply directly to the University for 'advanced entry' using the application forms provided above.
Applicants accepted through advanced entry may study a different combination of modules to those advertised, as they will be joining a course already in progress. You will be contacted and advised about these modules once your application has been processed and an offer made.
International admissions
International applicants can apply to us directly. If the University has an in-country team in your region, your application will be assigned to them for assistance.
Work, earn and learn!
This course is also available through Network75, a combined work and study route.
Learn moreLife at USW
Halls are a big part of your student experience and there’s accommodation at all three of our locations. If you don’t want to live near the campus, there are great transport links to keep you connected.
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