I heart Brandcenter - The documentary

Two years ago I made a decision to return to school and earn a Masters in advertising specializing in Creative Brand Management. Now it is September 2009. I have my Masters and out of the blue I am reminded that I shall be a part of the Brandcenter's architectural documentary for as long as Clive Wilkinson and YouTube remain in the forefront of their industries. You can see me at the beginning and the end of the video attached below.

As one of my former classmates said, "I heart Brandcenter." :-D

It's Official....The Countdown is On!

Flash Countdown

Portfolio: Creatively Inclined, yet Business by Nature

It is with great pleasure that I offer to the world, the Internet debut of a 2009 Spring portfolio. If you know of anyone who may wish to utilize my knowledge, skills or tenacity in the form of employment (contract or full-time, leave a comment here or send me an email.

Spring 2009 Portfolio

View more presentations from Nerissa Marbury (1EPIPHANEE).

If you have any questions about the work, please leave it in the comment area. Also feel free to share words of encourage and critique. It is through these comments, that one learns and grows to become even better.

A mover & shaker at the VCU Brandcenter

Keeping you in the loop on happenings at the VCU Brandcenter...

Kelly O’Keefe, a branding innovator who has served as a professor and director of the school’s executive education program since 2006, has been added to the leadership team as the school’s managing director. O’Keefe is one of the VCU Brandcenter’s most longstanding supporters, having joined the Board of Directors of the VCU Adcenter when it was launched in 1996 and helping to develop the school’s curriculum. (The school changed its name to VCU Brandcenter in 2008.)

The above is snippets from the April 1st press release written by Tom Gresham,VCU Communications and Public Relations. For the full press release, click here.

Brandcenter students @ SXSW

Meet a couple VCU Brandcenter students at South By Southwest [SXSW]

On The Hunt - Independent Study & More

I've been trying to figure out what my focus would be for my blog post election since for the last several posts the topics that sparked an entry was about the pending presidential election. Well, I believe I now have a couple of topics.

The first is what I learn as I move forward with my job search. The other will focus on my independent study project that will officially start December 1st and go through early May. I've included a description of the independent study project because I am still searching for a company for whom I could help solve a marketing problem. I hope you will help me by suggesting some companies who may be interested in benefiting from this program.

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For several years, VCU Brandcenter graduate students have contributed to businesses and non-profit organizations as part of our independent study program. This program requires each of our Creative Brand Management students to complete a semester-long marketing project for an outside client in order to graduate.

Typically, there is no cost to the organizations who participate in this program and they can put to use the outstanding work that results. In past years our students have tackled serious projects such as these:

• Conducting research and developing a strategy to accelerate the growth of Genworth’s Long Term Care insurance line.
• Identifying new avenues for growth for an organic pet food company.
• Crafting a plan for DICK’S Sporting Goods to increase growth within minority communities.
• Developing strategies for outreach for a regional hospital.
• Helping a national office furniture retailer target new customers.
• Developing a social media strategy for a global educational marketer.

Each of these projects is supervised by a team of VCU Brandcenter professors, including Founder & President of O'Keefe Brands, Kelly O'Keefe, along with former Martin Agency CEO, Don Just and the Martin Agency’s Chief Strategic Officer, Earl Cox.

This is one of the programs that has helped make the VCU Brandcenter the #1 ranked graduate school of advertising. I hope you will consider participating.

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I hope you will help me by suggesting some companies who may be interested in benefiting from this program. Feel free to leave your suggestion in a comment or email me privately here.

School's Out!

In honor of the graduating class of 2008....

Strategy is key!

I swear the Brandcenter tops any reality TV show in regards to original, spontaneous, unprompted commentary.

In the past week, I've heard quite a few one liners that have had my stomach aching, but the one that topped them all came a couple of weeks ago when a professor was commenting on my team's strategy for an upcoming presentation.

"The more foreplay you have, the greater the climax!"

Could it get better than that?

It's gonna be a long couple of weeks!

Well, final presentations days are upon us, here at the Brandcenter. First presentation is on Thursday, April 24th and I feel as if we have so much to do beforehand for the pages we call our deck is anything we can actually support ourselves on. But as with everything at the Brandcenter...it shall be done.

Next on the list is the infamous white paper & presentation due on Monday, April 28th. To date, my team has thousands of words put together to form a "Mary Shelley" original, which is pretty scary looking right now. Luckily we got the nod of approval from the Prof that we are on the right direction and with a few nips & tucks we may just end up with a make-over beauty.

Lastly there is dear ol' media on Tuesday, April 29th. A 45 minute presentation about what? Still figuring that one out, same as I'm trying to figure out how to add all the GRPs, impressions, and CPPs to know if we are with the parameters of the budget. Good thing I have 3 other classmates to scratch my head and look dumbfounded with on this one.

Yes, the days are winding down and I can't wait. Wednesday, April 30th....I get to sleep.

It's been a while...

I know I haven't written in a while. School has been keeping me rather busy. At this point I am counting down the days until the semester is finished. Portfolio reviews are in May. I will be certain to show you the great work I've done this semester then as well.

Not backing down

Team environments can be difficult to manage at times. Never has this been more true that at the Brandcenter. I was told recently that majority rules within a team and I must agree to go with the majority every time. That I should not try to support my opinion or continually ask clarifying questions so I may too get on board with the majority. I am simply suppose to let the majority rule. Well, I don't operate that way. I don't follow the pack because the meeting has grown long or the team is seeking an easy way out, but knows it could do better.

In almost 14 years of working on team projects whether at business school or in the professional workplace, teams have never felt so much like an ongoing battle as they do now. The battleground is created by those who are not willing to open their minds long enough to consider alternative solutions; by those who do not take the time to request additional explanation to better understand another person's perspective; or by those who don't want to try a compilation of the best ideas as a form of compromise.

I believe that if a person feels so strongly about something that there must be a sound reason for it. Sometimes the reason is based on a misunderstanding and other times it is based on solid thinking. Why should this person's opinion be valued less just because they are in the minority? The supreme court lets the minority express its opinion for the record. So why can't I?

CreateAthon: 31 Hrs Without Sleep & Loved It!

It was one heck of a ride participating in the first ever CreateAthon onCampus event with fellow Brandcenter students & VCU Mass Communication undergrad students.

WHAT IT IS
CreateAthon onCampus (CoC) is a unique opportunity for students to put their skills and talents to use helping local nonprofit organizations. In a 24-hour, work-around the clock creative blitz, students generate advertising services for local nonprofits that have little or no marketing budget.

CoC is an expansion of CreateAthon, a nationwide 24-hour, work-around the clock creative blitz begun in 1998 by RIGGS Advertising in Columbia, SC. As of 2007, CreateAthon has benefited 1,008 nonprofit organizations with 2,143 projects valued at $8.4 million.

MY TEAM
Alexis B. - Brandcenter Communications Strategist
Ted S. - VCU MassComm undergrad
Nick W. - VCU MassComm undergrad

MY CLIENT
Virginia Council on Economic Education (VCEE)

MY OBJECTIVE
Develop a brand identity

MY TASK
Re-brand the organization and provide a positioning statement and tagline
Design a new logo, business cards, letterhead, and newsletter template
Write a donation request letter

CLIENT RESPONSE
Clients were extremely pleased that we captured the essence of the brand with our brand platform and branding materials that will help create a buzz and expand awareness within the community.

WHAT'S NEXT
The client now has time to review the materials and will let us know any changes that need to be made. On April 18th, there will be a wrap up event that will showcase all the work of all teams and present the final printed materials to the non-profit organizations. Not to keep you waiting, but I'll unveil my team's designs and branding efforts at that time.

For recap of the entire event and pictures, go to VCU CreateAthon onCampus blog.

Copy never made me smile so much...

This picture was taken last semester by a 2nd year for a beauty-focused project. I loved the copy "Waxing has only made me stronger." since it is a Nerissa original. Yes, us business folks can generate a good line every now and then, too.

Let's try and get this going...

Last week was the Brandcenter's Board of Directors (BOD) Meeting. Unlike last semester, the first years were able to participate more than listening to names and titles told to them and then being dismissed. So I was happy in this regard.

One of the perks was being able to have face time to speak to BOD in break out sessions. Me being me...I asked my questions. And me being me...I didn't care for how a couple had answered the questions by either changing my question to make it into something that particular person wanted to answer OR assuming that since the question topic wouldn't be resolved until well after I graduated, there was no point in answering what steps the school was planning to take in the meantime. For the gentlemen who answered my questions in this manner, I saw it as a way of taking the easy way out and as a sign that the directors really don't care about what is on the minds of the students.

On a brighter side, I found great favor in the two other BODs speaking to the group. One is why I am writing at 4:04AM when I should be asleep. This BOD stressed the importance of blogging and writing something not matter how small as often as one can. So this is my attempt to get some momentum going on my blogging capabilities. So don't be afraid to touch base every now and then and let me know how I'm doing.

Overuse of Brands (in school)

Here's an old post I started weeks ago, but didn't finish until today. Enjoy!

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For the record, I enjoy attending the Adcenter. Oops...I mean Brandcenter. There is just a little area of annoyance I have when professors use certain brands to prove their points or bring a concept to life. The examples are almost always the SAME PRODUCTS / BRANDS!!

I probably shouldn't complain too much. The Brandcenter "professors" are active working advertising professionals and not college trained educators who strive to teach the entire breadth of the advertising industry from a book. (Then again there are books who use some of these same brands as examples as well.) I just wish it wasn't automatically ASSUMED that everyone at the school is interested in or actively use:

Apple, Starbucks, Netflix, Ukrops, GEICO, UPS, Nike

Is it me? Am I continuously shopping in the wrong places? Am I the anti-brand? Here is my take on the products listed above.

first time Apple owner. If it wasn't highly recommended by this school, I still wouldn't own one. Never saw what the big deal was and still don't.


not a coffee drinker. I have to gift cards given to me almost 2 years ago. I carry them around in anticipation I will actual use one.


never used personally. If motivated, I can definitely find movies that I wouldn't mind seeing. There just aren't enough of them out there that entice me from recall alone.


This is a regional (maybe VA only) based grocery store. Yup, me too. Never heard of it before. One day I'll check it out to see what all the hype is about.

Ah! A product I actually use! Gosh darnit, just remembered...my premium is due soon.

absolutely abhor this company. UPS rarely delivers a package on time. I've had to literally hunt down the delivery truck en route to pick up packages before. The shining point was when UPS was used to send a package less than 10 miles overnight. UPS lost the package! After 8 months, I'm still trying to get reimbursed for the lost items.

Haven't bought anything Nike since the 90's. Since I'm discovered a better running shoe (and now I don't run at all), Nike hasn't given me a reason to want an expensive gym shoe.

All of this makes me acknowledge that the industry is full of brands I do not personal use or buy, but will eventually work on. Once on the account, I will of course become intimately familiar with the product or brand. However, in the meantime, does it say something about the type of consumer I am when I have little to no interest in the most popular brands everyone else can't get enough of?

Über Preparation

For the record...

For those who don't know me, I'm a planner and extremely goal-oriented. I like to know where I'm going and how to get there. If an obstacle confronts me, I'm more likely to strategize a way around it than to blow it away.

I am determined and dedicated to succeed in life. Definition of success: Wealth through a loving, supportive family and a passion for living my life with no regrets. The no regrets part is why I opted to leave a satisfactory job (and a nice salary to boot), in search of an emotionally lucrative career. Now I'm at the Brandcenter. I have no regrets.

I'm enjoying the experience, learning tons, and forever thankful for the thrill of a good challenge that reminds me to work better and not longer.

The Birth of the Brandcenter

Well it's official! The VCU Adcenter is now the VCU Brandcenter. I had the pleasure of having an impromptu tour of the school 10 days before the first day of 2nd semester. Not everyone had that luxury or rather skill to sweet talk a few workers with "please" and "thank you".

Sneak Peek: The Brandcenter