The Strategic Planning Boot Camp at M.AD
An immersive 10-weeks program to jumpstart your career.






The M.AD Difference
The strategist is quickly becoming one of the most fundamental roles in a modern creative team. They’re asked to look into the future and bring back concrete action plans for today—helping to guide the efforts of their creative peers.
A few years ago, we saw this change in progress and built one of the world’s first dedicated programs for strategic planners, using our deep roots in the industry to create something truly unique. Today, this 12-week course represents the finest education in strategy available anywhere.
You’ll learn by doing. A dozen top strategy professionals will be your mentors. You’ll conduct first-person research, find compelling insights, develop strategies and collaborate with art directors, designers and copywriters. Our strategy students and their creative teams have developed new products, helped launch start-ups, and worked with big brands like Starbucks, Ford, and Burger King. On graduation, the professional network and experience you’ve gained in just 3 months will provide a lifetime of value.

The Strategic Planning Curriculum at M.AD
Graduate with the skills and case studies you need to show your future employer you can build brands as a strategic planner.
Learn by doing. Like learning a new language, the best way to learn your trade is through total immersion. In 12 mind-expanding weeks you’ll learn to understand and analyze data, develop insights and write creative briefs. You’ll be partnered with an art director and a copywriter. Your team will develop campaigns based off of your insights. The Strategic Planning Boot Camp culminates with a real project presented pitch-style to the client.
Each week your instructor will be a different strategic expert. A dozen planning directors from top agencies like The Barbarian Group, Google, Droga5 and Ogilvy take you through 3-day sessions that cover different aspects of account planning.
In the final week of the Boot Camp visit a variety agencies and meet with planning directors. See first hand the different types of planning environments. You’ll meet the people in the strategy departments and increase your network of industry contacts.
And it all happens with an innovative curriculum of courses like these:
- Role of a Strategist
- Research Methodology
- Innovation Strategy
- Connection Planning
- Channel Strategy
- Industry Heroes
- Brand Experience
- New Business Storytelling
- Workshop The Pitch
- Strategy Toolbox
- Agency Exposure
- Understanding the Challenge
- Develop Insights and Brand Positioning
Our Teachers Are Industry Insiders
-
Director of Brand Partnerships, Localeur
-
Global ACD, WhatsApp
-
Design Director, Principle
-
Founder and Creative Director, Tantrum Agency
-
Global Social Media Marketing & Community Management, THX Ltd

Campuses Across The United States

Schedule A Tour At Any M.AD Campus
Experience the School of Ideas for yourself.
Check out our locations in India: Mumbai and Bangalore
How To Apply
The application is as creative as the career.
Follow the process laid out in the application portal
Review and Submit
Our Next Cohort is Starting Soon
Program Starts: October 9 | Application Deadline: October 5
Important Program Information
Have A Question? Reach Out.
Our admissions team love to chat with people like you—answering questions, proposing solutions, and making plans for a creative future. An advisor can help you figure out what’s next in your creative adventure. Maybe that means Art Direction at M.AD.
Download The Course Brochure
- Exclusive video content
- Strategy career facts
- Average salaries
- Information on co-ops and internships
- Example projects for real brands
- Detailed application process

The Creative Network
Join 50,000 creatives getting the M.AD newsletter.
We’ve quietly built the world’s most influential creative network. It’s time for you to tap in. Each week we collect the most important creative content around the world, and share it straight to your email for free.
When the winds of change start whispering… you’ll know about it first.