SVA Masters in Branding

Pre-pitch movement is a Pitch Perfect tradition 🏋️

Last week was the Macarena. This week, our PepsiCo clients joined in for a full-room stretch, which set the tone perfectly.

What followed was one of those nights that remind us why we build the program the way we do. Our students pitched to PepsiCo leaders with the kind of confidence and clarity that only comes from doing the real thing. A live brief. Actual client feedback at every stage. Stakes that matter. The work showed all of that from grounded strategy and genuine creative ambition to a level of growth across the semester that was hard not to marvel at.

Thank you to Richard Bates, Valerie Chevalier, and Stephan Gans for showing up for our students. And to our talented instructors, Andrew Miller and Andrea Sullivan, TAs Ria Shah and Stuti Sukhani — Pitch Perfect doesn't exist without you.

On to thesis season!! Ready to join us this September? It's not too late! Start your application today. Learn more at branding.sva.edu.apply

Happy 🌍

The Earth Day theme, "Our Power, Our Planet," calls for a global commitment to triple renewable energy generation by 2030, harnessing the collective power of individuals and communities to drive sustainable change.

We're spotlighting three brands we admire for their commitment to sustainability:

💧 Blueland — Refillable cleaning products that eliminate single-use plastic and make sustainability simple.

📦 Naked Paper — Unbleached, plastic-free toilet paper made with renewable energy and radical transparency.

🌲 Forest Carbon — A climate tech company helping Southeast Asia restore forests and reduce emissions through local partnerships.

Great branding doesn’t just tell a story, it creates opportunities to drive change. We encourage you to support brands that put the planet first!

What do you smell like? 👃

Commodity Fragrances, a modern American perfumery founded in 2013 and currently distributed across 650+ Sephora stores, briefed our class with a clear strategic goal: reposition the brand from accessible to aspirational — moving from its current premium-tier standing toward the luxury fragrance space occupied by brands like Byredo, Tom Ford, and Le Labo.

Structured as a six-week, multi-method research project, four student groups investigated different facets of this challenge. Methods spanned online surveys and sentiment analysis, consumer and professional 1-on-1 interviews, shopalongs, focus groups, and co-creation sessions, with each group examining variables including packaging, pricing, digital advertising, in-store presentation, distribution, and brand communication.

The final presentations were held at Commodity's flagship store on Crosby Street in SoHo — itself a 2025 NYCxDESIGN award winner — bringing the research full circle into the brand's own physical space. Collectively, the project mapped the gap between where Commodity stands today and the aspirational positioning it's actively working toward.

Want to pitch to real-world clients like these? Join us! Applications to the Masters in Branding program are still open with a few select seats remaining. Learn more about how to apply at branding.sva.edu/apply

NYCxDESIGN Festival is almost here 🗽

May 14–20, NYC goes into full design mode, and for one week, the entire city becomes the venue. 250+ events. 10 disciplines. Every borough. No wristband, no single entry point — just New York opening its studios, showrooms, museums, and public spaces to anyone paying attention.

The programming runs deep: keynotes from international design leaders, a free outdoor Design Pavilion, guided tours of the city’s most compelling built projects led by their creators, and talks addressing the design questions shaping the present. There’s also the Future Now AI Summit, for when you want to stretch your thinking, and two major fairs, ICFF and the Afternoon Light Design Fair.

Disciplines span architecture, urban design, interiors, product and industrial design, graphic design, light and sound, and the increasingly blurred edges of tech, art, and entertainment. If you work in or adjacent to the visual world, there’s something here.

Many events are free. Some require an RSVP. A few will sell out quickly. Check the calendar early, plan loosely, and leave room for the unexpected; that’s often where the best work reveals itself. We can't wait to take advantage of the event! Will we catch you wandering the streets this year?

🔗 Learn more at nycxdesign.org/festival

The Skincare Case for Doing Less 🫧

Wild Roman is a men's skincare brand developed end-to-end by The Working Assembly — from strategy, to identity, to packaging — and it's built on a deliberate rejection of hyper-optimized grooming culture. Named after the founder's child, the brand carries a personal stake that most skincare brands don't. Rather than competing in the race toward precision body sculpting and algorithmically approved self-improvement, Wild Roman reframes the category around consistency, restraint, and self-respect.

The reference point is classical Rome; strength, order, self-mastery, and visually, architectural cues, restrained typography, and a grounded palette do the heavy lifting. Crucially, TWA steers clear of gladiator-core aesthetics, which is the smarter, more durable design choice and what keeps this from feeling like a costume.

The strategic tension worth watching: men's grooming is booming because men are doing more, not less. Telling this audience to slow down (and mean it) is either sharp counter-positioning or an optimistic early bet. The brand's longevity will hinge on whether the product experience actually delivers on that restraint philosophy or whether it remains, for now, a beautifully composed point of view in search of proof.

What's your take on the Wild Roman brand?

Perfecting the pitch ✨

Pitch Perfect, a course led by Andrew Miller and Andrea Sullivan, brings new business thinking into the studio, where the presence of a real client raises both the stakes and the standard.

The course mirrors an agency pitch process: research, insight development, audience definition, a tissue session with the client, and a final presentation to senior brand marketers. Each step reflects how strategy is built, tested, and communicated in practice.

This semester, Pitch Perfect partners with PepsiCo as the industry client. The brief: reimagine the company’s corporate brand strategy for a new era of food, following its first major identity refresh in nearly 25 years. The challenge is less about change, and more about credibility, shifting perception from “snacks and soda” to something rooted in wellness, agriculture, and transparency.

Want to practice your pitch skills with real-world clients? Join us! Learn more about the Masters in Branding program and application requirements at branding.sva.edu

It's not too late ⏰

Thinking about applying to the SVA Masters in Branding? Today’s the deadline. Here are the top three reasons students choose to take the leap:

🎒 A one-year, accelerated degree with real-world impact

An intensive one-year program, meaning you gain a full graduate education without stepping out of your career for long. You don’t only study theory, you complete a thesis that applies strategy in real-world conditions.

💼 A curriculum that bridges strategy, design, and business

The program is built around the intersection of design, positioning, marketing, research, and strategy, teaching you how brands actually function in the world. You learn how to think, decide, and lead at a systems level.

👩‍🏫 Leadership from one of the most influential voices in branding today

The program is chaired by Debbie Millman, who co-founded the world's first and longest-running graduate program in branding and is widely recognized as a leader in the field. That means direct access to industry-level thinking, networks, and mentorship.

More than just learning how to make brands, it's a comprehensive education on how to think, lead, and shape them.

Start your application today for a greater chance at one of our departmental scholarships! Learn more at branding.sva.edu

Don't stress 🫠

It's not too late. You still have time to start your submission to the SVA Masters in Branding program. Begin your application by tomorrow — April 15th — for a chance at one of our departmental scholarships.

Don't delay, time is ticking! Learn more about our program, application requirements, curriculum, and why you should join our incredible cohort to learn from the best of the best at branding.sva.edu

Class Overview: Brand Storytelling 🎨✨

"One of the most thrilling moments in a rebrand is translating strategy into creative expression."

Led by Melanie Wiesenthal, this course picks up where strategy ends and asks: now what? Running over four intensive weeks, it bridges the gap between a brand's strategic foundation and the stories, visuals, and experiences that bring it to life. Working from creative briefs developed in Scott Lerman's Building Better Brands course, student teams reposition iconic brands through voice, visual identity, and real-world activations.

The process mirrors professional practice: brand audits, competitive landscapes, customer journey mapping, moodboards, and concept development — all moving toward a polished brand repositioning presentation. Guest speaker Mary-Catherine Jones brings a writer's perspective to brand voice, unpacking how language shapes identity from the inside out. Critique is central throughout, pushing students to defend creative decisions with strategy and research, not just instinct. By the final session, teams present fully realized repositioning concepts, showing how story and strategy together can create magic.

Ready to join us? Learn more about the Masters in Branding program and application requirements at branding.sva.edu