Advertising & Public Relations
Messaging and relationships matter.
Advertising and Public Relations is where creativity meets strategy to make messages resonate while also building short- and long-term relationships. In this track, students will explore how these dynamic fields shape public perception, build brand identities, and create campaigns that influence consumer behavior. Along the way, you’ll get an inside look at what it’s like to study and work in Advertising/Public Relations as you meet faculty and current students who bring the field to life through their own creative and strategic work. Whether you’re considering a career in an agency, corporate communications, social media, nonprofit outreach, health or political communication, influencer strategy, or something else entirely, you’ll get a brand-new perspective on what it takes to succeed in this fast-paced industry.
Instructor: Lightning Czabovsky
Lightning Czabovsky’s professional/creative work examines PR, advertising and strategic communication in terms of measurement, audience segmentation, variation and nicheness. He likes to change the way we think about PR measurement to better understand how audiences are complex and often under appreciated or misunderstood. While the industry is often focused on macro metrics and strategies, his work is interested in the nuance underneath. Building upon these insights, he often then creates strategic recommendations or helps produce creative deliverables that disrupt the way we approach PR to better appreciate audiences in a modern, fragmented media world. His audience-focused work has been applied to areas such as public opinion, politics, science, community relations, entertainment and financial communications. His work is published in creative, professional and academic outlets. He has also produced an award-winning documentary. He is a member of the Institute of Public Relations’ ELEVATE — a group of “high-performing innovators and catalysts for growth, change and advancement” — as well as IPR’s Measurement Commission. He is a licensed attorney in North Carolina. He is also the proud parent of a rescue Chihuahua-mix named Bert.