In Fall 2026, Boston University’s College of Communication is introducing Branded Content, a five-year accelerated master’s program incorporating elements of advertising, public relations and film and television.

The program will teach students how to develop marketing material produced for brands with a focus on short-form video content, COM Director of Graduate Affairs Kayla Ring wrote in an email to The Daily Free Press.
COM professors Maura Smith and Amy Shanler, along with others, created the concept around three to four years ago when discussing film and PR students’ worries in the job market.
Smith, a master lecturer in the Film and TV Department, said the program will help students diversify their market outreach.
“[In] advertising, PR, you have to understand how to tell a story visually,” Smith said. “And for the film students, you have to understand what it is that [companies] are actually wanting.”
Since the program combines the three fields of study, the classes build from the basics of each major and teach students how to apply them together, Smith said.
Professors from the Advertising, PR and FTV Departments will work with “cross-functional teams” of students, said Shanler, a professor of the practice of public relations.
This will help students to learn and understand the “languages” of each field of study, Smith added.
Smith’s goal for the program is to teach students how to collaborate and tell stories.
Shanler said she hopes the program widens students’ opportunities.
“I really want to help students have additional paths for their careers moving forward,” she said.
Ring, who assisted with market research for the program, wrote the program provides time to students who pivot career passions to pursue various interests.
“This program gives students the opportunity to strengthen their abilities within a year, preparing them to enter an industry they’re genuinely excited about,” Ring wrote.
Makenzie Rogers, a senior studying public relations, said she believes the program is relevant in the age of influencer marketing and content creation. However, she said she remains unsure of its usefulness in the future due to the evolving media landscape.
“Ten years from now, I don’t see how relevant it might be, because digital media is always changing,” Rogers said. “But I think in general, the skills that you might learn from it could be very transferable.”