Graduate Diploma of Creative Advertising

Why are we the most awarded advertising programme in NZ & Australia?

Award-winning creative students become award-winning industry creatives. Our alumni stretches back over 20-years. They work here, they work around the globe and they win awards. Agencies use awards to benchmark themselves globally. We use them in the same way, because we want you to be the best globally.

Just last year our alumni won huge global awards for ideas that linked air pollution to UK property prices in a way that led to a changes in the law; another team create HIV+ sperm banks to help change people’s perception of living with HIV; and another in Germany worked with scientists and WWF to name a new deep sea species after the plastic found in its gut. It created headlines around the world.

Who should apply?

You’re done with studying or you’re knee-deep in the workforce. You’re a little bit off beat. You haven’t quite found your fit, your whānau, your people.

You’re extroverted. You’re introverted. You’re super into tech, or not at all. But you have a creative itch and you need to scratch it. You like words. You like visuals.

You’re curious about people, culture, media. You like brands, or you’re super wary of them. You’re entrepreneurial laced with a socially progressive edge.

You’re want to solve problems urgent ones. You’re probably somewhere between your early 20s and late 30s. We’ll know you when we see you. Book a call.

Age: Minimum 18 years

Domestic and international Prerequisites: Applicants must hold a Bachelor's Degree or be able to evidence equivalent work experience.

This programme needs people with a variety of different backgrounds and experiences, so your degree or work experience could be in any sort of visual or written communication: art, design, film, animation, gaming, social sciences or the broader humanities, as well as law, marketing or business in general.

In fact, we’re very open to discussing the relevance of your degree or background, because what we’re looking for above all else are the tenacious, the motivated, the insatiably curious and any individual with a definite impulse towards a more creative pathway.

Entry Requirements:

If you are applying for the GDCA after completing a Bachelor's Degree you will need to provide:

• Your completed Creative Advertising Task Sheet.
• Your transcripts from your Bachelors qualification

If you are applying for the GDCA after having a combo of six years in tertiary or relevant work experience, you will need to provide:

• Your completed Creative Advertising Task Sheet
• Your CV/Resume
• Two reference letters from previous employer/s
• You may also want to provide your transcripts from any prior tertiary qualifications if you completed these in the past 10 years

 If you want to know if your work experience is relevant please feel free to give us a call.

Please note, quotas may apply to some programmes. Where demand exceeds the number of available places, applicants who meet entry requirements will be admitted on a first-come-first-served basis.

If English is not your first language, you'll need to prove you have sufficient English language skills in order to complete this course. We'll be looking for Academic IELTS overall score of 6.0 (minimum) with no band less than 5.5, or equivalent test result.

We accept a range of internationally recognised English Language proficiency test. Find out more on the NZQA website or download the NZQA list HERE.

Before you begin your study with us, you will need to have a suitable device that has the functionality to run the programmes required for your course.

Follow this link to find course-specific requirements and recommendations, along with links to more information about hardware specifications. We have prepared these recommendations to help our students equip for flexible, blended learning.

Graduates have gone on to work as Art Directors, Copywriters and Creative Directors in the creative departments of advertising, PR, social and production agencies both domestically and globally. Graduates are also increasingly working as creative generalists alongside software engineers and digital specific specialists in places such as Facebook and IBM.