Program at a glance
- Format: Full-time, on campus
- Graduate credits: 32
- Length: 1 year (2 semesters)
- Entry term: Fall
- GRE: Not required
- 4+1 option: Available for eligible BU COM undergraduates
What is Branded Content Production?
The best branded content doesn’t feel like an interruption. It feels like something worth watching. Brands, nonprofits, media companies, and organizations of all kinds need people who can do more than develop a communication strategy—and more than produce great content. They need people who understand how the two work together.
That’s what you’ll learn here. The MS in Branded Content Production brings together audience insight, brand strategy, storytelling, and hands-on media production. You’ll learn to understand audiences, determine what will connect with them, and bring that idea to life through videos, documentaries, podcasts, social campaigns, and other forms of content.
Strategy shapes the message. Production brings it to life. This program teaches you how to move fluently between the two.
Whether you’re coming from communication, marketing, journalism, film, business, design, or an entirely different field, you’ll learn to create compelling content while solving communication challenges for brands and organizations.
Know what to say.
Understand audiences through research, then turn those insights into communication strategy.
Know how to tell it.
Turn strategy into stories through video, podcasts, documentaries, social content, and other multimedia formats.
Know how to make it happen.
Take ideas from concept through production and delivery—managing teams, timelines, budgets, and clients along the way.
Who this Master’s program is for
- Creators who want to think strategically: Add audience insight, branding, and communication strategy to your creative and production skills.
- Strategists who want to create: Learn to turn the ideas you’ve developing and managing into content you can produce.
- Career changers who want both: Bring your expertise from another field and build the strategic, storytelling, and production skills to launch a new creative career.
What you’ll learn
Today’s communication teams need people who can move between strategy and execution. You’ll learn to understand an audience, solve a communication challenge, develop the creative idea, and lead it through production and delivery.
By graduation, you’ll have a professional portfolio demonstrating your ability to:
- Turn business goals into compelling, brand-driven content.
- Produce multimedia content, from short-form social video to long-form narratives, on budget and on deadline.
- Lead cross-functional creative teams from concept through delivery.
- Combine strategic thinking and production expertise.
Curriculum: One year. 32 credits. Strategy meets production.
Semester one
- Practical Production (4 credits): Build hands-on skills in camera operation, sound recording, and editing for branded content.
- Content and Project Management (4 credits): Learn to manage the budgets, timelines, talent, and workflows that keep creative projects moving.
- Writing Branded Content (4 credits): Write scripts, treatments, and strategic narratives designed to connect brands with their audiences.
- Career Practicum 1 (4 credits): Gain professional experience in studio, agency, or brand environments while building your industry network.
Semester two
- Real-World Productions (4 credits): The capstone experience. Work in collaborative teams to pitch, produce, and deliver original content for clients.
- Career Practicum 2 (4 credits): Finalize your portfolio, expand your professional network, and prepare for creative and strategic roles across the industry.
- Approved Electives (8 credits): Tailor your focus. Choose from specialized courses like Data Visualization, Creative Video Development, Social Media Strategy, Documentary Production, Motion Picture Editing, or Marketing Communication.
Career outcomes that combine strategy and creativity
Organizations across industries need people who can turn communication goals into content that audiences will watch, hear, share, and remember. You’ll graduate prepared to contribute on both sides of the creative process, from shaping the idea to producing the finished work, across agencies, brands, nonprofits, media companies, startups, and public institutions.
Types of roles graduates can pursue
- Multimedia producer
- Branded content producer
- Content producer
- Video producer/editor
- Content marketing strategist
- Brand strategist
- Creative strategist
- Creative director (longer-term pathway)
Learn from faculty who do both
Your professors bring experience from agencies, production companies, media organizations, and creative industries into the classroom. They’ll challenge you to think bigger, make better creative decisions, and understand not just how great work gets made, but why it works.
In our integrated world, communication professionals require both literacy in content production and a strategic framework to break through and connect with stakeholders. Gaining a master’s degree in Branded Content Production will prepare students for success in our rapidly changing and ever-expanding communication industry.
Amy Shanler, Professor of the Practice, Public Relations
Frequently asked questions about the MS in Branded Content Production program
No. The curriculum is designed to bring together students with different strengths. If your background is in strategic communication, advertising, marketing, or journalism, you’ll build production skills from the ground up. If your background is in film, video, or multimedia production, you’ll strengthen your expertise in audience insight, branding, and communication strategy.
Yes. We welcome students from a wide range of academic and professional backgrounds, including communications, marketing, journalism, film, business, design, and beyond. If you’re interested in using storytelling and multimedia to solve communication challenges, this program is designed to help you build the skills you need.
Graduates pursue creative and strategic roles across agencies, media companies, nonprofits, startups, corporate marketing teams, entertainment organizations, and mission-driven organizations. Career paths include multimedia producer, branded content specialist, content marketing strategist, creative strategist, video producer, brand storyteller, and related roles that combine communication strategy with content creation.
An MFA typically focuses on developing your artistic voice and creative practice. The MS in Branded Content Production prepares you to create content that serves communication and organizational goals. Alongside advanced production skills, you’ll learn branding, audience research, communication strategy, and project management—preparing you for careers where creative storytelling and strategic thinking go hand in hand.
The MS in Strategic Integrated Communication is a fully online program for experienced communication professionals focused on integrated strategy, leadership, research, and AI. The MS in Branded Content Production is an on-campus program focused on the intersection of storytelling, multimedia production, and strategic communication—from audience insight to final execution.
Yes. Eligible Boston University College of Communication undergraduates can earn this same master’s degree through an accelerated 4+1 pathway, allowing approved undergraduate coursework to count toward the master’s degree. Visit the BS/MS page to learn about eligibility, application requirements, and how the accelerated pathway works.
Students come from communication, film, journalism, marketing, design, business, and many other disciplines. The curriculum is intentionally designed to bring together students with different strengths, helping everyone develop complementary skills in strategy, storytelling, and multimedia production.
Also worth exploring:
- MS in Advertising: Develop bold ideas, creative campaigns, and strategic brand thinking that help organizations stand out in a competitive marketplace.
- MS in Public Relations: Build trust, shape reputation, and lead strategic communication for organizations across every sector.
- MS in Television: Create exceptional film, television, and streaming content while developing advanced production, directing, and storytelling skills.
- MS in Marketing Communication Research: Use consumer research, analytics, and behavioral insights to help organizations make smarter marketing and communication decisions.
- MS in Media Science: Understand how communication influences people through audience research, persuasion, and data-driven strategy.
- MS in Strategic Integrated Communication: Advance your leadership through an online master’s focused on integrated communication strategy, research, AI, branding, and organizational leadership.