Deadlines: April, 8 (Professor Registration) & April 22, (Student Registration)
The Google Online Marketing Challenge is a unique opportunity for students to experience and create online marketing campaigns using Google AdWords and Google+. Over 80,000 students and professors from almost 100 countries have participated in the past 7 years.
With a $250 AdWords advertising budget provided by Google, students develop and run an online advertising campaign for a business or non-profit organization over a three week period. The teams that develop and communicate the most successful campaigns win awesome prizes, including trips to Google offices. Students also have the opportunity to participate in the optional Google+ Social Media Marketing category by creating and managing a Google+ Page for their clients over a five week period.
Eligibility
- This is open to student teams of three to six members from undergraduate or graduate programs, regardless of their major.
- All students must register under a verified faculty member, lecturer or instructor currently employed by an accredited higher education institute
Prizes
AdWords Business Awards
There are four competition regions: The Americas, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Asia Pacific. In addition to an overall Global Winner, there is one winner from each of the regions.
Global Winner
The Global Winners and their professor will receive a seven-night trip to San Francisco, including one day at the Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California to meet with Googlers from the AdWords, University Programs and Marketing teams. The team will also receive computing devices, along with other prizes.
Regional Winners
Regional Winners and their professor receive a two-night trip to a regional Google office. The teams will also receive computing devices, as well as other prizes.
Google+ Social Media Marketing Awards
Each student in the Global and Regional Social Media winning teams will receive a computing device, as well as other prizes. Additionally, Global Winners and their Professor will get an exciting opportunity to participate in a Google+ Hangout with Google+ team members (to be scheduled at Google’s discretion).
AdWords Social Impact Awards
Each student in the three top performing teams will receive a computing device, along with other prizes. Additionally, Global Winners and their Professor will get an exciting opportunity to participate in a Google+ Hangout with Google Grants team members (to be scheduled at Google’s discretion).
Winning teams will also secure the following donations for their partners:
1st place – $15,000 donation to the non-profit partner
2nd place – $10,000 donation to the non-profit partner
3nd place – $5,000 donation to the non-profit partner
All Winners and their professors across all categories will be provided with personalized certificate of appreciation noting their status as a Winner in the Competition.
Competition Process
1: Registering for the Challenge. Professors register for the Challenge and get verified by Google. Students form teams of 3-6 members and appoint a Team Captain. The Team Captain registers under the verified professor, who in turn confirms each student team by clicking a verification link sent via email after the team registers. See Registration for more information.
2: Accessing Dashboard. Once the professor has received a notification email and has verified the student team, the Team Captain can access team’s Student Dashboard with the Google account used during the initial registration.
3: Selecting a Business. All teams along with the support of their professors need to identify a client business or a non-profit organization. See Selecting a Business for more details.
4: Learning about AdWords and the Client. Each Student team needs to meet with their business or non-profit partner to determine their goals and to devise their online advertising strategy. The strategy will need to be outlined in the AdWords Pre-Campaign Report.
5: Uploading Pre-Campaign Report and Requesting Crediting. Google will apply credit to the account and provide the team with an AdWords CID, solely for use in this Competition. Please see your Student Dashboard for details and once available, make sure to take a note of your team’s CID.
6: Running Campaign. Once the student team receives credit in their AdWords account, they can start running their campaign over the period of up to 21 calendar days (example below). Campaigns which serve impressions on less than 7 calendar days or on more than 21 calendar days and/or spend beyond the provided US$250 (spending a few cents below/above US$250 is acceptable), will be deemed ineligible for the competition and as a result disqualified.
7: Writing and Submitting AdWords Post-Campaign Report/Impact Statement.Student team must submit their report(s) prior to the end of the Campaign Window (look right: GOMC 2015 Timeline). If team chooses a non-profit organization and wishes to be eligible for the AdWords Social Impact Award, they must append an Impact Statement to their Post-Campaign Report.
Only teams that submit AdWords Pre-Campaign as well as AdWords Post-Campaign Reports will be considered for judging in AdWords Business, AdWords Social Impact and Google+ Social Media Marketing categories.
8 Google+ Social Media Marketing Award (Optional). Student team that wishes to be eligible for the Google+ Social Media Marketing Award should work with their business or non-profit partner on creating and maintaining a Google+ page (along with the AdWords campaign) for five consecutive weeks during the Campaign Window (look right: GOMC 2015 Timeline). SeeRunning a Campaign for more information.
9: Judging and Awards Winners will be announced in July/August 2015.
Important Date
- Professor Registration: Oct 8th 2014 – April 8th 2015
- Student Registration: Oct 15th 2014 – April 22nd 2015
- AdWords and Google+ Campaign Window: Oct 15 2014 – May 27th 2015
- AdWords Crediting Window: Oct 15th 2014 – Apr 29th 2015
- Deadline for Uploading Reports: May 27, 2015
- Results Announcement: July/August 2015
All deadlines are 3:00AM PST and are final.
For more information, visit Google Online Marketing Challenge or see the FAQ page
