Google Online Marketing Competition for Students and Professors, 2012

About Google Online Marketing Challenge (GOMC)

The Google Online Marketing Challenge (GOMC) is an exciting opportunity for students to experience online marketing and creating online marketing campaigns using Google AdWords & Google+. As well, students and their professors can win great prizes. This is a great opportunity for students in classes such as advertising, e-commerce, integrated marketing communication, management information systems, marketing or new media technologies. Every year more than 50,000 students compete from more than 100 countries.

The goal for students is to create an effective online marketing campaign in Google AdWords.

How it works

Google will provide a US$250 budget for participating students to develop an online advertising strategy for a real business or non-profit organization that has not used AdWords in the last six months.

The competition is open to all students, regardless of major, with teams ranging in size from three to six. All students must register under a verified professor/instructor at a higher education institution.

The global winners and their professor receive a trip to the Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California to meet with the AdWords team. Regional winners and their professor receive a trip to a regional Google office.

Competition Registration 

Professor Registration

Professors register for the Challenge from November 15, 2011 to May 1, 2012. Once a professor registers, he or she will get a confirmation email. Google will verify their employment at the educational institution. Verification may vary depending on the institution.

After verfying professors, the students can register their team on the Student Dashboard. Professors will then receive a notification email from Google to verify their student teams. Once the professor verifies (by clicking a link) that the team is associated with him/her, the AdWords account information for that team will appear in the student dashboard.

IMPORTANT:

• Please make sure to check the email ‘spam’ folders, as some email software may flag Online Marketing Challenge emails as spam.
• Your registration will be complete in 24-48 hours depending on the successful verification of your entry details.

Student Registration

Students can register from January 31, 2012 to May 11, 2012. Professors MUST have registered before students can register their student teams on the dashboard. Students can refer to the registration process below or see the Competition Guidelines for more details:

• Form a team and nominate a team captain.
• Select a business or non-profit organization.
• Access the Student Dashboard and register your team and enter your professor´s email address. Your professor will receive a notification email to verify your team.
• After your professor has verified your team, you create an AdWords account and enter the 10-digit customer ID into the student dashboard.
• Meet with your business and write your Pre-Campaign Report. Once you have uploaded this to the student dashboard, you will see a coupon code appear.
• Follow the instructions below to enter the coupon code and credit your account:
1. Log into your AdWords account.
2. Go to the Billing Tab, and click on “Billing Preferences”.
3. Select the country, then enter your contact details, and press continue.
4. Select “Manual Payments”, and where it asks for an optional “promo code”, enter the coupon code and press continue.
5. $250 will immediately be credited to your account and you’re ready to go!

Application Period

Professor registration:

November 15, 2011 to May 1, 2012

Student registration:

January 31, 2012 to May 11, 2012

For detailed information on the Challenge, professors and students are advised to refer to the Competition Guidelines