Peer Review

Google Online Marketing Challenge

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Reviewed:: May 28, 2009 by Business

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Overview:: The Google Online Marketing Challenge (hereafter referred to as the Challenge) is an opportunity for students to gain practical, real world online marketing experience by developing a Google AdWords Campaign. Students also get the excitement of competing on a global level for a chance to visit the Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California, and meet the team that created AdWords. Each student team receives $200 worth of free online advertising with Google AdWords to work with local businesses (SMEs) to devise effective online marketing campaigns. Teams outline a strategy, run a Google AdWords campaign, assess results, and provide the business with recommendations to further develop their online marketing. Teams provide evidence of their efforts to the Google judges, who select winners based on the effectiveness of the campaign and the quality of their written support.
Type of Material:: Workshop and training material. The best classification scheme for this type of material is an experiential exercise or course project.
Recommended Uses:: The contest is designed as a team project. The Challenge could be conducted as an independent study, an extra credit assignment, or an entire course project.
Technical Requirements:: Internet access, browser, and a Google AdWords account (can be set up for free when doing the project).
Identify Major Learning Goals:: he module provides students hands-on learning with real business communication efforts. The learning goals are related to strategic planning, marketing campaign execution and analysis. The primary goal is for students to work with the selected businesses to create a practical and successful online marketing campaign using pay-per-click search. It's not just about people clicking on their ads - it's about setting up the right campaign that fits with the objectives of the business. Students should aim to maximize targeted and relevant traffic to the business' site, using optimization techniques to refine and improve the effectiveness of the campaign over the three-week competition period. The second goal is demonstrated learning. Student groups submit two reports - Before the campaign, they submit a Pre-Campaign Strategy. After the campaign, students assess their results, what they learned and how the business can improve their online marketing campaigns in the Post-Campaign Summary. Details of these reports are in the Academic Guide available at http://www.google.com/onlinechallenge/academic_guide.pdf. At the end of the Google Online Marketing Challenge, students should be able to: Given the opportunity, choose to discuss online marketing and media planning. Using examples, share the learning experience of group work and business consulting. Using examples, explain the following terms: banner advertisement, click-through-rate, conversion, landing page, optimization techniques, ROI and text advertisements. Using examples, contrast mass advertising and context-sensitive advertising. Using examples, contrast the advantages and disadvantages of three online advertising payment models: pay-per-click, cost per thousand impressions (CPM) and affiliate (refer to the Glossary at https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=29) Using examples, illustrate technical and cultural factors affecting the success of online advertising campaigns. Using examples, illustrate the difficulties of developing a web-based marketing campaign that will stand out among the billions of web pages available.
Target Student Population:: The contest is only open to higher level institutions. The contest is focused solely on marketing, and fits best with courses related to advertising, ecommerce, integrated marketing communications, management information systems, new media technologies and the like. Graduate or undergraduate students of marketing, business, information systems, computer science, and/or communications.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Students should have at least a Principles of Marketing foundation course and/or some marketing promotions knowledge prior to competing. Additional instruction in advertising, integrated marketing communications, ecommerce, etc. is helpful, but not necessarily required. Some understanding of how Google AdWords works is helpful, but not required.

Content Quality

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Strengths:: The module links to the Google contest site. The description of the competition appears to be fairly thorough, with links about how the competition is structured, as well as helpful tips for participating students, professors and businesses. The site provides detailed information on Google AdWords, along with links on online search advertising in general. As online marketing increases, this exercise is definitely timely, relevant and worthwhile. Google provides guides, support materials, tips, and frequently asked questions in order to help students develop a strong understanding of Google AdWords. The student teams work with real clients on a real marketing platform using real money. Throughout their campaigns, the students continually make finance, advertising, and marketing decisions.
Concerns:: The contest itself has specific parameters that must be complied with. Instructors may find the need to provide additional support/project outlines/timelines in order to fit appropriately into a specific course. The Challenge may be difficult to grasp for students and instructors unfamiliar with traditional advertising concepts such as copywriting, conversion rates, cost per thousand, return on investment, as well as online marketing concepts such as click-through-rate, cost-per-click, landing page strategies, and optimization techniques.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

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Strengths:: The Challenge appears to do an outstanding job of meeting the learning objectives outlined earlier. It is well suited to modern conceptions of active and problem-based learning, and experiential pedagogy. As an exercise in and of itself, this project provides real-world insight into coursework, allows students and businesses to collaborate, and offers the possibility of a wonderful prize for the winning team. It clearly and easily demonstrates the concepts involved in online marketing, and does so in an interesting and meaningful structure. By offering the use of free online advertising, students get a practical look at common business problems. Additionally, the contest is team based, which fosters interpersonal skill building.
Concerns:: The competition has a strict timeline that instructors should be aware of if interested in this exercise. Registration takes place in the Fall, while student teams must run their campaigns during three consecutive weeks during the Spring semester. Additionally, winners are not announced until July following the competition semester.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

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Strengths:: Google has made the competition site very easy to understand, and seemingly has provided all needed information for anyone interested in the contest. With links to background support on Google AdWords, the site is self-contained, easy to navigate, interesting and engaging. There are ample resources available to help teach students about creating an effective online marketing campaign with AdWords. The best resource is the Marketing and Advertising Using Google - available at http://www.google.com/events/business_educators/files/MarketingAndAdvertisingUsingGoogle.pdf. Furthermore, the Challenge is also extremely adaptable to a wide variety of clients and cultures. The Challenge comes with very explicit instructions for how students should develop their Pre-Campaign Strategy and Post-Campaign Summary reports. Instructors have two ready-made assignments with detailed guidelines and very clear assessment criteria. In addition, there are key online resources to help students with their learning in the 'Teaching Resources' section within the Academic Guide available at http://www.google.com/onlinechallenge/academic_guide.pdf.
Concerns:: For instructors and students with no familiarity with AdWords, the Challenge may feel intimidating at first. There is an inherent burden in order for all parties (students, professors, and SMEs) to participate in the Challenge. But there is minimal commitment and startup costs associated with running an AdWords campaign and enjoying the Challenge.

Other Issues and Comments:: As of the writing of this review, the Challenge is only available during semesters that meet between the February - May time range in order to accommodate a number of global universities around the world (e.g., spring in the northern hemisphere and fall in the southern hemisphere.) Perhaps Google will make the competition available year round at some point in the future.
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