The courage to break standards led to victory
This year, 101 student teams from nine countries around the world took part in the GOMAC competition. The students’ campaigns were judged by 32 judges and the winners were selected by a separate team of 17 judges, made up of experts from all around the world.
The girls believe that the decision made during the idea generation phase to break the mould and do what is commonly avoided in Google Ads had the biggest impact on the results.
“When we presented the ideas to the theatre’s marketing team, we faced their natural rejection reaction. However, to our surprise, after long discussions, the theatre’s marketing team agreed to take a risk and apply non-standard solutions in a real campaign,” says team captain Sinkevičiūtė.
Ineta Vaitiekūnienė, Advertising Manager at the National Drama Theatre, is delighted that the student team that created the solutions for the festival Dive into the Theatre has won the title of the competition winner.
“This is a great recognition of the team’s creativity and hard work. We are also pleased with the creative process, the great ideas that came out of it, and of course the results. The slogans and word combinations that emerged during the campaign will continue to be used in our other advertising media,” says Vaitiekūnienė.
Another KTU SEB team among the finalists
Another team of faculty students who participated, who participated in the GOMAC competition, composed of Beatričė Gicevičiūtė, Ugnė Juteikaitė, Gustė Ozolaitė, Lukas Ramilis, and Paulius Rinkevičius became the finalists.
The team collaborated with the psychology clinic Unika LT and ran a 4-week Google Ads campaign, to attract new leads for Unika LT’s services on its website.
“The team’s work in designing and implementing the search advertising campaign helped us not only to reach more potential customers but also to adjust the technical solutions of the platform and broaden the strategic goals of the advertising, after taking into account the students’ observations,” says Simona Mašauskienė, Director of UAB Unika LT.
Hands-on learning is the key to success
Both student teams were led by KTU SEB lecturers Elena Vitkauskaitė and Indrė Petrikė, who integrated participation in the competition with the module Search Advertising assignments. The lecturers note that they focus on providing knowledge and developing skills through hands-on learning: “We strive to ensure that students not only know how search advertising is done but also be able to use digital marketing tools like Google Ads and Google Analytics to complement their organisations’ marketing activities.”
The captain of the winning team, student Sinkevičiūtė says that the most significant benefit of participating in this competition is the opportunity to apply the theoretical knowledge acquired in the module immediately:
“Hands-on learning not only facilitates the assimilation of theoretical knowledge, greatly improves practical abilities, but also helps to develop the ethics of communication with business when the implementation of the assigned tasks requires communication with companies,” she says.
Another participant, A. Bukelytė, agrees, stating that such Hands-on projects like this allow you to experience the real behind-the-scenes of business. The student notes that many processes happen without people noticing, so she is happy to have had the opportunity to be not only a spectator but also one of the creators of the final result.
KTU SEB students have participated in digital marketing competitions since 2009 and previously participated in the Google Online Marketing Challenge – GOMC until 2017. Since 2009, as many as 10 teams have been recognised as the best: 4 have won the title of the best in the world, 5 teams have been recognised as the best in the European region, and one team has been awarded a special mention for its exceptionally precise data analysis.
