Google Data

What happens when you give hundreds of student teams across the world an AdWords online advertising budget of US$250 and three weeks to help a local business improve their marketing campaign? You get the annual Google Online Marketing Challenge (GOMC) which is now in its fifth and most competitive year yet. A total of 11,000 students from 86 countries/territories participated in this year’s challenge and the results are in.

Global Winner
The Global Winning team comes from the Warsaw School of Economics in Poland, under Professor Tymoteusz Doligalski. The team of Piotr Wawrysiuk, Kamil Borkowski, Joanna Sakowska, Aneta Maliszewska, and Łukasz Kanownik worked with Rowery Embassy, a bicycle company in Warsaw that specializes in beach cruisers. The team is the first ever Global Winner to come from Europe and helped to increase bicycle sales and brand awareness. Their three-week campaign generated almost 40,000 impressions and over 300% return on investment.

Regional Winners

• The Asia Pacific Winner comes from the University of Asia and the Pacific in the Philippines, under Professor Kahlil Corazo. The team of Hannah Ishael Tan, Danna Anne Marie Lee, and Kyne Darby Santos worked with Olivia and Fifth, a fashion boutique. The student team increased current and future sales by boosting alert sign ups and order leads.
  
• The Americas Winner comes from James Madison University in Virginia, under Professor Theresa Clarke. The team of Rachel Krause, Tara Goode, and Nicole Behr worked with Triple C Camp, a summer day camp and challenge course located in Virginia. The Triple C Camp campaign successfully grew website traffic and CTR.
  
• The Europe Winner comes from the University of Applied Science Würzburg-Schweinfurt (FHWS) in Germany, under Professor Mario Fischer. The team of Urs Merkel, Christian Pregitzer, Martin Gelowicz, and Stefanie Niggemann worked with MTRShop24, an online fashion accessories boutique. The MTR24 campaign had two key goals, to boost awareness and increase shop sales, which the student team achieved.
  
• The Middle East/Africa Winner comes from Technion- Israel Institute of Technology, under Professor Sarit Moldovan. The team of Alex Zhitnitsky, Oshri Rozenheck, and Boris Fridman worked with the Perach Tutoring Project, a mentoring/tutoring program for disadvantaged children. The Perach campaign focused on increasing volunteers for its tutoring project which it succeeded in doing with over 150 volunteer sign ups.
  

Full 2012 Team Results
Click here to see the rankings of all competing teams, including Finalists and Semi-Finalists.

Social Media Award Winners
We’re also pleased to announce the winners of the first ever Social Media Award, awarded to the GOMC team that runs the best Google+ page for their company or organization. This year's global winner comes from the University of Texas at Austin under Professor Lisa Dobias. The team of Caroline Snavely, Kristin Carden, Kimberly Bolton, and Ellen Webb worked with The Impeccable Pig, a fashion boutique with five locations and an online store.

• The Asia Pacific Winner comes from Edith Cowan University in Australia, under Professor Katrina Hibbs. The team of Elliot Crewe, Mohamed Athif, Darel Coutinho, Kirsty Watkins, Greg Murray, and Luke Ramponni worked with Blackwood River Houseboats, a houseboat rental company in South West Australia.
  
• The Americas Winner comes from University of South Florida, under Professor Scott Liu. The team of Raneshia Lawrence, Ryan Sauer, Sean Kernan, Elise Fisher, Krista West, and Cori O'Brien worked with Cigar City Brewing, a craft brewery and tasting room.
  
• The Europe Winner comes from INESDI – Instituto de Innovación Digital de las Profesiones in Spain, under Professor Roberto Garcia. The team of Eduardo Cerezo Carrera, Marta Gomez Gil, and Maria Susana Morin Vargas worked with Asociación Protégeles, the Center for Internet Safety for children in Spain.
  
• The Middle East/Africa Winner comes from Bethlehem University in the West Bank, under Professor Nadira Alaraj. The team of Hiba Stephan, Dina Massad, Ameer Salameh, Bishara Al Hodali, Orianna Salameh, and Zaid Hilal worked with the Al-Harah Theater, a community theater in Beit Jala, West Bank.
  

We will be announcing the winning teams of the Social Impact Award in late August. This recognizes the GOMC teams that made an outstanding difference to their nonprofit partners via superb online marketing campaigns.

To learn more about the Google Online Marketing Challenge, please visit our website: www.google.com/onlinechallenge.

Posted by Sowmya Ramakrishnan, Product Marketing Manager