Students of the School of Economics and Business, Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), have been reaping the benefits of their diligence at the Global Online Marketing Academic Challenge, GOMAC 2019. The team of the 4th year students from the Marketing study programme have become the best in the world.
With the assistance of Elena Vitkauskaitė and Eglė Vaičiukynaitė, KTU teachers, the team of students Kamilė Gruduls, Simona Pūraitė, Goda Miltinytė, Deivid Sokolovskij, and Raminta Juzukonytė scored first for a digital marketing campaign for a mutual lease platform ‘dalinuosi.lt’; the students not only planned it but also implemented. Another team from the School of Economics and Business (SEB), KTU, made it to the finals of the competition.
The judges considered the winners’ project to be a comprehensive and thoughtful digital marketing campaign, demonstrating excellent preparation, execution, analysis, and presentation. The announcement of the organisers of the contest also emphasised that it was an excellent example of integrated communication, focused on conversions. Seasonality was taken into account and excellent analysis and presentation of key indicators was made. The reports were also clearly in line with planned and factual campaigns.
“For us, GOMAC 2019 has been not only competition but also a real school of life. It is always more interesting to work with a real company and to solve real problems. We are very happy that we have not only achieved our main goal but have become the best in the competition with students from all over the world”, Kamilė Gruduls, the captain, has been saying.
“I am most excited about the achievements of the students. The team did an excellent job. Everyone was aware of their roles, the contestants demonstrated the ability to purposefully distribute the work and to deeply involve in their campaigns which they had carried out. They communicated well and looked responsibly at the agreements and proposals. It was also evident that they were capable of working both together and individually. We are delighted with the results and are grateful to the students”, says Mantas Živačevskis, the manager of ‘dalinuosi.lt’.
One more competition finalist from KTU
Another team from School of Economics and Business, KTU, nominated for the competition, reached the final with their digital marketing campaign for Mash Motors, a motorbike producer’s representatives in Lithuania.
“The team and each of us is delighted having had the opportunity to take part in this competition and even enter the final. This really means a lot to us! The result, however, was very unexpected because our goal was more modest – just to get to know the subtleties of Google Ads on the basis of real business. We are grateful to Mash Motors and to our lecturers Elena Vitkauskaitė and Egle Vaičiukynaitė for their help and advice throughout the competition. We will definitely use our experience and competences in our further activities”, Vilija Jankūnaitė, the captain, has been saying.
“What I liked most was the flexibility of the team and the ability to adapt quickly to the specifics of our business, our exceptional needs, and our observations. The team proved to be very strong and willing to work. They had a lot of accurate and reasonable suggestions”, says Vasaris Prunskas, the representative of Mash Motors, claims.
Double benefit
Participation in the GOMAC contest is an integral part of Marketing studies at KTU. It combines integrated work in two modules: Virtual Marketing (Paid Search Advertising Campaign) and Social Media Marketing (Paid Advertising and Organic Social Media Marketing Campaigns). Thus, students are evaluated not only by the jury, but also by their teachers for preparing a marketing plan, implementing the campaign, and presenting the results.
In the opinion of the lecturer Vitkauskaitė: “the competition is a great way to put one’s marketing knowledge into practice while developing teamwork and business customer skills. These are the key strengths, making our students enter such contests as GOMAC 2019. The two teams, both world winners and finalists, have shown great curiosity, initiative, and creativity. I am delighted that the results achieved have been highly valued by the international jury”.
“The winner and the finalist teams have exhibited strong knowledge and also incredible creativity. They came out of their comfort zone; they did not get tired of completing tasks and came up with additional ideas for ongoing social media campaigns”, says the lecturer Vaičiukynaitė.
Staying in top positions for 10 years
The students from SEB (KTU) have been participating in digital marketing competitions since 2009 (participating in the Google Online Marketing Challenge – GOMC, as it was called until 2017). During that period, eight teams have won high positions. Two teams with their Social media marketing campaigns have been recognised as the best in the world, the other two have scored as the best in the European region, with other 3 teams ranked among the finalists and one team deserving a special mention for exceptionally excellent data analysis.
“The fact that for a decade, our students have been among the prize winners in global competitions where they can demonstrate their digital marketing skills does not mean random success; rather, it demonstrates their level of the acquired knowledge. This is proof that Kaunas University of Technology students acquire the necessary knowledge and skills and are able to use them properly. The dedication of the teachers in the Digital Marketing modules and the efforts they have made to go beyond traditional lectures require a special appreciation”, says the Head of KTU Marketing study programmes Žaneta Piligrimienė.
