The Online Marketing Challenge (OMC) is a unique opportunity for students to gain practical experience in the real business world by designing and executing digital marketing campaigns for Saxonian companies from different industries using a budget of 500 Euros.
Since 2017, this initiative is organized by the SEPT Competence Center at Leipzig University and the Internationalisierungsoffensive Sachsen (IOSAX) to merge the academic and business world and promote collaboration between students and SMEs from Saxony. This year, the Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz joins as a partner organization.
How does the OMC work?
With the OMC, students get the opportunity to work in teams to design an international online marketing campaign together with the SME and turn it into reality. Within three months (April to June), students act like the online marketing managers executing the campaign with a 500 EUR budget and try to reach the marketing goal settled by the company to win the challenge. In July, the students’ teams come together in a final event in Dresden to pitch their results to the companies, share their experiences, and celebrate. The winning team achieving the challenge gets a prize of 300 EUR.
Our students get more than “just” practice and a certificate: They also benefit by joining our Online Marketing Bootcamp to get specialized training and deeper understanding of the most relevant online marketing tools like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google Ads.
What our Alumni say?
Our past winners and finalists agree: The OMC was an enriching opportunity to boost their marketing skills, gain practical experience running digital campaigns, generate mutual knowledge with companies, and develop their local professional networks in Saxony.
Information
- Online Bootcamp on digital marketing tools (5 sessions on International Marketing, Facebook & Instagram, LinkedIn campaigns, Google Analytics & SEO).
- Practical experience in running online marketing campaigns for German SMEs.
- Support and feedback from specialists in Digital Marketing.
- Participation certificate issued by Leipzig University / SEPT Competence Center, IOSax, and signed by the partner company.
- Travel expenses to the final event in Dresden.
- The chance to be the winning team and receive a prize of 300 Euros.
- Develop local professional networks for your post-academic career.
- Kick-off event in Leipzig: April 11, 2024 from15:30 to18:00 at Sächsische Aufbaubank Förderbank (SAB), Gerberstraße 5, 04105 Leipzig.
- Online Bootcamp on digital marketing (from 17:00 to 19:00)
- April 17: International Marketing
- April 24: Advertising on Facebook & Instagram
- May 02: Finding customers and suppliers on LinkedIn
- May 08: Google Ads & SEA
- May 15: Google SEO
- Period to run campaigns: April – June 2024
- Online coaching sessions: May – June 2024 (two sessions per team)
- Final presentation in Dresden: July 10, 2024 from 15:00 to 18:00 at Impact Hub Dresden
Since 2017, 41 Saxonian SMEs have joined the Online Marketing Challenge!
Ms. Jazmín Ponce Gómez
- Phone: +49 341 97 33 765
- Email: jazmin.ponce(at)uni-leipzig.de
Are you ready to join the challenge?
The OMC 2024 is open for all international or German students doing a Master/MBA in a university or higher education institution in Saxony.
Apply today and reserve your spot– space is limited! REGISTRATION FORM Problems opening the link? No worries, send us an email to process your application.
Registration deadline: April 1st, 2024.
Past Winners
Team PI ROPE GmbH wins the final of OMC 2023! With their campaign for the Chemnitz-based company, Arminius Ezer, Isabella Niebling and Lisa Richter convinced the jury. Team Public Value Hub UG took 2nd place and Team PURTEC Engineering GmbH 3rd place. The award ceremony took place at Impact Hub Dresden.
The team MediaInterface GmbH, a Dresden-based company, emerged as the winners of the Online Marketing Challenge 2022! They impressed the jury with their campaign targeting the French market, led by the SEPT MBA students Fabio Samuel Díaz Caballero and Luis Angel Reynoso Trujillo. Team mecorad GmbH secured second place, while PALOSA Palettenlogistik claimed the third spot. The award ceremony took place online.
In 2021, the team diafyt Medtech, represented by the SEPT MBA students Brenda Irala and Marcela Lara from Mexico, emerged as the winners. They received guidance and support from the online marketing expert Max Schneider from Projecter GmbH. ARI Motors GmbH secured second place, with Team Umweltanalytik coming in third. The award ceremony was held on July 15, 2021, at the Basislager in Leipzig.
In 2020, the victory was claimed by the team SportSpar GmbH, a sports apparel retailer based in Leipzig. Rashid, Cris, Sadikin, and Anurag, who are part of the SEPT MBA program, presented their campaign focused on the Spanish market. The award ceremony took place online.
The team Westernbedarf Halang, a company based in Freiberg, was selected as the winner of OMC 2019! The team, comprised of SEPT MBA students Federico Rodriguez Sanchez from Colombia, Diana Alvarez Rodriguez from Mexico, and Jazmin Ponce and Magnolia Hurtado Soria, both from Peru, secured their victory through their comprehensive market analyses and the exceptional quality of their advertising campaign.
In 2018, the team ServFaces GmbH, a Dresden-based company, emerged as the winners. The SEPT MBA students Jhon Ramirez from Colombia and Madina Rasulzade from Tajikistan impressed the jury with their campaign designed for the British market.
