Modul 25008 / 25009: Selected Media Topics I / II (SS '10)

C. Loebbecke (with Assistants)

2 SWS, 6 LP

Mainly online, voluntary kick-off  meeting on Jan 20,'10, at 19:30 in XXIV (one per group should be there!)
Session (voluntary): Feb 4,'10, at 17:45  in XXIII

Location: HS XXIII WiSo-Geb.

Held in English

Overview
 In SS'10, we offer participation in the Google Online Marketing Challenge as course for credit. The Google Online Marketing Challenge provides a hands-on exercise for students participating in a global course initiative. Upon registration (see below), each group will receive free online dollars worth US$ 200 from Google for the course. Details on course activities are listed below under 'Assignments'.
Further information can be found in the Google Student Guide. Students will have access to ample basic AdWords material (no prior knowledge required). Details on how students setup their AdWords accounts will be announced prior to the start of the challenge. 
The course will be held  in ENGLISH! Preparation will not be necessary. Registration and GROUP WORK is mandatory; however, not all group participants need to participate for credit points.

Dates and Location
The course is run mainly online. A voluntary kick-off meeting will be held on Jan 20,'10, at 19:30 in XXIV (one student per group should be there!). A second voluntary session on Adwords and Online Marketing will take place on Feb 4,'10, at 17:45 in XXIII. Voluntary online coaching via smail-account (professor and assistants) and up to 45 minutes per week & group at a fix time slot to be agreed upon, location: Pohligstr. 1, will be offered.

Assignments
 Four assignments including three group assignments are part of the course (see the Google Online Marketing Challenge website for more details).

Group Formation and Company Recruitment
 Form groups of 3 to 6 members (max. 3 students for credit!) and recruit a small-to-medium sized company (< 100 employees) that does not currently use AdWords in any capacity and does not have had an active account within the last 6 months! If you do not find any suitable business to work with, please contact us, we will try to help. Please note that in either case you have to agree with us on who you will work with and that each group has to work with a different business.
Send an e-mail indicating the group members, clearly saying who will take the course for credit, and the company name to ALL group members, thomas.weiss<at>uni-koeln.de, and claudia.loebbecke<at>uni-koeln.de and hand in a piece of paper with printed names and signatures of all group members.
Deadline: Jan 21,'10, 11:00 am
We will then register your group for the Google Online Marketing Challenge.
Addition: Latest 3 weeks before the begin of your campaign, hand in a copy of the 'Letter to Businesses' provided within Google's Student Guide.
Pre-Campaign Strategy
Choose a date to run your campaign over any 3 consecutive weeks between Jan. 28,'10, and June 4,'10.  Get in contact with the small-to-medium sized company you chose. Try to (1) understand business and corresponding objectives from online marketing, (2) create AdWord text ads / keywords, and (3) plan an AdWords schedule for your campaign.
Set up and submit a pre-campaign strategy containing (1) client overview and (2) proposed AdWords campaign on criteria such as keywords, time of day and location (max. 4 pages, 12-point Times font, 2.54 cm page margins, A4 paper, left-justification, 1.5 line spacing) as word doc (no PDF!) to ALL group members, thomas.weiss<at>uni-koeln.de, and claudia.loebbecke <at>uni-koeln.de.
 Deadline: One week prior to your AdWords campaign.
We will then directly submit your report to Google.

Post-Campaign Summary
Submit a summary (max. 8 pages, 12-point Times font, 2.54 cm page margins, A4 paper, left-justification, 1.5 line spacing) of your campaign containing (1) an executive summary, (2) a industry component, and (3) a learning component as word doc (no PDF!) to ALL group members, thomas.weiss<at>uni-koeln.de, and claudia.loebbecke <at>uni-koeln.de, and hand in three copies on paper to Prof. Claudia Loebbecke, Pohligstr. 1, 50969 Cologne. To succeed in the Google Online Marketing Challenge, please pay special attention to the (1) account structure, (2) optimization techniques, (3) account activity and reporting, (4) performance and budget, and (5) relevance.
Deadline: No later than 3 weeks after YOUR campaign's end.
We will then directly submit your report to Google.

Course Experience Report
Submit a course experience report (max. 4 pages, 12-point Times font, 2.54 cm page margins, A4 paper, left-justification, 1.5 line spacing, A4) describing your activities throughout the course including your interaction with Google, with 'your' company, and - if applicable - with other groups etc.. Assess which parts of the course provided a good learning experience for you, what you would recommend to students participating in upcoming years.
Send this report as word doc (no pdf!) to thomas.weiss<at>uni-koeln.de, and claudia.loebbecke <at>uni-koeln.de and hand in three copies on paper to Prof. Claudia Loebbecke, Pohligstr. 1, 50969 Cologne.
 Deadline: No later than 3 weeks after YOUR campaign's end.

Grading / Credit Points
 Grading will be based on:

Students receiving a final grade of 4,0 or better will be awarded 6 Credit Points ('Leistungspunkte') in Media Management.

© Department of Media and Technology Management