The Klein Online Marketing Challenge class (KOMC), offered through the Department of Advertising at Klein College of Media and Communication, is a unique course teaching students about the fast-growing industry of paid search marketing, specifically search engine marketing (SEM). Students take part in teams for the Google Ad Grants Online Marketing Challenge, allowing them to work with nonprofit organizations that need assistance with online marketing. This gives students the real-world experience they need in an increasingly digitized industry and provides them with an edge in personal and professional development.

Alison Ebbecke, an assistant professor of instruction in the Department of Advertising, was the advisor for the Temple University’s previous iteration of the course when it still utilized the Google Online Marketing Challenge, an earlier version of the current Online Marketing Challenge that incorporated a national competition. That version ended in 2017 and after a lull in the program, the marketing challenge rebranded into its partnership with Google Ad Grants in 2018. Now, the KOMC is designed to be offered regardless of whether Google makes changes to its marketing challenge, and gives students the chance to work with the Google tools they will most likely encounter working with a real-life client at an advertising agency.

“By working with Google, students can get into a dashboard and actually apply concepts, theories and test out strategies, which is really great for a learning experience,” Ebbecke says.

Many of the students from last semester’s session of the course realized this right away. Kelsey Gallagher, a junior advertising major, was the team leader of her four-person team during the class and discovered how well-rounded one has to be if they decide to go into advertising. Through previous internships and leadership roles, she already had a familiarity with Google marketing tools. However, the rigorous nature of maintaining a four-week marketing campaign and keeping track of the campaign’s analytics gave her a new appreciation for paid search marketing.

“I felt like it didn’t only give me the experience of SEM but it also allowed me to build out better communication tactics as well as just account management overall,” Gallagher says.

Celeste Rosato also saw firsthand how KOMC enhances digital marketing skills. The senior advertising major was recommended to the class by Ebbecke. She was drawn to the KOMC structure of working without the confines of a textbook and saw how it could apply to her future career goals.

“Now I feel extremely confident applying to an SEO associate or a pay-per-click associate level at an agency which can help me get in the door at an agency,” Rosato says. “And then maybe I can go into account or media planning. Or who knows? Maybe I’ll absolutely love a pay-per-click associate role. But this class definitely gave me an entirely new skill that I could literally use to apply to a job to any kind of digital marketing agency which is really exciting.”

One of the class’s unique features is that the students contribute to the cycle of giving back by working with a nonprofit assigned to each team. Donovan Mears, a senior advertising major, was excited to work with the National Institute on Money in Politics, helping them to build sustainable marketing practices and campaigns to expand the awareness of the money that various political campaigns make across the country. 

“Having the access to [Google Ad Grants] to be able to do it for someone was better than a lot of classes I’ve had where it’s just hypothetical,” Mears says.

Although this semester the KOMC students are working with new clients, a constant feature of the class is that students get to establish professional relationships with not only the nonprofits but also with their peers. Teamwork is essential to accomplishing their goals and the intensive collaboration required in the class makes it a standout offering from the Advertising Department.

Gallagher says that the KOMC strengthened some of her soft skills such as team collaboration and confidence.“The biggest difference that it made for me was just not only being able to communicate with someone in a higher-up position but also to be able to communicate with my peers better,” she says. “Just in the way that it really taught me team relations and especially when you have the position of being the ‘team leader’ and how you have the balance that relationship.”

Ebbecke is excited that the KOMC students walk away from the class with SEM competency that also enhances their personal development.

“I think that’s particularly great for our students because they’re going to be able to maximize that opportunity to learn through doing, and really test and learn different strategies that they have,” Ebbecke says. “They all think they know how the consumer is looking for these things, but until the data proves it they have to kind of put the theories to the test.”