Last week we wrapped up our very first Global Mimic Simulation Competition.
Students from across the globe competed against each other in an online advertising competition to see who could run the most profitable online marketing campaign selling digital cameras online.
Each competitor received roughly $30k in simulated ad dollars to test, learn from results, optimize campaigns, and make data-driven decisions to increase their profits and ROI through their digital marketing efforts.
Let’s congratulate the top 3 finishers!
1st Place – James Strickland
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University – Methodist University
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Professor – Dr. J-D Knode
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Expected date of graduation:
May 2017
Major:
Marketing
Was this your 1st time using the Mimic Simulation:
No, I used the Mimic Simulation in my marketing class.
Why James said he was successful:
I placed my targeted keywords in the corresponding ads that I thought would deliver the best results.
Advice:
The advice that I would give is to make sure your keywords are placed in the corresponding ads and to frequently check the campaign review report to see if the conversions increased or not.
2nd Place – Jerry Isom
[clear]University – University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
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Professor – Victor Barger
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Expected date of graduation:
May 2016 MBA
Major:
Marketing & Project Management
Was this your 1st time using the Mimic Simulation:
No, I used the Real Deal Simulation in Marketing 772; Internet Marketing.
Why Jerry said he was successful:
I used the strategy of looking at the profit revenue that was generated from the product and the profit. Finding keywords to describe the products, coming up with catchy phrases for the headlines, and building the landing pages with information.
Advice:
Advice for other students I would say to take your time. Don’t rush through the simulation. It takes time to find the right mix of keywords for the products, even more time to develop an Ad. Just take your time.
Connect with Jerry on LinkedIn
3rd Place – Ryan Younger
[clear]University – Oregon State University
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Professor – Daren Podrabsky
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Expected date of graduation:
June 2016
Major:
International Business Marketing and Administration
Why Ryan said he was successful:
Part of my success, I think, was having run the sim last term learning from it and watching the videos and links to learn as much as possible. Also having bought a camera before I looked at it from the point of view of “What would I be looking for?”.
Advice:
I think spending time watching the videos and reading the links helped a lot. Spend time thinking about it even when you’re not logged in: What would you look for? If you received an email, what would stand out to you and make you want to open it and go to the website?
I thought it would be fun to show the top 20 finishers and some of their KPI’s.
Results table from the top 20 competitors
You can sort this table to see who excelled in which areas.
[table id=2 /]Congratulations to all participants. Usually, professors have their students spend weeks to months cranking through Mimic. This competition was just a week. I know a lot of hustle was put forth and it showed in the results!