Defiance College students pair up with Children’s Lantern for marketing project

April 25, 2017

Pictured left to right: DC students RT Mann, Baily Weatherwax, Caroline Klein, Erica Smay, with Alyssa Tracy, Children's Lantern Ministry Advancement, Adam Tracy, Children's Lantern Executive Director, and William Sholl, Assistant Professor of Practice of Marketing

DEFIANCE, Ohio - A group of Defiance College students are taking part in the 2017 Google Online Marketing Challenge (GOMC) with Children’s Lantern as their partner. The GOMC gives students an opportunity to create an online marketing campaign using Google AdWords.

The campaign runs over a period of three weeks and teams are made up of three to six students. It ends May 31 with results announced in the summer.

All students are on the challenge team by volunteering. This year’s participants are senior Erica Smay, senior Baily Weatherwax, junior Caroline Klein, and freshman RT Mann.

“We had to create a pre-campaign report, get funding from Google to establish AdWords for Children's Lantern, and are currently watching the ad run,” said Team Captain Erica Smay, describing the process. “After it is finished, the team will write a post-campaign report with in-depth analysis of the results and the choices we made.”

Smay noted that Professor William Sholl guided the team while allowing them to make their own decisions on the project. “It is opportunities like this that help Defiance defy the ordinary,” she added. Students learn business etiquette in working with a business partner, in addition to marketing techniques and team work.

Adam Tracy, Executive Director of Children’s Lantern, has enjoyed working with what he described as “an energetic group of go-getters” from Defiance College. “It’s very refreshing to see a group of kids who want to see change in the world and go after it with their particular set of skills, all while pursuing their own dreams,” said Tracy.

Children’s Lantern is a non-profit organization that helps with family care, survivor care, and community care. They also support a program in Peru that helps educate and feed 24 kids each day. To learn more about Children’s Lantern and how you can help, visit their website at www.childrenslantern.org.

Defiance College, chartered in 1850, is an independent, liberal arts institution in Northwest Ohio offering more than 40 undergraduate programs of study as well as graduate programs in education and business. Defiance College has received national recognition for its educational experience of service and engagement. The college website is www.defiance.edu.