Author: Sebastian Benad

The final of the Online Marketing Challenge 2025 (OMC) on July 2 in Leipzig marked the end of a semester-long practical project that gave students from all over Saxony real-life insights into digital marketing. Three teams from the Faculty of Managerial and Cultural Studies (F-MK) took part - one of them reached the podium.

The Virtual Office Dresden team (Elsa Richter, Lisa Marie Ludz and Pia Seifert) won over the jury with their concept and secured 3rd place in the competition. The campaign was developed in collaboration with corporate partner Michael Kotte.

The two other F-MK teams also presented well-founded concepts, target group-oriented content and creative strategies. All groups worked for several months on online marketing campaigns for real companies - with a budget of 500 euros, accompanied by coaching and workshops.

All teams took advantage of the opportunity to get involved in an international project format with a real company focus - and thus further develop key future skills.

The OMC is organized annually by the SEPT Competence Center at Leipzig University together with IOSax - Internationalization Offensive Saxony. The aim is to promote practical learning and strengthen the exchange between the university, business and society.

The OMC thus exemplifies the F-MK's aspiration to combine practice-oriented teaching with social relevance - and to open up diverse learning spaces for students beyond the traditional seminar room.

The focus is on international teamwork, independent project management and the use of digital tools. For the F-MK teams, the challenge began in April with a kick-off in Dresden, followed by digital workshops and a two-day boot camp in Görlitz in May.

"The OMC is a project that combines theory and practice in a meaningful way - and strengthens personal development just as much as professional knowledge," says Sebastian Benad, one of the supervising teachers.

At the degree of the challenge, ten teams presented their results at the Coworking Leipzig base camp. Despite the high temperatures, all groups gave strong presentations and reflected on the progress of their campaigns. They were judged on concept quality, target group understanding, implementation and impact, among other things.

The strengths of a transdisciplinary, collaborative education, as specifically promoted at the F-MK, were also revealed.

The Faculty would like to congratulate all participants and thank the organizers and corporate partners for the successful implementation. The F-MK will once again be represented by teams in 2026 - with new ideas and a great deal of commitment.