How It Works

Register for the competition. Once you complete your team’s registration, you'll get a unique referral code for your team.
Recruit college students to complete any of the Direct Effect^® micro-credential courses using your referral code.
Score points as your team completes courses, 1 completion = 1 point.

The Details

Marketing Madness is designed for student teams.
College/University-affiliated marketing, business, and design clubs, and/or teams organized by an academic department (e.g., marketing, business, advertising, entrepreneurship, and design).

Each team must have a faculty advisor.
Faculty advisors will serve as the main point of contact during the event, provide student teams with guidance,
and handle any prize money awarded to the team.

Schools may register multiple teams or a single team.
A team can be representative of a single club or department, or it can be representative of two or more clubs / departments combined. Regardless of team composition, the single faculty advisor assigned to the team will be designated as the point of contact for any prize money awarded.

The size of your team does not necessarily affect your chances of winning.
The aim of the competition is to get as many college students (and faculty!) as possible to complete the micro-credential course, including but not limited to members of your team and other students you are able to recruit.

Get as many college students to complete a Direct Effect^® course as you can.
The game's simple:get students to complete any of the Direct Effect^® courses and your team will score.
Remember that only .edu email addresses will count and don't forget to have your recruits use your referral code.

The Courses

All Direct Effect^® micro-credential courses are designed to help students understand the core elements of integrated marketing, with an emphasis on the integration between direct mail and other channels.

Average course completion time: <2 hours

Fundamentals of Integrated
Direct Marketing

View Course

Creating Direct Mail

View Course

Applied Integrated
Direct Marketing

View Course

Activation Through
Integrated Marketing

View Course

Introduction to Retail
Marketing and Mail

View Course

The Benefits

Participating in Marketing Madness yields great benefits for both students on participating teams and the other students they recruit to complete the Direct Effect® micro-credential courses.
All students who complete at least one Direct Effect® course during Marketing Madness get:
A Direct Effect® certification of completion.
A Credly^® badge to share with peers and potential employers on job search platforms such as LinkedIn.
An education on creating effective marketing mail that helps unlock the doors to the $1.4 trillion printing and mailing industry.

Game Clock

TODAY

MAR 1

Competition begins. Leaderboard launched.

MAR 1-31

Teams continue to recruit and encourage student completion of the free Direct Effect^®micro-credential courses. The Marketing Madness Leaderboard will be updated weekly, so teams can see where they stand as they progress.

MAR 31

Marketing Madness ends at 11:59pm EST. Certificates of Completions after this time will not be counted toward a team’s total.

POST - MAR 31

Points will be tabulated, winners will be announced, and prizes will be distributed.

Tips

On March 1, the Marketing Madness competition begins and course completions with your team’s referral code will be counted.
When recruiting students to take the course, be sure to provide them with:
The link to course enrollment: https://directeffect.thinkific.com/collections.
Your team’s unique Referral Code
Instructions to register for the course with their .edu email address
Recruitment is not limited to your college or university, or to any specific academic discipline. Teams may recruit any and all college students to register for and complete the Direct Effect^®micro-credential courses.