MARKETING LINK LLC AND MYKOLA LUKASHUK SERVED AS JUDGES AT THE 2024 INTERNATIONAL IT-UNIVERSE COMPETITION

Marketing Link LLC and Mykola Lukashuk served on the judging panel of the international student IT competition “IT-Universe 2024“ in the “Design of Marketing Materials for Promoting a New Business” category.

The competition final took place remotely on June 10, 2024, via online video conference. Participants worked on creating marketing materials for a new business, combining skills in design, marketing, digital communications, and IT.

For Marketing Link, participating in the IT-Universe judging panel is an important educational and professional initiative. We work with digital marketing every day, so we value the opportunity to support young professionals who are just beginning to build their careers in marketing, design, and technology.

About IT-Universe 2024

IT-Universe is an international student IT competition that brings together university and college students for competitions in information technology, management, innovation, design, and business.

The competition gives students an opportunity to apply their knowledge in practice, present their work, receive feedback from experts, and better understand what professional tasks look like in a real-world environment.

In 2024, IT-Universe included competitions across a variety of fields, including IT project management, ERP systems, automated accounting systems, programming, marketing materials design, and other disciplines.

About the “Design of Marketing Materials for Promoting a New Business” Competition

The “Design of Marketing Materials for Promoting a New Business” competition combines several areas at once:

• marketing;
• design;
• digital communications;
• IT technologies;
• HTML5/CSS3;
• business logic.

Participants develop marketing materials for a hypothetical new business. These may include advertising banners, brand identity elements, visual communication materials, digital creatives, and other formats designed to help a business attract its target audience.

These assignments are important because they teach students to see design as more than just an attractive image. In marketing, design should serve a business goal: communicate the offer, highlight brand advantages, capture attention, guide users toward an action, and support the overall marketing strategy.

Mykola Lukashuk, Founder and CEO of Marketing Link, joined the judging panel as an expert in digital marketing, advertising, analytics, and business strategy.

When evaluating this type of work, it is important to look beyond visual execution. Strong marketing materials should support the business objective, be clear to the target audience, have a logical structure and the right emphasis, and have the potential to work effectively in a real digital environment.

This area is closely connected to Marketing Link’s day-to-day work. The agency regularly evaluates ad creatives, landing pages, banners, campaign structures, analytics, user behavior, and business results. This practical experience makes it possible to evaluate student work not just from an academic perspective, but from the perspective of real-world marketing.

Serving on the IT-Universe 2024 judging panel is Marketing Link’s contribution to the development of future professionals.

Young marketers, designers, and digital specialists need more than academic assignments—they also benefit from practical feedback from people who work with businesses, advertising, clients, and measurable results every day.

For students, competitions like this are an opportunity to demonstrate their skills, test their ideas, gain presentation experience, and understand how their solutions may work in a real professional environment.
For Marketing Link, it is an opportunity to support talented young professionals, share expertise, and help students better understand the connection between marketing, design, technology, and business.

Thanks to the Organizers and Participants

We would like to thank the IT-Universe organizers for the invitation and the opportunity to serve on the judging panel of this international student IT competition.

Special thanks to the participants in the “Design of Marketing Materials for Promoting a New Business” competition. You took the opportunity to demonstrate your abilities, work on a practical assignment, and present your own ideas to industry experts.

We wish all participants continued growth, strong future projects, and the confidence to apply their skills in real business environments.

“Serving as a judge at IT-Universe 2024 is an opportunity for me to support students who are already exploring the intersection of marketing, design, technology, and business.

In a marketing materials design competition, it is important to evaluate more than how attractive the work looks. You also need to see whether the message is clear, whether the idea is logical, whether the visual concept supports the business objective, and whether the material can actually capture the audience’s attention.

I like that IT-Universe gives students practical experience. Projects like these help young professionals understand that marketing is not only about creativity—it is also about strategy, data, business goals, and responsibility for results.”

—Mykola Lukashuk, Founder and CEO of Marketing Link, Forbes Business Council member