I put together the first company hackathon that was Top Gun themed and drove a huge backlog of MVTs along with new innovative solutions to business problems through a 2 day sprint. In full fighter pilot uniforms, the leadership team arrived from behind the cheering crowd to the tune of “Danger Zone” while Need for Speed became so successful it permanently changed the way the company operates.
Right off the bat it was clear that the hackathon framework could be utlised for more than just off the cuff innovation so Hotels.com set up specific road maps for hackathon planning throughout the year. The results spoke for themselves by changing the way the business is run.
Teams held their own hackathons often that cleared out backlogs of work while large, company wide hackathons were held with themes connected to specific business tasks and innovation. Working with the leadership team we scripted scenes from movies with spoof dialog centred around an over arching business need. I then edited a movie trailer prior to each event and designed advertising and branding for the corporate giveaways. Keeping to a tight budget I always made props for the filming, however for the “Fast on Fones R Us” hackathon we hired a Porsche 911 as the Testarossa wasn’t available. It was a sound investment that more than paid for its self in business revenue.
Nico Carone – Global Creative Project Manager, Expedia Group
