Note: This story has been updated
Campbell Soup Company wants to build a menu-planning app, and Proximity Canada is helping the company reach out to independent developers.
Campbell launched Hack The Kitchen on Jan. 14. The contest invites people to pitch ideas for mobile or web apps that will help users plan and prepare meals. There’s not much more criteria than that – applicants are free to dream up whatever they think will help make meals easier for people on the go, using the Campbell Kitchen API.
Ten finalists will be chosen in early March to present prototypes at Google’s New York headquarters. From there, a winner will be selected and given US$25,000 to build the app, plus a development contract which includes an additional $25,000 in prize money.
While the contest is not open to Canadians, the Canadian team at Proximity worked alongside its Omnicom sibling agency BBDO New York to come up with the initiative. (Proximity Canada has also worked with American brands such as Gillette and Hewlett-Packard.)
Tyler Turnbull, senior vice-president of strategy and insight at Proximity Canada, said it’s possible that winning ideas “may be developed and launched in other countries around the world” eventually, depending on what kinds of submissions they get. He also noted that whether the winning app will become available to Canadian users has yet to be determined.
“The goal of Hack The Kitchen is to get fresh ideas from all kinds of developers,” he said of the contest’s otherwise broad call-out. “We wanted to ensure that a wide variety of developers had the opportunity to participate, from young developers who are still in school to professionals who want to create something new and exciting.”
Hack The Kitchen will accept ideas until Feb. 1. The winner will be announced March 22.
