Loblaw Digital is taking a page from the tech world and hosting its own in-house hackathons.
Last fall, the digital marketing arm of Loblaw Companies held its first hackathon – a contest in which teams come up with product ideas, rapidly develop them and pitch their prototype to a panel of judges. The winning concept: a shoppable transit ad that allowed passersby to purchase featured items by scanning the ad with their phone.
Just weeks after the hackathon, the idea went to market as an ad for the Loblaw-owned brand Joe Fresh. Loblaw Digital’s director of marketing, Lauren Steinberg, said the ad was a hit and drove a significant bump in app downloads for the retailer.
The company’s follow-up innovation is now on its way. In late March, Loblaw Digital held its second hackathon at its new office in Toronto’s Liberty Village. About a third of its 160-person team participated in the 24-hour event, which included guitar-led sing-alongs, a pancake breakfast and sleeping bags for power naps.
There were no real boundaries for ideas, Steinberg said, though most of the concepts pitched this year were geared towards improving customer experience.
The staffers then arranged themselves into nine teams based on the pitches they were interested in. Participants included marketers, developers, product managers and internal analysts. One of the big benefits of the hackathon, Steinberg said, was that it gave employees who previously hadn’t had a chance to work together a chance to team up on a project.
She added, “It also gives people a chance to show off their hidden talents. We saw some marketers show off their coding skills and some developers show off their graphic design abilities.”
“It was a really nice change of pace and a really nice fit for the culture we’re cultivating.”
After an all-nighter, the teams regrouped and presented their products to a panel of Loblaw and Loblaw Digital execs who acted at judges. What they were looking for: the sweet spot between a creative, innovative idea and something the company could realistically bring to market.
Winners received prizes including Blue Jays tickets, gift certificates for Colette Grand Café and custom trophies.
The grand prize winner was a product its team dubbed “Breadcrumbs.” The mobile experience, designed to be housed within Loblaw’s responsive website, is an interactive store map. The idea behind Breadcrumbs is to solve a common pain point for grocery shoppers: not being able to find a product. The mobile feature shows consumers a map of the store they’re in, lets them search for a product and then shows them where that product is. It also allows a customer to input their shopping list ahead of their trip and have a custom map designed for them with an optimal shopping route in the store.
Steinberg said the Breadcrumbs team is now working on perfecting the feature’s user experience and design and expects it to go live in the coming months.
Whether or not every hackathon results in a market-ready idea like Breadcrumbs or Joe Fresh’s shoppable transit ad, Steinberg said she sees hackathons as a worthy culture-booster for her team.
“There’s definitely a lot of messy hairdos come the a.m.,” she said, but “people don’t mind putting in the hours because it’s a lot of fun.”
