HOPELAB'S RUCKUS NATION
“The technical and administrative complexity of running a global online competition is extraordinary. Idea Crossing customized the Challenge Accelerator® software platform to serve our unique customer needs and achieve our competition goals. Our collaboration with them was seamless, efficient and fun. As a result, our Ruckus Nation competition energized a whole new global audience to support our work.”
– Pat Christen, President & CEO, HopeLab
Sponsor: HopeLab is a nonprofit organization that combines rigorous research with innovative solutions to improve the health and quality of life of young people with chronic illness.
Competition: HopeLab’s Ruckus Nation idea competition was designed as the first phase of HopeLab’s effort to develop effective products to address childhood obesity by increasing physical activity in tweens. The competition tapped into the power of the global community — including kids — to generate new ideas for products that will get kids moving. Ruckus Nation challenged participants to imagine innovative products that would increase physical activity among middle-school-aged kids (“tweens,” ages 11 to 14). The competition awarded $300,000 in cash and prizes.
Problem: HopeLab structured Ruckus Nation into four age-based categories to encourage participation from multiple target audiences, including middle-school-aged kids, the intended customers for HopeLab’s product development efforts. Given the global reach of the competition, hundreds of submissions were anticipated. The competition launched in September 2007, and winners were to be announced in early 2008. Prizes were to be awarded to semifinalists, category winners and one grand prize winner. Given this timeframe, the multiple competition categories, and the varying quality of entries due to differences in contestants’ age and expertise, executing a multi-phase judging process could have presented an extraordinary administrative burden to HopeLab’s staff.
IDEA CROSSING SOLUTION
Challenge Accelerator® Software
| Process
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| The Challenge Accelerator® software platform was tailored to match the Ruckus Nation brand identity and customized for a kid-friendly experience that would also appeal to more sophisticated participants. For example, Idea Crossing designed and built custom modules to ease the administrative burden of managing required consent from parents/legal guardians of participating minors. | DESIGN: competition design, tips for marketing outreach, rules advice, question framing consulting, prize structure, judging process & methodology and contest operational procedures. |
Add-ons
• Parental Consent Module
• Video Submission Module
• Culling Module
• Custom Scoring Algorithm
| PRODUCE: custom URL, custom software infrastructure with branding, event settings, content management, add-ons and quality assurance.
PLAY: technical support, judging assignments, score tabulation and facilitation of a four-phase online judging process.
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Benefits to HopeLab
Actionable Ideas: HopeLab received more than 400 entries from 37 countries and 41 U.S. states and has filed 6 patents based on ideas submitted. In subsequent user testing conducted by HopeLab, many of the ideas submitted have demonstrated considerable potential as appealing interventions for HopeLab’s product development efforts. Product prototypes based on various Ruckus Nation ideas are being developed for further user testing and research, and HopeLab ultimately plans to make available to consumers those products that prove effective in getting tweens to move more.
Judging Feedback: Ruckus Nation engaged more than 300 judges of all ages, from around the world. Using the Challenge Accelerator® software platform, competition entries were assigned, distributed and evaluated online through a four phase judging process that streamlined the administrative burden for HopeLab.
Time, money, and resource savings: Idea Crossing collaborated closely with HopeLab through the planning, design and execution of the Ruckus Nation competition, using established Idea Crossing tools where appropriate and developing custom modules when necessary to meet HopeLab’s specific needs. By using our existing products and expertise to build a tailored administrative system, Idea Crossing effectively minimized HopeLab’s administrative and operational burden while successfully managing costs.
