Inside Perspective from a NYC B2B Marketing Hackathon

Coding not required! Back in March, I participated in a Hackathon that puts B2B Marketing skills to the test. Here’s what happened when a room full of marketers came together for 8 hours, powered by free caffeine and the opportunity to make a real difference.

What’s a Marketing Hackathon?

Instead of bringing together a group of coding experts with a hacking challenge, a B2B Marketing Hackathon is a place where marketers with a variety of backgrounds come together to create innovative solutions to a marketing challenge. 

I had the privilege to participate in the “TOFU Challenge: A B2B Marketing Hackathon for Good" in New York City. This event was focused on creating B2B Marketing solutions for a charity called Thorn, which is a non-profit organization aimed at creating digital technology that protects children from online abuse on social media.

The Hackathon Experience

The day-long event started at 9:30am with some background details about Thorn, as well as an introduction from the sponsor HockeyStack. We also received a quick overview on the video editing software called PlayPlay that we’d been tasked with using for our presentations. 

We were divided into eight different groups, with every group having a mix of marketing specialists from a variety of backgrounds. We were tasked with creating a marketing pitch for Thorn that would enable them to increase brand awareness, improve overall engagement, and to increase the amount of donations received every year. We were to assume a budget of $100k for all marketing expenses and advertising.

It was now 10:30am. The background presentations were complete. We had to develop a marketing strategy and create a one minute pitch presentation using PlayPlay’s video editing software by 2:30pm. The event organizers put up a giant countdown clock on the big screen. It was time to dive in! 

Taking on the Marketing Challenge

I was assigned to Team #7, and while some of our teammates had unfortunate schedule conflicts, ultimately our small team of three was nimble and full of ideas. In fact, I think the fact that I was on a smaller team was to our benefit, as every team member had a chance to share their thoughts and ideas, and we were able to build rapport easily. 

Team 7 had a simple process for developing our concept: research, ideate, execute! We knew it was key to start with the data and research available on Thorn’s website, as well as the details that were shared at the start of the event. 

As experienced B2B Marketers, my team knew that the proposed budget for this challenge was going to be one of the biggest hurdles for the pitch concept. $100k sounds like a lot of money, but when you factor in the costs of paid advertising, fundraising, website development, and content creation… Our team knew that we needed to identify potential partnerships that we could recommend to help cover some expenses. 

Using a presentation outline guide provided by the organizers, we began developing and outlining our plan, and before we knew it, lunch was being served! The event took very good care of its participants in terms of sustenance. There was free coffee, tea, soda, water bottles, and plenty of food and snacks available. We needed it, because by 12:30pm we only had two short hours to turn our concepts into polished and edited video presentations!

After lunch, the Hackathon room was buzzing with activity. Every team was busy working on their video presentations. Some teams were recording live video of themselves describing their marketing plans, while other teams were using generative AI and stock footage to tell the story of their B2B concepts. The room really felt alive! It was a very energizing and motivating feeling to be working alongside so many different groups of motivated people trying to accomplish a common goal. 

The Big Reveal: Our Presentations

On Team 7, our research indicated that a fundraiser gala event in targeted cities would be beneficial to increase awareness among potential donors, but when we spoke to the representative from Thorn, she indicated that these events were often too expensive for their team to maintain on an annual or semi-annual basis. Because of this, Team 7 proposed to plan a collaborative event with one of Thorn’s major retail partners, specifically LEGO. In this solution, LEGO would leverage their name, connections, and some upfront costs to cover the fundraiser gala events, so Thorn could focus their budget on advertising.

Team 7’s Marketing Plan in a Nutshell: 

• The Awareness Phase focuses on targeted LinkedIn Ads to reach new target audiences and educate people on Thorn’s mission. This phase would run in tandem with a traditional earned media PR campaign to drive awareness in finance and technology sectors. 

• The Engagement Phase is geared towards LinkedIn ads that collect contact information from potential donors in targeted cities where the gala events were to be hosted. In addition, the Engagement Phase would have Thorn representatives speaking at impactful tech conferences, such as Tech Week and European Women in Tech. 

• The Conversion Phase would include LinkedIn Ads that target users that have previously interacted in the first two phases, driving potential donors to pages about the upcoming gala events, how to host their own fundraiser, or directly to a donation page. 

Doing a presentation is one of my favorite parts of working in Marketing. I thrive in pitching a concept, sharing a presentation, and answering follow-up questions from stakeholders. In fact, all three members of Team 7 were at the top of their game during the presentation, with all of us answering questions and providing input on the concept. I think this had a big impact on our team winning second place overall in the competition!

Lessons Learned and Looking Ahead

This Marketing Hackathon was a really unique experience that I thought was very educational and fulfilling for me. Not only did I get to learn about Thorn, an organization committed to making a difference in keeping kids safe online, but I also got to try out PlayPlay’s video editor for free, which I thought was really cool! And the networking experience was fantastic. I was able to build a rapport with the people on my team, and there was a champagne toast at the end of the event, after which we were all invited to mingle and make connections. I thought this was a fantastic event and I can’t wait for Suru Labs to host another Marketing Hackathon in NYC!