Maritz’ core is belief in the transformational power of people. This core belief fuels our ongoing focus on client-centered innovations which drives growth and creates a curiosity culture so as to create success for both our clients and our company. In support of this, Maritz spawned its first ever MPrize Innovation Challenge: a contest that harnessed the imagination and knowledge of Maritz employees and challenged them to innovate, create, and compete through an entrepreneurial spirit embedded within the Maritz culture.

Since Maritz had not yet tested the waters of mobile application development, the focus of this contest centered around the mobile space. The goals for the contest were set to:

1. establish a broad knowledge-worker base of mobile application developers
2. educate the business as a whole on the mobile space, and
3. create a process for sustainable innovation with Maritz.

Each of the three Maritz platforms involved – Research, Travel, and Motivation & Loyalty – provided a wish list of requirements they decided were critical to success in the mobile space to differentiate themselves in the marketplace and create a competitive advantage in their industry. Individuals and teams were then tasked with developing and documenting a conceptual plan as well as a working prototype of a mobile application meeting or exceeding those requirements.

This challenge itself consisted of three phases: Create, Develop and Judge. The Create phase involved explaining the idea individual’s or team’s idea for a mobile application. Eligible employees were encouraged to submit their idea and explain why it was a good solution which met one of the wishes. A total of 101 ideas were submitted to this phase of the competition. The ideas were thoroughly vetted by representatives from each platform, and 44 finalists met the criteria to move into the Develop phase. Those chosen to move into the develop phase received 150 award points (the equivalent to $150) in Maritz’ internal recognition plan.

The Develop phase provided the opportunity for finalists to create working code for their idea. Teams were given four months to build a working prototype and submit documentation explaining the design, architecture, technology, potential business plan, and financial impact of their solution.

During the Develop phase, participants had access to support in developing their ideas. A “help wanted” web site assisted teams in recruiting members ranging from business planners to developers. A networking happy hour provided an arena for people to learn more about the MPrize Challenge, and it offered an opportunity to meet people looking for help on a team or wanting to join a team. Maritz also constructed a research lab for team members to get first hand experience on different mobile devices and test their mobile apps in near real world environments.

The final phase of this contest was Judging. Judges performed the difficult task of selecting the few great ideas which would move on to the Executive Council. The Judging phase consisted of two rounds. Of the 44 finalists, 18 teams presented their ideas to the platform leaders. Each platform leader selected their winner, and the winning team was awarded 10,000 Award Points. The three platform winners presented their ideas to the Executive Council which chose a final, overall Challenge winner who was awarded 25,000 Award Points. All of the platform winners were recognized in formal ceremonies as well as the eventual overall winner.

All three mobile applications are now moving forward with production development for eventual release as part of Maritz’ forward-reaching technology outlook.