Background

P&G has always been a hardcore believer in the power of innovation.
The theme they constantly follow to bring new products to life is “Bringing the Best of Outside-In and Inside-Out”. So, to P&G, open innovation challenges are the perfect way to create a collaborative ecosystem with a mindset of “All in to WIN”.

P&G had 2 priorities on which they needed to focus innovation efforts:

1. Improving Employee Experience

Given the hybrid model of working from the office and remotely, new and flexible solutions are needed to uplift the employee experience in employee engagement, office commute, and dining on-site. 

2. Adopting a Gamified Solution For Small Retailers

Platform or application for small independent retailers for customer relationship management, loyalty, social commerce, gamification of experience.

Challenge

P&G needed access to start-ups, small businesses, and large organizations that would propose innovative solutions for their challenges and in return, receive mentorship by industry leaders and get the opportunity to showcase enterprise-grade solutions and get a chance for paid pilots.

Proposal

Untap proposed an open innovation challenge that would be planned, launched, and managed on Untap’s competition management platform and with the support of Untap team. At this point, P&G was ready to create “UNBOX”, the innovation program.

Untap team would be responsible for sourcing relevant startups with existing solutions and managing the whole program between the participants and P&G, in addition to supporting the initial filtration of startups, for the judges to evaluate only high-quality submissions that are worth their time. At this point, P&G was ready to create “UNBOX”, the innovation program.

Process

The application form, eligibility criteria, initial screening, judging criteria, communication with participants, and analysis were all designed and handled by Untap team. 

Using Untap platform, UNBOX’s landing page was seamlessly customized with the challenge and P&G branding and the receiving and managing of applications were automated thanks to the platform’s round engine. Assigned judges used an evaluation form with preset evaluation criteria.

Outcomes

Winners

Challenge 1 – Improving Employee Experience

The winner is QUICKRIDE: A 4 Million+ users community for carpool bikepool. To improve employee experience, QUICKRIDE offers a convenient solution for office commute.

Challenge 2 – Adopting a Gamified Solution For Small Retailers

The winner is EL-DOKAN: An eCommerce Software designed for MENA Retails. To offer P&G’s small retailers a gamified solution, El-DOKAN is a seamless application where they can manage CRM, loyalty, and social commerce activities. 

Do you need to launch your own innovation challenge and don’t know where to start? We would love to help you out! Schedule your free consultation session and let’s talk about your next program.