Huge & Amazon Bring Second Annual “Change for Good” Hackathon To Cannes Lions

Huge and Amazon have teamed up with Earth Day Network and the Earth Challenge 2020 initiative to bring together top agencies to design tech solutions that will help citizens solve key environmental challenges facing humanity in the 21st century.

Today the global experience agency Huge, Cannes Lions, Amazon, and Earth Day Network, the world’s largest recruiter to the environmental movement, are announcing they will host the second annual “Change for Good” Hackathon at the 66th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this June.

The Hackathon will help create the technical solutions and complementary creative campaigns needed for Earth Challenge 2020, a global citizen science initiative of Earth Day Network, the Wilson Center, and the Eco-Capitals Forum that will mark the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day.

Working with Cannes Lions, six teams from across the globe will be selected from an open application process, facilitated by Cannes Lions, and invited to join forces at the Festival.

These teams will imagine and build solutions, products, and campaigns that advance Earth Challenge 2020’s key research questions around water quality, air quality, local impacts of climate change, biodiversity, plastic pollution and food sustainability.

Huge global CCO, Jason Musante (feature image) said: “We are thrilled to be working with Amazon and Cannes Lions for the second year in a row to bring this innovative methodology to the world’s largest creative stage.

“Last year, we used the power of the Hackathon to innovate and launch solutions to real-world problems, and we can’t wait to see the creative solutions the teams build this year alongside Amazon and Earth Day Network.”

To demonstrate how citizens around the world can help answer critical questions in environmental and human health, Earth Challenge 2020 will help mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day in 2020 by mobilizing people around the world to participate in collecting, integrating, and acting on citizen science data around critical environmental research questions.

Cannes Lions managing director, Simon Cook said: “Cannes Lions is a campaigner for creativity that can have a huge impact on the world.

“This Hackathon is a great example of organisations coming together to provide a platform that nurtures new ways of thinking and celebrates novel solutions to global issues using creative technology.

“We’re excited to see what the teams come up with this year and especially thrilled to be working on the Earth Challenge 2020 initiative.”

Cross-disciplinary agency teams from around the world will compete June 18- 19th on the Cannes Lions Festival grounds to ideate and develop products alongside creative, experience design, scientists, business development, and solution architect mentors from Amazon, Huge, Earth Day Network, the Wilson Center and the Eco-Capitals Forum.

Influencer and brand mentorship from Accuweather, IAB, NASA, Gary Vaynerchuck and other brands will be provided to teams, as well.

Earth Day Network president, Kathleen Rogers said: “2020 is a crucial year for the more than seven billion people alive today.

“Over the 50 years since the first Earth Day many extraordinary transformations have contributed to conserving and managing our world more intelligently.

“But we know that unless we act now and with urgency and at scale, we may hand over a planet unfit and incapable of meeting the hopes, dreams, and aspirations for future generations.”

She added: “Earth Challenge 2020 offers a huge opportunity for citizens everywhere to get engaged and make their desire for real action heard through the lens of science.

“We are delighted to be teaming up with the tech industry and many other amazing companies to make this happen.”

After the six teams have ideated their solutions and campaign launch plan, they will present to a panel of esteemed judges in two rounds of judging.

The full panel of judges will be announced in June, but will include:

• Jason Musante, Global CCO of Huge
• Mark Lehmann, Chief Technology Officer at Global Citizen
• Nick Nuttall, International Strategic Communications Director, Earth Day Network
• Stephanie Smith, Social Media Lead at NASA
• Mary Robinson, Founder of Climate Justice
• Lauren Letta, COO of Charity: Water