Case Study: Global F&B giant engages 5,000+ students in a seamless two-country 'Dare To Do More' ideathon with Mercer | Mettl's Xathon

Scaling up a legacy hackathon for a global F&B giant

Global F&B Giant, a New York‑headquartered leader in packaged snacks and beverages with a major presence in India, needed a fresh, scalable platform to run its legacy “Dare To Do More” global ideathon. The company sought to engage students across multiple countries, automate cumbersome manual processes, deliver fast turnarounds for last‑minute changes, and capture in‑depth analytics. To meet these needs it partnered with Mercer Mettl and opted to use Mercer Mettl’s Xathon ideathon/hackathon platform and assessment capabilities.

Mercer Mettl implemented Xathon to manage pre‑event communications, mass registrations and assessments, real‑time submissions and leaderboards, judge collaboration, and 24x7 support, plus bespoke customizations on short notice. The event ran seamlessly across 2 countries with 5,000+ students from 35+ colleges, delivering real‑time analytics (college split, diversity, age‑group ratios, performance snapshots) and digitizing previously offline processes. Mercer Mettl’s solution improved turnaround, enabled data‑driven decision‑making, and earned strong client satisfaction and plans to continue the partnership.