Top team wins $10,000 for breakthrough audience solution, using Google’s AI technology and Horizon Media’s audience insight data
NEW YORK, May 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Horizon Media, the world’s largest independent media agency, partnered with Google to host Hacking the Screen — a one-day AI hackathon held at Google’s St. John’s Terminal office in Manhattan. Designed to reimagine the future of entertainment marketing, the event brought together students from nine universities — including University of Massachusetts, Cornell University, Columbia University and New York University — for a hands-on Hackathon in applied innovation.
Hosted by Bob Lord, president of Horizon Media Holdings, and Paijmaan Premji, data transformation lead at Google, the event showcased the natural synergy between two companies at the forefront of digital transformation. United by a shared commitment to advancing responsible AI, nurturing emerging talent and shaping the next wave of intelligent media solutions, the collaboration emphasized innovation with integrity.
A competitively selected and diverse group of participants worked in teams, leveraging Horizon’s proprietary audience intelligence tools alongside Google’s Vertex AI platform to develop innovative solutions to key marketing use cases for a leading entertainment brand. Grounded in behavioral data and evaluated for strategic impact, each prototype served as a real-world exploration of AI’s potential to transform business outcomes across industries and audiences.
The hackathon is part of Horizon’s broader ambition to fuse experimentation with execution on behalf of its clients — advancing the ongoing development of Blu, its AI-native growth platform, while cultivating next-gen talent and pioneering new partnerships across technology, media, and culture.
“These students surfaced actionable opportunities — not hypotheticals,” said Bob Lord. “By pressure-testing Google’s AI tools and Horizon’s Data Insights against real business challenges, they revealed how AI can elevate strategy, speed execution, and sharpen relevance. Innovation like this doesn’t happen in a vacuum — it takes bold thinking, collaborative energy, and the courage to build what hasn’t been built yet.”
The winning team, Synth Solutions, earned a $10,000 grand prize for its strategic use of large language models to optimize campaign messaging across nuanced audience segments. The team — composed of Nyosha Homicil of Pace University, Matthew Labasan of Columbia University, Eric Kouperman of Pace University, and Apun Datta of Hunter College — developed a prototype that blended empathy, data, and generative intelligence to power more predictive, high-impact campaigns.
Projects were evaluated on a five-point scale across five categories: problem understanding, technical execution, creativity and innovation, real-world relevance, and presentation. Judges looked for clear problem statements, effective use of AI and data tools, original thinking, and practical applications in media and advertising.
The panel included Nadia Carta, head of data, measurement and analytics at Google; Elizabeth Twersky, vice president and group director of data solutions at Blu, Horizon Media; and Cindy Kim, executive vice president and managing partner of business solutions at Horizon Media.
Top participants have been selected for internships with Horizon’s AI, analytics, and innovation teams.
About Horizon Media
Horizon Media, the largest independent media agency globally, delivers data-driven business outcomes for some of the most innovative and ambitious brands. Founded in 1989, headquartered in New York, and with offices in Los Angeles and Toronto, the company employs 2,400+ people and has media investments of more than $8.5 billion. Horizon Media’s fundamental belief is that business is personal, which drives its approach to connecting brands with their customers and engaging with its own employees, resulting in industry-leading workplace satisfaction levels (Glassdoor). The company is consistently recognized by independent media outlets for its client excellence and has earned several “Best Workplaces” awards reflecting its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and the life and well-being of everyone at Horizon Media.
SOURCE Horizon Media