Crowdsourcing the brand

Outsourcing – the method of shipping a job to an external provider – has polarized those in business who believe it is either a) beneficial in a cost-effective sense or b) damaging to employee stability.

Crowdsourcing provides a similar dilemma – detailing a clash between the accelerated creativity of crowdsourced minds, and businesses’ economic need to have employees in-house that provide creative council. The reality of our slowly reemerging economy means that even business owners are finding ways to get more for less, and thus crowdsourcing will be a trend not-soon forgotten. Also, this avenue provides a means for unemployed workers to get re-involved with the industries they’re familiar with. At Philter, we haven’t gone so far as to crowdsource logos, names or winning product ideas, but it’s certainly something that is emerging faster than any creative director would like. Because if you start giving your products and services up to your customer to lead, then who owns the brand?

Online forums are where crowdsourcing can really take flight, and one such example is InnoCentive. Here, participants can brainstorm ideas from product design to product placement. The site helps idea creators, fact checkers, and capital providers all mingle in one place. Seeker organizations (companies) actually provide a monetary reward for Solvers (individuals) who can give a concrete solution to their business problem. I wonder if BP could use this at all…

Other sites include IdeaScale, which can be implemented on social media sites and online communities to help companies leverage the ideas of their customers. Something that both Dell and Starbucks have taken advantage of and made quite successful.

The idea behind My Starbucks Idea, a place where brand fans can come together and post ideas that would help enhance the Starbucks experience, came in response to some brand lovers and nay-sayers talking about the Starbucks brand on a myriad of individual blogs. With My Starbucks Idea, the company has centralized the discussion and can monitor and address negative feedback while responding to and acting on positive suggestions. Those cool green stoppers that stop the soy latte tsunami from spilling on your cream wool coat (yes, it has happened to me) – they were a crowdsourced idea that came from fans at My Starbucks Idea.

As a tool that represents public opinion, crowdsourcing has also been used to determine which authors get published. TenPages is a Dutch site where book publishers offer potential novelists a place to have their work judged and possibly bought based on the opinions of reviewers. Aspiring writers can register for free and post at least ten pages of their book on the site. When viewable, prospective shareholders can buy up to 200 shares in any book for 5 Euros each. A widget is available to help them publicize their favourites among their own social networks. The books that sell 2,000 shares during their four month stay on the site—garnering 10,000 Euros —get put into production at one of TenPages’ partner publishers (Pearson, The Workers Press and The House of Books). Authors get paid 1,000 Euros from the initial funds raised, while the rest is held for publishing and promoting the final book. The author then has eight months to write the entire book with the help of a professional editor.

Garnering help from one another is the basic point of crowdsourcing. It’s no surprise then that the method was picked up in a mobile app where people can report and update traffic trends while they – go figure – sit in traffic. Waze provides users with a free GPS-navigation system, simply by using the real-time information provided by crowds. The company creates this setting by tracking GPS signals on users’ phones, allowing others to see when traffic slows or if someone has posted an event like an accident that might affect one’s route. Drivers can update maps, and even gain “points” for miles driven, reporting traffic events, adding street numbers, and mapping new roads.

Fashion Stake is another pretty cool way in which crowdsourcing has been used to steer creative genius. As of September 1^st, this site will allow customers to choose which fashions move from sample to retail. Designers post pictures of their products on the site, and users can give a nod of approval by purchasing a $50 “stake” in the design. If the design earns enough stakes to fund its manufacture, the product is sold exclusively on Fashion Stake. In an effort to further democratize the world of fashion, the site promises that a portion of the proceeds are returned to stakeholders in the form of “clothing credits” that can be redeemed for items sold on the site. The site also plans on providing users and designers with a platform on which they can converse with one another about specific fashions.

Furthermore, a realm in which crowdsourced creativity is in no-short supply is the field of logo design. StockLogos is an online community where logos are available for purchase. Similar to the aforementioned websites, buyers can scan the site for intriguing images, while sellers can (at no cost) submit logos. Sellers are warned not to include elements of design that they don’t own the copyright to, as well as personal signatures, trademarked products, or anything recognizable. Buyers receive all rights to the logo once payment information is submitted, and the entire transaction is completely left to the individuals involved.

Though there seems to be less money to spend on in-house work, there’s still an abundance of creativity to be reaped from the crowds. Getting a pool of people to create, contribute, and design an idea can be fast and inexpensive. But it all begs the question, what happens to the experts? Are they no longer required? Is everyone now a self-proclaimed expert? Or worse, have we outgrown our need for experts because good enough, is now just good enough?