You really make a point that we've been trying to emphasize from the beginning; that the process of engagement in a crowd sourced advertising campaign is as valuable or more than the end product.

Our community spends time poring over the creative brief, brainstorming on ideas, and then creating video, print or interactive advertising. Then they reach out to their social networks to promote their creation. Their social network then comes back to our site (Zooppa.com) to view, comment on & vote on the different pieces of creative. This creates an entire ecosystem of brand engagement, as the consumer public is not only being exposed to brand images, but is actively thinking about the brand at each step.

Here is a link to a white paper about crowd sourced advertising from Zooppa:
http://blog.zooppa.com/tips-about-crowdsourcing...

You really make a point that we've been trying to emphasize from the beginning; that the process of engagement in a crowd sourced advertising campaign is as valuable or more than the end product.

Our community spends time poring over the creative brief, brainstorming on ideas, and then creating video, print or interactive advertising. Then they reach out to their social networks to promote their creation. Their social network then comes back to our site (Zooppa.com) to view, comment on & vote on the different pieces of creative. This creates an entire ecosystem of brand engagement, as the consumer public is not only being exposed to brand images, but is actively thinking about the brand at each step.

Here is a link to a white paper about crowd sourced advertising from Zooppa:
http://blog.zooppa.com/tips-about-crowdsourcing...

The way I see crowdsourcing, its an extremely efficient way of getting things done at a price that is agreeable to the project owner and the expert. In my experience, loyalty is formed very early on in the process between the PO and an expert and the crowdsourcing website where that connection was made, is doing nothing more than facilitating an efficient and timely conclusion to the project with both parties satisfied.

I started Spudaroo because I was tired of basing purchase decisions on proposals and so far, the feedback has been tremendous. Crowdsourcing is absolutely here to stay but I agree, it will be interesting to see the evolution of the model.

But it all comes down to a fair and balanced revenue sharing model between the creators and the network.

Obviously the creation process has to be filtered and guided – but think about the posibilities: A big brand ask you what the next product should be. Maybe the next trend could be Nichesourcing-

Indeed. And there is. I encourage you to take a look at quirky.com. Every week we crowdsource the design and development of consumer products and reward all contributors with cash.

The way it works is that users earn influence for submitting and supporting winning ideas (product ideas, logos, product names, taglines, industrial design, etc) as well as participating in market research. Influence is essentially an equity stake in a product's sales. And 30% of product revenue is paid out to product influencers.

With this model, we can track user performance over time and discover the most influential members of the community. And since they have earned the most influence, they have also earned a proportionately large share of the product revenue that gets paid back to users.

It's a powerful feedback loop.

Great post and some very important points. I represent Idea Bounty (the platform that Unilever used to crowdsource for its Peperami brand) and much of our thinking about who we are is very much inline with some of your points.

Initially the reaction to Idea Bounty was one where people were of the opinion that we were a direct competitor to the agencies -infact we like to think of ourselves as a tool for agencies to embrace rather than compete with. Our model is constructed in such a way the we only look for ideas and there is always a need for there to be someone to execute and produce the idea. One of the reasons why Unilever ended its relationship with Lowe was becuase they felt that after 15 years of working on the account Lowe were not producing any fresh ideas – To us this would have been the perfect opportunity for Lowe to step in suggest to the client that they source ideas through the crowd with the guarantee that A) they would be involved in picking the best idea and B) They get to produce the idea. Added to that the high level if engagement and different perspectives on the brand you receive is invaluable.

Crowdsourcing is definitely here to stay in one form or another and the sooner agencies start embracing it the better. Thanks for the post again!

Cheers,

Daniel
@IdeaBounty