Ten To The Thousandth Power

If I were to ask you to come up with a creative idea for me for marketing, say, a stuffed penguin, what do you think you'd come up with?

If I were to ask 10,000 people to come up with a creative idea for me for marketing a stuffed penguin, what do you think they would come up with?

The "voice of the consumer" has now, it seems, moved from the denizens of whether or not they like the ad for a product, to actually having input in creating that ad.

Crowdsourcing is an increasing epidemic among online web communities. Several online communities have sprung up recently for aspiring creatives and experienced creatives alike, as forums where they can discuss their art as well as make the art by redesigning web pages, messing with and creating colors and palettes, and even having input on the creation of advertisements by actual agencies. Companies themselves have made use of this recent trend, with Starbucks beginning its interactive, crowd-based MyStarbucksIdea website, as well as others such as IdeaStorm, The Netflix Prize, and Lego's invite-only community of Lego enthusiasts. All of these have in common their desire to really get the consumer's input on their products, so much so that they create these communities where people can discuss current products as well as recommend new ones to be tried out in the market. It's an infinite opportunity for companies to relate to their customers as well as to really try to tailor their products to what those customers will buy, both regionally and nationally.

However, this new fad in creativity is sparking some controversial questions. Ad agencies themselves are beginning to also take advantage of these online creative communities, using them to get inspiration as well as to actually take some of the colors and designs seen on the websites. The designers of these creations, however, aren't getting paid for their work; on the contrary, they do it out of love for the art and a desire to contribute something to a community. Several questions arise out of this, the most important being if those designers should be getting paid for the work they put up. At the same time though, by putting up their designs to be freely shared among people, and especially with uncopyrighted work, are they not giving up their rights to be compensated for their labor? Should agencies be taking advantage of these communities at all? And if they keep doing this, will all the work eventually start to look the same?

The most obvious question that arises out of all of these, and the one that most concerns me, is: if agencies are using these online communities to get ideas for ads, and if companies are making use of their own microsites to get feedback on products that consumers will actually buy, is the need for advertising in general eventually going to disappear? Will creativity just become the process of selling and making known the products that consumers have already recommended? Will there even be a need for agencies anymore, or will companies hire their own creatives (or even their own websurfers with which to look for creativity on the net without actually having to create any of their own) to create purely selling advertisements?

This might be seen as an extreme situation, but in the realm of the unknown, anything is possible. Crowdsourcing as a trend is incredible because it takes the consumer and allows them to experience the product, the brand, and the advertising in a whole new way, giving them a relationship to it that is unprecedented. It provides an endless world of opportunity to agencies and companies alike, and, if used wisely and moderately, can even be a more effective way of reaching into the hearts of consumers.

They say that the brainpower of even 1000 people combined on a single issue is mind-boggling, and it is. Just think of all the Alternate Reality Games that online forums have been able to figure out in a matter of weeks, which for any normal person would take months or even years. This phenomenon will not only provide that which I stated above, but also an entirely new perspective on everything one might think about a product. It's amazing, and it should definitely be taken advantage of, but with a grain of salt and a very good amount of caution and care.

Let's think of something together.