To date, there have been a number of interesting crowdsourcing campaigns, some good, some bad, but none received the same backlash in the social space as when Gap decided to ditch their iconic logo for what looked like a helvetica computer generated image. Whether the ‘crowd sourcing’ line was a coverup for the agency that designed it or not, it begs the question of whether handing over your brand’s heritage to the worldwide web is right for your business?
Some people have taken this concept one step further and have relinquished their whole lives to you. Fascinating and engaging, these social experiments allow you to take a glimpse into someone else’s life and actively control what they do, from what they eat, to when they sleep and who they date. One such example is of a chap called David (@davidondemand), who decided to put his life into the hands of his twitter followers, don a web cam and undertake whatever tasks they set, for a whole six days, (including getting a tattoo of the Twitter whale)
Why? to snag a ticket to the Cannes Lion International Advertising Festival, courtesy of his employers Leo Burnett. The result? A huge amount of exposure for said advertising agency as he completed a number of tasks during the event and actively engaged people with the brand.
Like any aspect of marketing, crowdsourcing can be hugely effective when done correctly as it takes away the broadcasting element and allows consumers an opportunity to engage with a brand and ultimately have a say in it’s destiny.
We’re pretty sure, it won’t be right for every single brand but what we do know is, it’s exciting to think what else might be round the corner in the ever changing world of digital!