Finding new and better ways to engage their audiences is always on the menu for innovative brands. The buzz around crowdsourcing has found its ground in bringing individuals together online, fighting geographical boundaries, in order to give marketers access to undiscovered talent. Involving your loyal customers in the development and advertisement of your products not only lets you know what their interests are, but also where their skills lie in.
The term “crowdsourcing” was forged in 2006 thanks to writer Jeff Howe, who described it as the process of outsourcing a job to a bunch of participants. So, rather than performing certain creative activities themselves, corporations use the “wisdom of the crowd”. This technique allows businesses to acquire data, improve customer relationship management, and fine-tune their marketing messaging. That is not just a result of businesses adjusting to a shifting business environment, but refocusing their efforts on environmental issues, fair work standards and overall social justice. If you are interested in starting a crowdsourcing project, take a look at these fantastic crowdsourcing examples:
1. Doritos – Crash the Super Bowl
Doritos is one of the first companies to use crowdsourcing as part of a marketing campaign. For one of their 30-second Super Bowl commercials, they used consumer-created advertising. The “Crash the Super Bowl” had over 32.000 submissions received, and over $7 million in prizes. These advertisements proved incredibly famous, and the artists’ names became well-known in the advertising and video production industries. Doritos has broadcast a slew of remarkable advertising produced by seemingly ordinary people thanks to crowdsourcing efforts. Doritos became more customer-friendly as a result of this.
2. Airbnb – Shorts
Airbnb started the “Airbnb Shorts” campaign in order to reach out to people with unique travel experiences. The business provided a platform for people to learn about the greatest places to visit. This campaign was done through Instagram and people were requested to share 15-second videos expressing their hometown’s passion. The main idea behind crowdsourcing is for customers to share stories about their favorite places. Additionally, user-generated initiatives coincide with Airbnb’s base, which is user-generated accommodation.
3. Starbucks – White Cup
Starbucks requested its devoted customers to participate in a contest featuring their traditional white cups and upload their masterpieces to social media using the hashtag #WhiteCupContest. This was a crowdsourcing campaign that occurred unexpectedly thanks to Starbucks baristas noticing that their iconic white cups were being used by artists to scribble on. The idea came up and a campaign was launched and centered around these minimalist pieces. Thousands of entries were submitted, and aside from the contest winner, Starbucks received all of the benefits of endless likes, shares, and comments from around the world at no cost to the company.
4. Anheuser-Busch – Black Crown
Anheuser-Busch is the world’s largest brewer, and its Budweiser brand is the best-selling beer in the United States. Before establishing a craft beer, the company sought feedback from the greatest taste-testers it could find among its customers. Over 25,000 individuals participated in the initiative, which included a brewmaster competition, tastings, and consumer proposals, and resulted in the production of Black Crown, a golden-amber lager. AB InBev understands how much it would miss out on in terms of suggestions and ideas, and is willing to listen. Every company benefits from allowing many diverse opinions to be heard, and huge businesses like this one are well aware of that.
5. MIT – Climate CoLab
This crowdsourcing campaign drew almost 10,000 people to a crowdsourcing platform in order to come up with climate change solution ideas. Dr. Geoffrey Hay and his team from the University of Calgary came up with the winning concept. They created a Heat Energy Assessment Technology idea (HEAT). It directs consumers to a free online tool that helps them find heat loss in their houses immediately. This group of scientists not only made headlines, but they also won a $10,000 grand prize.
People from many sorts of backgrounds can contribute to a variety of projects thanks to crowdsourcing. Every innovative company should be able to take advantage of this opportunity, and Innovation Cloud can help you turn your online community into active participants in your innovation process.
