Crowdsourcing is Where It is At

Crowdsourcing is not just for scientists and researchers. Crowdsourcing is becoming a critical tool used in strategic communications and marketing. So what is crowdsourcing? Crowdsourcing is a term coined by Wired writer Jeff Howe back in 2006. He defines crowdsourcing as how the power of the many can be leveraged to accomplish feats that were once the responsibility of a specialized few (Howe, 2009).  It is the action of taking a job done by a selected person, usually an employee, and outsourcing it to an indeterminate group of people. By using the collective intellectual power of the group rather than just a few, companies can tap into unlimited resources with less financial investment. Strategic communicators and marketers are no exception. Let’s take a look at three marketing campaigns that used crowdsourcing: Doritos, Lays and Starbucks.

One of the first companies to take advantage of crowdsourcing in a marketing campaign capacity is Doritos. In 2006, Andrew Robinson from The Marketing Arm ad agency pitched the idea for a consumer generated ad campaign for the Super Bowl and the “Crash the Super Bowl” campaign was born. This past Super Bowl in February was the tenth and final campaign. The “Crash the Super Bowl” contest has received over 32,000 submissions to date and Doritos has given out $7 million in prize money. It has also served as a great opportunity for individuals to receive recognition from advertising and video production companies. Mainstreethost.com reports for the final contest “Doritos will give away $1 million and the opportunity to work with esteemed director Zach Snyder, best known for movies like 300 and Man of Steel” (Speir, 2016). Doritos set the stage for other advertisers to get on board the crowdsourcing train and tap into the talent just waiting to be discovered. Consequently, Doritos saw a twelve percent increase in Dorito sales that year.

The Starbucks #WhiteCupContest developed when baristas continuously saw Starbucks white coffee cups used as backdrops for their creative and artistic customers to draw on. So in 2014, the coffee company launched the White Cup Contest. Customers were asked to submit original designs through social media using the hashtag #whitecupcontest. “The cups are such a great canvas because you can try an abstract design and just keep adding to it,” said Briar Waterman, creative director for Starbucks digital team. “The design variations can be infinite” (Experience, 2014). The winning drawing was submitted by Brita Lynn Thompson, a Pittsburgh art student, and her image was used on the limited edition cup for 2014. Each year, Starbucks announces a new design for the cups and as an added incentive to cut down on waste, you receive discount every time you use one. This is all a part of the company’s efforts to urge customers to be more environmentally responsible. This campaign is a great example of an organization engaging its customers through crowdsourcing but also using social media in order to facilitate the contest. As an added bonus, they were able to incorporate one of their missions as an organization.

PepsiCo, which owns Lays and Doritos, held another crowdsourcing opportunity for one of its business units. However, this time rather than crowdsourcing how the product was marketed they crowdsourced the actual product. The “Do Us A Flavor” contest began in 2012 and was actually preceded by a contest in the UK back in 2010. Ann Mukherjee, president of the company’s global snacks group and global insights division said “The first time we did it [in the U.S.], we estimated we’d get a million votes; we got four million, “Last year, we did it for the second time and got over 14 million votes” (Wharton, 2015). Do Us A Flavor invites customers to submit their ideas for the next potato chip flavor for the brand. After narrowing down the submissions, the unique flavors were sold in retail stores across the country to give consumers an opportunity to try them all. Then, a vote was held on Lay’s website to crown the winner. Winner Karen Weber-Mendham, a librarian submitted a cheesy garlic bread flavor that won her the one million dollar prize. Lays saw a five percent increase in sales during the initial campaign.  According to Forbes, “the chip manufacturer seems to be reaping the rewards of the ten month long crowdsourcing campaign. The four flavors in the final, chosen from over 14.4 million public submissions, were announced on July 28, and the company’s consumer ratings have been improving across the board over the voting period: Ad Awareness has increased by 2 per cent, and Lay’s Buzz score (calculated by asking people if they have heard anything positive or negative about the brand in the past two weeks and subtracting negative from positive feedback) is up 3 points” (Index, 2014). By asking consumers to get involved in the actual product, Lays used crowdsourcing to give a fresh new image to the seventy-five year old classic chip company. Like Starbucks, they engaged their customers through social media and continue to encourage new flavor submissions.

These are just three of the many examples of companies using crowdsourcing to change the dynamics of not only their marketing campaigns but their products as well. By using the power of the crowd, sometimes numbering in the millions, organizations can tap into a wealth of information. Whether through public contests, collaborative crowd communities or crowd complementors, organizations have a variety of opportunities and ways to get into crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing can offer opportunities for retired experts in your field to exercise their skills or for those with a passing interest in your area to flex their creative skills.  As Jeff Howe described back in 2006, crowdsourcing is how the power of the many can be leveraged to accomplish feats that were once the responsibility of a specialized few (Howe, 2009).  By taking talks traditionally done by whole marketing and public relations firms or departments and outsourcing it through crowdsourcing, you can gain the collective intellectual power of the group. Examples like Doritos “Crash the Superbowl”, Starbucks #WhiteCupContest or Lays “Do Us A Flavor” campaigns and contests provide the foundation for a new way of thinking in strategic communication and marketing.  Organizations that continue doing business the same old way will soon find themselves out of touch with today’s marketplace and consumers. Consumers want to be a part of the process. They want to be heard. Organizations that find a way to accomplish this goal will find loyalty from those consumers who feel invested in their brand.

Sources

Experience, C. (2014, April 22). Starbucks Invites You to Decorate its Iconic White Cup. Retrieved from starbucksnewsroom.com: https://news.starbucks.com/news/starbucks-invites-you-to-decorate-its-iconic-white-cup

Howe, J. (2009). Crowdsourcing:Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business. Crown Business.

Index, B. (2014, October 11). Crowdsourcing campaign appears to boost brand perception for Lay's. Retrieved from forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/sites/brandindex/2014/10/11/crowdsourcing-campaign-appears-to-boost-brand-perception-for-lays/#d57f5675141b

Speir, K. (2016, January 7). 4 EXAMPLES OF CLEVER CROWDSOURCING CAMPAIGNS. Retrieved from mainstreethost.com: http://www.mainstreethost.com/blog/four-examples-of-clever-crowdsourcing-campaigns/

Wharton. (2015, May 13). Cheesy Garlic Bread Chips: Lay’s Lesson in Marketing and Brand Awareness. Retrieved from Wharton School of Business: http://kwhs.wharton.upenn.edu/2015/05/lays-lesson-in-brand-awareness/