The Creative Seed

Not sure I agree with that statement (iPods?).

The ipod is a rare example. One the whole, the mass consumer is a dead paradigm and must be replaced with the unique purchaser. The world and the market place are flat, but w/ in its flatness we have dynamic sales opportunities.

Not sure I agree with that statement (iPods?).

The ipod is a rare example. One the whole, the mass consumer is a dead paradigm and must be replaced with the unique purchaser. The world and the market place are flat, but w/ in its flatness we have dynamic sales opportunities.

Always create a base from which your customers can work from and riff off effectively. Usually this means creating a badass piece of content that allows for remixing.

Exactly. However, as I've found out..."obvious" seldom is.

This one should be a no brainer though.

Stuart, great post and some very interesting thoughts. It is pretty surprising that this model that is pretty standard in the gaming industry hasn't been embraced in other product based marketing models. It seems like most are under the philosophy of "let's make a product, put it out there, and then see what changes we need to make based on everyone's reaction." It only makes sense to do this on a smaller scale prior to the launch and so that you can take care of any issues you can.

Sounds like an obvious choice, but, well, so do a lot of things...

Nice post, Stuart. I am in favour of this approach. I think it works best for new brands and high growth brands, but there are a lot of mature brands/agencies out there that will not know how/be tentative to make this happen.

Question for you: how would you advise clients (agencies/brands) to incorporate this into their process? More importantly, when do you turn it on and how much should be used? I agree that crowdsourcing will play an increased role in the creative process...or as you are suggesting, product development. There are many, many clients and agencies that still do not understand how to integrate social media into campaigns, let alone inject consumers into the mix. This shift will take time before it becomes fundamental to the process. What are your expectations on this?

When I read this, the first thing that came to mind: Hollywood. Millions are spent on movie production from concept to merchandise. Crowdsourcing has long been a part of this process, i.e. screenings for audience testing. It is arguable that the creative process could get squelched based on the testing of a random selection of a target audience/product users. The stories of audience test results changing the course of movie endings, or sending movies to straight to DVD release are abundant.

Movie producers and studios are afraid to take risks based on the monies committed to these projects. If, as you suggested, crowds run with creative, brands need to have clear strategies and understand how to evaluate risks.

Also, I think the inspiring and enticing bit has and always will be part of the creative process. How I read what you are suggesting is that it is now to get people to buy your product/but to play a role in marketing it as well.

Cheers.

Macintosh is a cult company with a cult product base. The iPod was inline with a pre-established idea of simplicity and design.

It was going after early adopters. Everyone else just jumped on to be cool :)

"Nothing can truly be "designed" for the mass market anymore and be considered a success"

Not sure I agree with that statement (iPods?).

I do agree, though, that involving the customer in the process can create more loyal and engaged customers who are probably more likely to share.

Not every business can live in the Long Tail, though.