Are social media and crowdsourcing the future of creative marketing?

Again and again we see examples of crowdsourcing being discussed in the media, as well as examinations of the future of such practices within the sphere of marketing.

Not too long ago, in a galaxy not at all far away, a little thing called “social media” surfaced in the Internet world, which had the potential to radically reshape the worlds of marketing, advertising and business in general. When key marketing personnel the galaxy over caught wind of this, the clever ones opted to leverage these new and exciting tools to create new campaigns, centered around these new rules; no longer was marketing limited to a one-way push paradigm.

Particularly social media had allowed the genetic make-up of business to evolve into a hyper-transparent infrastructure whereby the marketing process became one which was increasingly isolated from the control of organizations, and put into the hands of the multitudes.

Fast-forward to 2011, where numerous crowd-centric campaigns have proved a winning formula, and the mass of ‘resource-conscious’ brands who still entrust traditional big name agency creative departments with their campaigns find themselves imploring these dinosaurs to ‘do more with less.’

Crowd-dependent and social media-centric campaigns have superior potential to spawn great creative ideas: because these efforts are less constricted by resource limitations. Creatives who work under the watch of large organizations, who are often pressed to pump out ideas at a mechanical pace, can often find their spur of the moment brilliance compromised by deadlines and contract stipulations.

As has been previously discussed by blur Group, in an article written on my birthday of this year, the future looks good for creativity sourced from crowds. Whilst the heads of big agencies often unjustly dismiss crowdsourcing as a ‘flight of fancy,’ the rationale and concepts behind it have profound implications for the future of marketing. The idea of Crowdsourcing 2.0 purports that there is potential for efficiency in creative work being sourced from places aside from the traditional ad agency creative floor.

Consumers know what they want, and arguably have the inherent ability to ‘market’ to themselves. Ideas come from nowhere – you do not need to be a certified ‘creative’ with a pretty portfolio to stumble upon something brilliant.  Throughout history, some of the dimmest people have unknowingly come up with the most brilliant marketing shticks; just look at The Ramones or Bubba Gump Shrimp©.

Granted, crowdsourcing initiatives easily lack focus. Often these opportunities are exploited by bored satirists who use it for their own aims, as in the case of the ‘remixed’ content all over YouTube resulting from “make your own commercial” campaigns. The viral effect of such misuse of resources, however, does nothing to harm the brand, but rather arguably attracts further free publicity to the product being marketed.

All in all, if properly understood and utilized, crowdsourcing can prove a winning formula.

If you’re interested in leveraging communities of professionals for your own creative needs, submit a brief to the Creative Services Exchange and get started today.

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