Crowdsourcing: the new nirvana?

It’s been around for years, in one shape or another, but the proliferation of smart mobiles has really given crowdsourcing a boost.

It’s massive around the world – especially in China and India – but even in the West it is becoming seen as a legitimate way to raise money, gain insight and achieve the many other things asked of it.

The Occupy movement crowdsourced its logo design and got 7897 designs! Kickstarter was used to raise £1.24m in under a day to help finance Rob Thomas’s film ‘Veronica Mars’. My StarbucksIdea has received nearly 130,000 ideas since its launch in 2008. And in 2010 Gap abandoned their new logo design and returned to their original as a result of crowdsourcing.

Our old clients and friends at www.toluna.com have been right at the front of the development of crowdsourcing online, and the whole research and insight industry has had to embrace their techniques.

There are plenty of detractors though, who feel that brands are sidestepping the traditional route of appointing (and paying for) consultants who can source the data, do the design, come up with the ideas, capital etc.

But as long as it provides a free route to large numbers of people, crowdsourcing will continue to grow as people ‘do it for themselves’.

A definite ‘nirvana’ for the cash-strapped or for people looking for, or with, great ideas!