Nice bit of crowdsourcing in Aus

When I worked in Australia we used to try and sell to our international clients that Australia was a great place for a test bed on ideas. Its cheap, regulation is a lot lighter than other markets and we are a bit more random. I know I pulled off a few ideas that wouldnt have happened in other markets which then went on to be launched by the brands elsewhere. I think its an interesting thing to look at especially now as I have started working with markets that are cheaper and arent as heavily regulated. But its great to see even the local brands still being quite experimental. Here is a cool crowdsourcing idea for a local beer brand using some well known talent.

Adapt and crowdsourcing wont cut agencies out

webman's fridgee art (by noa), originally uploaded by yuvalgo303.

So there is a lot of talk about crowdsourcing at the moment and how it will cut out the agency in the future. Particularly in the UK with Unilever saying it is going to crowdsource the TV ad for pepperami. I read the awesome Jeremy Bullmore's response in last week's campaign. Go and check it out but here is my view point.

Agencies are often seen or say they are the brand custodians. So you would have to argue in this situation it hasnt changed. Ideas that are half baked are great. But would a client want your little boy or girls drawing that sits on the fridge at home to be the centre of their campaign. How will your client choose between your son and your daughter or even the kid around the corner. What about the difference between your child and the adult who made up their idea on photoshop. What about the difference between publicising your creative team to the Sun for their great idea or publicising a 17 year old who is smack bam in the middle of your target audience. If their idea is a simple concept uploaded onto a website who is going to make it happen.

I think you see where I am going with this. The interesting thing I find is that agencies collaborate with creative talent everyday. Producers, directors, photographers, animators etc. Why should the crowd be any different. Im seeing behind the scenes videos of little jonny's day at the big creative agency making his ad. Meeting hot models at the casting. Chatting with the cute TV Producers (agency producers are usually hot) going out for lunch at the Ivy with the MD etc. So all I ask is dont jump to conclusions but dont run at the idea straight away either. Remember to ask yourself some simple questions.

1. What is the strategic direction for my brand
2. How do I want my brand to behave
3. What is still... the insight for my audience
4. Do they want to get involved with my brand...
5. Is crowdsourcing the way to get my audience involved with the brand
6. Is there other ways
7. Whats the value of their idea outside just a TV or press ad
8. How can we use the crowd once we have picked a winner
   

Im sure there are plenty of others. But here are a few simple ones to start off with that I think we often overlook. For peperami going through the questions makes the idea of crowdsourcing seem like a good one. Especially in the world of Idol and XFactor. I can even see the 'ones that didnt make it' special on E4 on sunday afternoon with Steve Jones now (sorry non UK people).

What worries me is Unilever's view to get rid of roster agencies as they believe its a sustainable way to create activity for the future. Making ads is one thing. Taking your brand into the future is another. It is a similar argument thats happened for years on taking creative in house. I saw this happen once on a bank in Australia. It lasted about 18 months before they realised they were functional, boring and had no creativity at all. So they broke up the internal agency and hired an agency once again. Agencies have value, its just not black and white. We all need to constantly need to adapt to the environment to show it to clients.

So bring on the crowsourcing... if it fits the bill. Agencies dont be afraid. Adapt to more of a brand custodian role and brave out the new shiny thing that every one is staring at. For years everyone has been stating that agencies need to get away from making money from producing and more about selling thinking.... the crowd might force it to happen like everything else its has.

Great New Coffee Shop: Wilton's Coffee Bar

Wilton's Coffee Bar, originally uploaded by ^Tom.

So there is a great new coffee shop at the back of Londonfields. They have done a great bit of marketing with a radio station in the shop window. But the design of the place is what really stands out. Its actually quite small but they use the space in such a good way.. with little tables that come out from under the benches on wheels.
I think every cafe or restaurant works by how the room or rooms flow with traffic. This plays is great and how people and workers flow through the place. Check it out

Great quote from Russell Davies

' All this web stuff is going to look like a picnic compared to the horrors that will that will be delt to the agency and the media business when every product has a communications channel built right in' Russell Davies

This is an awesome quote from Russell Davies that I got from this great presentation from Neil Perkin.

Hilarious Idea from Australia... taps into Male insight

This is a great ideafrom a pie company in Australia. Great insight and an awesome little idea to make it happen

I love Rory Sutherland... tinkering with perception

I have been waiting for this video to be uploaded as I knew it would be great. He is hugely entertaining but has an ever adapting mind which continues to have a very central core, but can adapt to whats going on around him at the lightening speed in which we now live. He doesnt talk about social media, he gets involved.

In this video he demonstrates some fantastic ways of reframing things around people's perception. Which I dont think we often do enough of in terms of what we do with clients and their brands. I love his quote ' persuasion is often better than compulsion'... briliant

He also comments that 'changing the interface by which people make decisions and the vary nature of their decisions changes'.

I think people always think of the word interface as being for technology or the internet. But his comments see it in a much simplier human behavioural way, that could then be turned into a technology advantage for someone. As an interface is actually a boundary between two things. So how can we start to cut down that boundary

But lastly his use of the meaning of poetry... almost as an objective for the industry

'Poetry is when you make new things familiar, and familiar things new'

watch the video... his delivery is great. Also as the President of the IPA acts as a great advocate to people outside the industry.

How to you really sell ideas outside of your speciality

bp. Photobooth Walkthrough from Zeus Jones on Vimeo.

How many times have you seen an idea pop up that you had. Please see the video attached. I had this one in the very early stages of digital photography with a client around 6 years ago. It was as simple as girls take photos in the outfit and print them out. (client look after cameras and photo printers).
We also had the exact same idea about three months ago for another entertainment client.
But there truth is we never made them happen.

I have always been interested in selling ideas, making them happen and understanding who does what. What if you are a PR agency and you come up with the most interesting online technology idea. But the client looks at you funny because thats the digital agency's job. So it helps lead to the question

How do you really sell thinking outside your speciality ?

There is a lot of of back and forth at the moment on what the role of strategy people are from different business types. To who is a creative, to who should control the brand. But in theory a good idea should be a good idea. But it never seems to work that way. Which sux

Can you get an iPhone on the GiffGaff

It seems that O2 has looked to create a new sim only phone network that is completely built by the people. Its an interesting take on crowdsourcing. The guys at albion and zenithopti are helping them take it to market. Sounds cool. I will have to keep an eye on it.

Compare the Meerkat Casestudy

Social Media As A Team Player Comparethemarket Com Case Study

View more documents from mickstravellin.

I am a huge fan of Amelia's campaign of comparethemeerkat over at VCCP. I have written about it on here before as an interesting example of mixing online and offline to help bring human qualities to brands. Here is the actual casestudy on the campaign.

Short Cuts to getting ideas

Book Worm, originally uploaded by boopsie.daisy.

I read an interesting article in contagious this quarter about some quick cheats on how to break the mold a little bit. Some of these you probably do naturally but to aid in getting teams and groups of people or even more junior people to break convention. I think these are a great place to start.

Reverse Engineering:
This is about getting to the end result and working backwards. I quitelike this way and it can be a great way to present things. I know the creative agency Krow tend to work in this way with their clients

Sabotage / Reducation:
Instead of adding something new which is the standard way to create an idea you. You in fact eliminate something to make people realise its true value. Crispins in the US have used this a bit with the Whopper Sacrifice and Whopper Freakout.

Fight for a Cause
Im starting to love this one. Brands having a notable cause that relates to their brand positioning is awesome. But on a slightly more superficial level creating a cause like Doritos 'Bring back the Slow Dance' in Argentina which tapped into the growth of social networking but boys fear of getting close to girls in real life... needed an instigator. It is also great to make the audience feel apart of something greater than themselves which is an important trend to address at the moment.

Creative use of the problem:
Making the problem the highlight is always interesting. I think one of the standout examples of this was Guiness's 'Worth Waiting for' tagline a few years ago. But they also talk about Queensland Tourism's 'Best Job in the World' playing on the lack of holidays due to fear of actually losing your job.

It was written by a company in Tel Aviv called mindscapes which works with agencies to help create more specific processes around creativity.