A great structure for co-creation

If you come and read here occasionally you would probably have seen my love of co-creation and the idea of bring the consumer into the development process. Via @Armano twitter feed he tweeted a great link from a management consultancy in Amsterdam called Fronteer Strategy which is a whitepaper delivering a great structure on how to make it happend. Here is a little summary ....

The four types of co-creation

• Club of experts: A very specific challenge is needing expertise and breakthrough ideas. Contributors are found through a selection process. Quality of input is what counts (e.g. Nokia)
• Crowd of people: Also known as Crowdsourcing. For any given challenge, there might be a person out there having a genial idea that should be given a podium. It’s the Rule of the big numbers (e.g.Threadless)
• Coalition of parties: In complex situations parties team up to share ideas and investments. Technical breakthroughs and standards often happen when multiple parties collaborate (e.g. IBM)
• Community of kindred spirits: When developing something for the greater good, a group of people with similar interests and goals can come together and create (e.g. Linux)

The five guiding principles in co-creation

• Inspire participation: Trigger people to join your challenge: open up and show what’s in it for them (e.g. P&G Connect & Develop)
• Select the very best: You need the best ideas and the best people to deal with today’s complex issues (e.g. Innocentive)
• Connect creative minds: You have to enable bright people to build on each others ideas, both on- and off-line (e.g. Lego)
• Share results: Giving back to people - and finding the right way to do it - is crucial (e.g. Apple iPhone App store)
• Continue development: Co-creation is a longer-term engagement, in- and outside your company. Only then it will deliver results (e.g. Dell Ideastorm)

They also have a more comprehensive whitepaper on the subject which is awesome.

I have recently been talking with an old school mate who works at PWC. I am finding it interesting the different way we address things. If a management consultant says its alright, it must be. If anything they have created a great intangible by understanding the tangible. He often talks about going into companies and saying what everyone has been saying, but they dont want to take the blame so they hire consultants to do it for them.

My view is if they believe there is something in co-creation. Maybe our clients will have a little bit more trust in the marketing guys using it.