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I'm on record as supporting crowdsourcing as a solution to branding, though I tend to rant a bit about the ways in which people are trying to get the job done.
Stokefire tried an experiment with naming and crowdsourcing and got pretty horrid results from the activity about a year ago. A relatively new site called NameThis.com is gaining some notoriety as a source for cheap names. Using the crowdsourcing model a creative brief is given and some basic guidelines provided so that creatives can submit ideas. Someone then goes through and evaluates the ideas based on the original criteria and the winner and runners up are given a small cash payout. They also reward reviewers for accurately identifying top candidates. How do they do it? Some proprietary programming and hidden math. Yay Math! So, do we at Stokefire think this is the most awful, unethical, evil thing ever to happen to naming? No. Do we find it threatening? Hell yes. In its current format the solution isn't very compelling and we can position ourselves effectively against it using the same tired arguments everyone uses against crowdsourcing, but eventually the technology will be there to make this sort of solution really work. What happens when you start getting award-winning authors, big-name strategists, and perhaps even entire branding firms putting ideas on the system? What happens when a system is put in place that trains creatives and art directors and clients in how to get a brilliant brand? What happens? The current model for branding will die a painful death. That's what we find threatening. But it's a good threat. It shows that the creative industry is trying to adapt and grow. Designers seem to be the folks that are most dead-set against crowdsourcing. Many have told me that I can't possibly understand until my industry is invaded by the 'cancer.' Well, that's happened. Stokefire is still breathing and adapting. We're even trying to find ways to help crowdsourcing to evolve so that it answers the concerns of clients and designers. What's the point in pointing out the lack of effectiveness and that sitting on the sidelines as someone else comes along and solves all the problems? Namethis.com has huge inadequacies, but someone is going to solve them. Same with crowdSPRING. And every other system that leverages the power of crowds. Imagine a system where the very best designers are creating teams on the fly to do groundbreaking work. Screw all this popularity contest voting. Imagine a solution where designs are evaluated by their ability to add value to a brand, where reviewers are given incentives to not just rate ideas, but to help the designers improve on execution as well. Where the concerns being raised today are all resolved. Fraud? Addressed. Too many participants? Addressed? Spec work? Addressed. Client interaction? Addressed. It can happen. I may be stoned on caffeine, but I think I can just make out the world that will follow the agency model. It's a world where you can be guaranteed to get the right creatives on your project because there aren't walls and doors between agencies anymore. It's a world where great ideas can be identified and brought forward whether they were developed by a high-school sophomore or forty-year design veteran. I want that world to be here. Just thinking about it gets my pulse rate up. It will be incredibly painful for most professionals working in the creative space as it comes into being, but once it is here it has the potential to create the next renaissance. Do I want Namethis.com to go away? Nope. I want more of them. I want to be a part of the team that looks at the gap between what they're doing now and where they need to be and helps 'em get over. I challenge creatives to give me a single argument about why crowdsourcing can't work. I will go out on a limb and say that no matter what your single issue is I can come up with a solution that addresses your concern. (I may create entirely new problems in the process, but that's an issue for another day.) So, let's hear it. Tell me why it won't work or what isn't fair and I'll show you why it will or how to make it so. Or I'll do my best, anyhow. Bring it. |
