Power to the People: 3 Tasty Crowdsourcing Case Studies
In today’s business environment companies are in constant search of ideas, which, eventually, will help them develop and improve the services and products they offer. Amy-Mae Elliott, author of the article Power to the People: 3 Tasty Crowdsourcing Case Studies, says that “For food and drink brands, crowdsourcing new products and flavors makes perfect sense.” I couldn’t agree more. There are many companies out there, that no longer rely on established ad agencies for creative designs and ideas. On the contrary, they decide to take a collaborative approach and organize contests, stimulating the participation of many people from all around the world. Such contests allow producers to interact with their potential customers and find out about their likes and dislikes. Every single company nowadays strives to achieve higher performance, so the use of customers’ knowledge in this situation is beneficial for the companies’ innovative performance.
Unfortunately, many of the contests nowadays are conducted through the Internet (through sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc). This automatically means that people who don’t have access to social media, won’t be able to participate and share their ideas. I think that this can be a huge disadvantage, because in such contests every single idea matters..
By the way, I participated in such a contest a few months ago. I found about it on Facebook. Lay’s wanted to introduce a new flavor of potato chip, so they were asking people to share their “creative ideas.” By accessing Lay’s special application on Facebook, participants were able to name their favorite flavor and choose what ingredients will go onto it. In exchange for the winning flavor, the user with the best idea receives $1 million or one percent of the chips’ total sales – whichever is higher. I don’t even remember what my flavor was.. but it was good! According to this article Lay’s received over 3.8 million submissions. That’s impressive! However, judges managed to narrow the field down to tree – Cheesy Garlic Bread, Sriracha (a popular Thai hot sauce), and Chicken and Waffles. The last one seems quite interesting and I am definitely looking forward to trying it!
Overall, I think that with the existence of social media, marketing opportunities have never been better! Funding a crowdsourcing contest, for instance, allows consumers to try and help develop new products and services. Moreover, involving users in the product development process will most likely raise the chances that they become customers once the product is released.
Questions:
Have you ever participated in such a contest?
Do you think that social media makes crowdsourcing easier?
Inna Boycheva 
I do not think it would be possible to have crowdsourcing without social media. If these questions or surveys were sent in the mail or by phone, there would be far fewer participants. Social media gives a voice to an opinion. In reference to whether I have participated in any crowdsourcing, I guess I have in a way every time I click on the “like button” on Facebook. I am sure somewhere that these “likes” are being graphed and calculated by someone somewhere. However, officially for a single company, I have not participated in crowdsourcing. If I am asked, I will most likely participate, unless it is for a product or offered by a company that I disapprove of. For instance, McDonalds or energy drinks.
That’s a really good point ( about the “likes” on Facebook ). I’ve never thought about this, but now when I actually think about it, it makes sense. I am pretty sure that somewhere these likes are being calculated. While I was still in Bulgaria, I opened the Ramapo College Page in Facebook one day, and clicked on “who likes this” (or something like that).. I remember that there was a graph and I was able to see all the people from Bulgaria who have ever liked this page, and also the cities they were coming from. I think that this is pretty similar to the thing you were talking about.
By the way, may I ask you why did you use these specific examples – McDonalds and energy drinks?
I used the examples McDonalds and energy drinks because these are two types of products that I will not support or help in any way. First, for heath reasons, companies like McDonalds have contributed to obesity and diabetes in this country. Fast food restaurants, such as McDonalds and others, support factory farming of animals, which is a major concern for me. Energy drinks such as Monster and Red Bull can kill, and should be taken off the market. I am very passionate about food sources. The more people know, the better change we have of making changes for future generations.