Crowdsourcing, like innovation, is a term both heavy with meaning and shrouded in ambiguity. Knowing the general stuff — like that it’s somehow connected to business or that it has something to do with ideas — isn’t enough to use crowdsourcing as a strategy. But that’s what’s necessary in current markets, where competitive companies need to constantly adapt, evolve, and investigate opportunities to get ahead of emerging trends.
In-Depth Insights
The State of Crowdsourcing in 2015, a report developed by global creative community Eyeka, analyzes corporate crowdsourcing trends from the early 2000s through today, exposing valuable insights into how the practice is successfully used in business innovation. Some findings from the report:
- 85% of the 2014 Best Global Brands have used crowdsourcing in the last ten years.
- The Best Global Brands are three times more likely to use crowdsourcing platforms than websites and social media for their crowdsourcing efforts.
- Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) giants increased investment by 48% in 2014 compared to 2013.
- The most crowdsourced type of content by the Best Global Brands is video content (45% of all initiatives in 2014) followed by ideas (22% of all initiatives in 2014).
Crowdsourcing Companies: A Practice in Innovation
According to this in-depth research, crowdsourced innovation is the key differentiator for internationally dominant brands, including giants like Procter & Gamble, Nestle, and the Coca Cola Company. They cite one especially telling example of a major company’s crowdsourcing efforts and how they changed the face of engagement and innovation across the organization.
"'La Fonderie Unilever s'appuie sur beaucoup de travail que nous avons déjà fait - et que nous continuerons à faire - pour nous engager auprès des startups,' a expliqué Marc Mathieu, Global SVP of Marketing, dans une interview avec Rafe Ring pour Campaign Asia. Nous avons travaillé en étroite collaboration avec les eYeka et les Mofilm de ce monde [et] la Fonderie Unilever s'inspire de ces "expériences" pour en faire une méthode de travail permanente. La Fonderie Unilever fait désormais office de hub central pour accueillir tous les briefs de crowdsourcing de l'entreprise, avec pour objectif de mieux organiser l'activité externalisée comme engagement pour un marketing plus efficace. En février 2015, Unilever a annoncé qu'il cherchait à décupler l'utilisation des innovations crowdsourcées au niveau mondial d'ici 2020."
For the complete report, click here.
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