In November, we covered the importance of extreme customers in brand communities. Today, we’re diving into the power of the crowd and looking at brands that have successfully used crowdsourcing to drive campaigns.
In 2009, Crowdly CEO Dan Sullivan founded a company called Appswell on the premise that involving potential users in the development process of an app will help ensure an app’s success. It was built on the idea that fans who feel an emotional connection with an app will lead to a sense of investment and support of the end product. That concept eventually led to the core of Crowdly’s values, that investing in community is the best way to grow a product or brand.
Many brands have integrated the power of their fans into major campaigns. Doritos, Pepsi and Pizza Hut all used crowdsourcing as the cornerstone of their Super Bowl XLVII advertising. Frito-Lay ran its second ‘Do Us A Flavor’ campaign and once again saw high engagement and success. And La Crema showed that wine is truly a social beverage by bringing its customers along for the winemaking process with its ‘Virtual Vitner’ program. Each brand used crowdsourcing as a means to engage its existing customers and find new consumers interested in collaborating with the creation of a product or experience. Here are ten examples of campaigns crowdsourced to perfection.
- Lay’s Potato Chips – Lay’s looked to its fans to come up with a new flavor of its popular potato chip. After over 16 million worldwide submissions, the brand handed the million dollar U.S. prize to Kettle Cooked Wasabi Ginger this October.
- La Crema – The ‘Virtual Vitner’ program at Jackson Family Wines’ La Crema brand allowed customers to make their own brand of wine. Fans voted on everything from barrel type to logo design and will have the ability to purchase 500 cases of their labor of love in 2015.
- Fisher-Price – Wanting to develop toy characters that better reflect a child’s diverse community, Fisher-Price looked to its social channels to develop two new characters for its Little People toy line. The Mattel-owned toy manufacturer saw a bump in engagement and loyalty during the four week campaign and in the process saved $40,000 on development costs.
- Patagonia – Outdoor retailer Patagonia encouraged its customers to take action during the midterm election by launching a crowd-sourced art campaign. The Vote the Environment Design Project asked artists and designers to submit designs that ultimately would end up on buttons, sticker and t-shirts across Patagonia’s retail channels, with 100% of the profits going to the Creative Action Network, HeadCount or the artists themselves.
- Starbucks – The “My Starbucks Idea” site is a way for the coffee powerhouse to build a steady stream of ideas from its large community of fans. Anyone with a Starbucks.com account can submit thier thoughts on everything from a preferred sandwich to new business practices. It has been successfully operating since 2008
- Coca-Cola – With its “Where Will Happiness Strike Next?” film series, Coca-Cola turned to its customers to own the process from beginning to end. From location to concept selection, the fans truly owned the entire campaign and “Smile Back” was created.
- Harley- Davidson – Harley has used crowdsourcing in a variety of ways, but Project Rushmore may be its crown jewel. Over a three year period, the motorcycle manufacturer asked its riders what they wanted from the next generation of bikes. When it was ready to unveil the new bikes, it asked its customer to weigh-in on the music and star in the TV spot.
- Lego – Lego created an entire site called Lego Ideas, where fans can submit their designs for new products. Thus far, crowdsourced toys include the Ghostbusters Cadillac ambulance and the DeLorean Time Machine.
- Taco Bell – To incentivize trial of its new Doritos Locos Taco, fiery Taco Bell called upon 65 YouTube influencers they met at the VidCon conference to create a series of video ads promoting the launch.
- Nissan – Looking to build the ultimate off-road truck, Nissan started Project Titan. The auto-maker teamed up with The Wounded Warrior Project and its Facebook fans to collaborate on a version of its popular Titan pickup to drive two Iraq war vets on an adventure in the Alaskan Wilderness.
Seeing a marketing campaign shape from inception to execution can be a tedious journey through many different sides of the business. The fortitude to bring customers along on that journey is one that can result in increased trust, loyalty and ensured support for new product lines in addition to increased engagement across digital channels. Crowdsourcing shouldn’t be used in lieu of a marketing strategy, but as an important asset within it.
Listen to your fans. Create products they want to use. Inspire advocacy.