Marketing has never been more exciting throughout the 15 years of my career as a marketer, thanks to the wide-spread use of Web 2.0, user-generated content and social media.  Marketing professionals can now directly engage with consumers and receive instant feedback on their brand, campaigns and products.

The idea of crowdsourcing is having a revolutionary impact on the communications industry, and has rapidly become an effective way to create content for consumers – let them decide on what they want to see…

For example, Tipp-Ex’s latest digital campaign has raised the bar for ads on YouTube.  By embarking on a choose-your-own-adventure game online, viewers can determine what the hunter should do with the bear.  Views can replace ‘shoot’ with other actions such as ‘hugs’, ‘washes’ or ‘dances with’ by typing in any word that comes to mind.  The choices are unlimited and depend on users’ imagination.

Other offline campaigns are also taking advantage of the crowdsourcing concept, for example, BT has been inviting audiences to vote for the storyline for its ongoing series of above-the-line (TV) commercials.  The result has led to pregnancy of the leading female character.

Unilever has taken an even more radical approach by getting rid of its long-standing ad agency and has since aired a TV ad for Peperami created by the winner of its 1,200-entry crowdsourcing competition.

Social media helps organisations open up their brand, and at the same time encourages consumers to speak up about what they want.  To me, it marks the end of patronising, one-way marketing communications approaches, as consumers continue to demand active participation in what they want and how they want it.

If you are aware of any other interesting crowdsourcing campaigns, feel free to add them to the comments section of the blog.

Written by: Marc Campman,Webjam Director of Marketing