Labels:
For a term which has attracted much criticism and critique, since it was first coined in 2006, crowdsourcing is increasingly being thrown around in the corporate world.
I recently read that Unilever announced “crowdsourcing success” through its drive to generate short commercial films for 13 Unilever brands (read the article here).
Prior to this I read that MIT and the Climate CoLab have created a crowdsourcing contest asking for ideas that will shape an international climate agreement (read this one here).
But the story that has caused the most controversy and has certainly kept my attention in the last few days is of course, that infamous Gap logo “cock-up” (so they say).
Marka Hansen, president of Gap brand North America, in a recent press release, said:
“At Gap brand, our customers have always come first. We’ve been listening to and watching all of the comments this past week. We heard them say over and over again they are passionate about our blue box logo, and they want it back. So we’ve made the decision to do just that – we will bring it back across all channels.”
Shock, horror! Not really, and I think you’ll agree with me that was a good move, right?
Gap recognized that they did not go about their branding project in the right way by missing the opportunity to engage with the online community throughout the process. All credit to them, they did learn from their mistakes. Consequently they scrapped the new logo and are now probably going back to the drawing board.
My point is, all these stories are referring to crowdsourcing but really all that is happening here is crowd ‘listening’. With ever-growing innovative social media interactions taking place in the corporate world, companies are starting to really understand the importance of ‘listening’ in on conversations about their brand. Consequently those that are not will be left behind. Imagine if Gap just launched their logo and didn’t bother to see what people were saying about it on Twitter and Facebook?
A lot of people are put off when you use the term crowdsourcing, they associate it with something which will take a lot of time and resources to organize and manage. In reality there are many automated tools out there that will do the hard work for you. Tools that will help you to keep an eye out on what others are saying about you and your brand online. Remember these conversations are happening right now whether good or bad. Turning a blind eye is not the solution to any problem.
Everyone these days wants to be a part of the social media buzz. You probably already have a presence in the social media world. But how well are you listening, engaging and participating in the buzz?
I recently read that Unilever announced “crowdsourcing success” through its drive to generate short commercial films for 13 Unilever brands (read the article here).
Prior to this I read that MIT and the Climate CoLab have created a crowdsourcing contest asking for ideas that will shape an international climate agreement (read this one here).
But the story that has caused the most controversy and has certainly kept my attention in the last few days is of course, that infamous Gap logo “cock-up” (so they say).
Marka Hansen, president of Gap brand North America, in a recent press release, said:
“At Gap brand, our customers have always come first. We’ve been listening to and watching all of the comments this past week. We heard them say over and over again they are passionate about our blue box logo, and they want it back. So we’ve made the decision to do just that – we will bring it back across all channels.”
Shock, horror! Not really, and I think you’ll agree with me that was a good move, right?
Gap recognized that they did not go about their branding project in the right way by missing the opportunity to engage with the online community throughout the process. All credit to them, they did learn from their mistakes. Consequently they scrapped the new logo and are now probably going back to the drawing board.
My point is, all these stories are referring to crowdsourcing but really all that is happening here is crowd ‘listening’. With ever-growing innovative social media interactions taking place in the corporate world, companies are starting to really understand the importance of ‘listening’ in on conversations about their brand. Consequently those that are not will be left behind. Imagine if Gap just launched their logo and didn’t bother to see what people were saying about it on Twitter and Facebook?
A lot of people are put off when you use the term crowdsourcing, they associate it with something which will take a lot of time and resources to organize and manage. In reality there are many automated tools out there that will do the hard work for you. Tools that will help you to keep an eye out on what others are saying about you and your brand online. Remember these conversations are happening right now whether good or bad. Turning a blind eye is not the solution to any problem.
Everyone these days wants to be a part of the social media buzz. You probably already have a presence in the social media world. But how well are you listening, engaging and participating in the buzz?
view / Add
,
comments(0)
Post by Josh van den Borst
If we ever doubted just how powerful a tool Social Media can be, then I would like to draw your attention to a brilliant story.
This weekend, I play host to a couple of guys I know from back in New Zealand looking for a place to crash for a couple of nights. While this may sound like a familiar scenario for loads of other people trying in London this weekend – this is a tale of two plucky young Kiwis who put their law careers on hold to play golf every day for a year while travelling the world and raising money for The First Tee in New Zealand.
This all started late one night when Michael Goldstein, Jamie Patton and a bunch of their mates were talking crazy stuff. The idea was tossed out of playing golf every day for a year at a different golf club. Call it fate or just time for an adventure, this weekend they find themselves in my lounge on track to complete quite a remarkable achievement.
Their trip so far has taken them throughout New Zealand, Australia, USA, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and now England. Next week they will be in Holland before moving onto France, Germany, Belgium, back to Scotland before heading throughout Asia, all to be back in time for good old fashioned Kiwi BBQ on New Years Eve 2010.
It's been a bit of a whirlwind for Michael and Jamie, after teeing it up at Riviera Country Club with a legend -- Doors guitarist Robbie Krieger, borrowing Ben Crenshaw’s (a living legend in golfing circles) locker at Bel Air Country Club, hitting balls on the range next to Pete Sampras and seeing Dr. Phil tee off, they were at last week’s Ryder Cup, as spectators and special guests of Tiger Woods’s caddy, fellow New Zealander Steve Williams. They've accepted random acts of kindness from friends or those friends of friends they've met. Take last night, they were all set to spend another night sleeping in a car in Basingstoke when a member of the course they had just played that day reached out and offered them a room. He had heard their story from a friend.
And their story hasn’t been advertised, they don’t beg – they just harness the power of Twitter, Facebook, daily blogs waiting for people to make contact with them, and they do. People have picked up lunch, dinner and those hefty green fees. They've stayed with an estimated 80 or 90 families since they started. All of which is making this sometimes wing-and-a-prayer tour possible
And how do I relate this back to the world of corporate communications? I believe their story has been picked up by so many people because its compelling, its different and put simply, people are interested in what they are doing. They aren’t raising money for charity by selling sausages, running raffles or shaving their heads. They took a chance, dared to be different and go out on a limb – and people have noticed.
And that is the lesson.
Follow their progress here – www.puregolf2010.com
If we ever doubted just how powerful a tool Social Media can be, then I would like to draw your attention to a brilliant story.
This weekend, I play host to a couple of guys I know from back in New Zealand looking for a place to crash for a couple of nights. While this may sound like a familiar scenario for loads of other people trying in London this weekend – this is a tale of two plucky young Kiwis who put their law careers on hold to play golf every day for a year while travelling the world and raising money for The First Tee in New Zealand.
This all started late one night when Michael Goldstein, Jamie Patton and a bunch of their mates were talking crazy stuff. The idea was tossed out of playing golf every day for a year at a different golf club. Call it fate or just time for an adventure, this weekend they find themselves in my lounge on track to complete quite a remarkable achievement.
Their trip so far has taken them throughout New Zealand, Australia, USA, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and now England. Next week they will be in Holland before moving onto France, Germany, Belgium, back to Scotland before heading throughout Asia, all to be back in time for good old fashioned Kiwi BBQ on New Years Eve 2010.
It's been a bit of a whirlwind for Michael and Jamie, after teeing it up at Riviera Country Club with a legend -- Doors guitarist Robbie Krieger, borrowing Ben Crenshaw’s (a living legend in golfing circles) locker at Bel Air Country Club, hitting balls on the range next to Pete Sampras and seeing Dr. Phil tee off, they were at last week’s Ryder Cup, as spectators and special guests of Tiger Woods’s caddy, fellow New Zealander Steve Williams. They've accepted random acts of kindness from friends or those friends of friends they've met. Take last night, they were all set to spend another night sleeping in a car in Basingstoke when a member of the course they had just played that day reached out and offered them a room. He had heard their story from a friend.
And their story hasn’t been advertised, they don’t beg – they just harness the power of Twitter, Facebook, daily blogs waiting for people to make contact with them, and they do. People have picked up lunch, dinner and those hefty green fees. They've stayed with an estimated 80 or 90 families since they started. All of which is making this sometimes wing-and-a-prayer tour possible
And how do I relate this back to the world of corporate communications? I believe their story has been picked up by so many people because its compelling, its different and put simply, people are interested in what they are doing. They aren’t raising money for charity by selling sausages, running raffles or shaving their heads. They took a chance, dared to be different and go out on a limb – and people have noticed.
And that is the lesson.
Follow their progress here – www.puregolf2010.com
Labels:
Twitter is planning to release a real time analytics dashboard, according to a number of online sources today.
The idea is to show users how people are interacting with their tweets e.g. which tweets are spreading, who are influential in their network etc.
Yes there are already numerous online tools that do this, but there are three main differences here. Firstly, it’s free, secondly it’s Twitter branded (let’s face it who would you truest more?) and thirdly it’s all in real-time. Basically that means results will be updated live in front of your eyes without the need to press a submit button, refresh the page etc. (Surprisingly I couldn’t find a definition in Wikipedia of real-time.)
This alongside the recent Google Instant is proof of a new emerging trend toward an instant and real-time online world. Users will begin to be more and more impatient expecting faster and instant user experiences online.
We’re keeping our eyes peeled, exciting times!
@V3nnyG
The idea is to show users how people are interacting with their tweets e.g. which tweets are spreading, who are influential in their network etc.
Yes there are already numerous online tools that do this, but there are three main differences here. Firstly, it’s free, secondly it’s Twitter branded (let’s face it who would you truest more?) and thirdly it’s all in real-time. Basically that means results will be updated live in front of your eyes without the need to press a submit button, refresh the page etc. (Surprisingly I couldn’t find a definition in Wikipedia of real-time.)
This alongside the recent Google Instant is proof of a new emerging trend toward an instant and real-time online world. Users will begin to be more and more impatient expecting faster and instant user experiences online.
We’re keeping our eyes peeled, exciting times!
@V3nnyG
