club catalyst. Getting many to think for one

Have you ever pondered over the origin of the new rupee symbol? It was not an output of some great creative geniuses but the creation of D Udaya Kumar — a Bachelor of Architecture and visual design student at the Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay, and currently an associate professor at IIT Guwahati.

Welcome to the world of crowdsourcing — the practice of tapping the collective intelligence of a large group of people to generate creative ideas for business. From companies to government institutions to marketing agencies, everyone has woken up to the power of the ‘crowd’.

Crowdsourcing is a unique platform to engage with the large consumer base and ensure relevance to the evolving needs of the consumer. In today’s world, calling for crowdsourced ideas and opinions has also emerged as a valuable and enhanced resource for brands and businesses. Brands that choose crowdsourcing as a tool are clearly letting their consumers know that their opinion matters and that their choices are intrinsic to the business. It also gives a sense of ownership to the consumers as we have seen in the past, with some really strong crowdsourcing plans. Such campaigns successfully help break the clutter, thanks to a generation of maverick, disruptive and innovative youth.

While crowdsourcing has been labelled the new ‘it’, the truth is, it has been doing the rounds for years now. Remember, ‘Gattu’, the Asian paints mascot? The name was crowdsourced and chosen from over 40,000 entries, way back in the 1950s. So why the sudden buzz around crowdsourcing? How is it suddenly so powerful?

The answer is simple — social media and the ways and means that it empowers today’s youth and brands to stay forever connected. For a generation that is creatively inspired and constantly looking for new experiences and challenges, crowdsourcing, coupled with social media, is just the right platform to be seen and heard. Brands around the world are stepping it up through collaborative innovations, especially on digital platforms, to create a sense of disruption that’s soon becoming the ‘norm’.

Pepsi as a brand empowers original creativity and stands for the young consumers making their own mark. As a youth brand, we are always looking to raise the bar in terms of consumer engagement.

Through our latest ‘Crash the Pepsi IPL’ campaign, we aim to uncork the creativity in youth today, and give them a ‘dream’ platform to come into their own. All you have to do is to make a 30-second Pepsi ad, show your love for the brand, and send it to us. By way of a jury process, we select winners and telecast their commercials on national television during the course of the Pepsi IPL.

The responses and entries that we have received exceed all expectations, just going to reiterate the fact that the ‘crowd’ is the ‘brain’.

At Pepsi, we strongly believe that today’s generation are a bunch of risk-takers and are not hesitant to explore newer opportunities. Our association with the Pepsi MTV Indies — which offers a platform to a new class of independent music creators — and with the YouTube Fan Festival this year, is also testament to our strong belief that ideas are abundant among the Gen Z. Brands are mere enablers to mobilise this collective intellect, raising a new breed of creative geniuses.

One caveat that marketers need to keep in mind is that while it is a great tool, crowdsourcing needs to be part of a consistent and thought-out marketing approach, rather than a one-off consumer engagement.

Crowdsourcing is not merely a source of information but much more than that. It is an opportunity to connect with your audiences and be the co-owners of the brand — feeling, speaking and expressing the brand’s language. It also can be a great eye-opener for brand managers as it shows us the brand from the eyes of our main stakeholders — the consumers. And the more that we co-create our brand with our customers, the stronger our brand will be.

Crowdsourcing is a mindset, and marketers need to constantly think about what the outcome should be, how they will curate the content and what they will do with it. While the full potential of crowdsourcing has yet to be tapped, as it is still relatively nascent in India, it is certainly a sea of opportunities for brands that are willing to collaborate and dialogue with youth.

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