The Pros and Cons of Crowdsourcing in Advertising

The Pros and Cons of Crowdsourcing in AdvertisingThe Pros and Cons of Crowdsourcing in AdvertisingCrowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining services, ideas, or content by soliciting input from a large group of freelancers or crowd rather than from salaried employees. Those who work in advertising or marketing are likely familiar with this term, which was first coined by Jeff Howe of Wired Magazine, as the act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call. Crowdsourcing in Action ?A prime example of crowdsourcing can be seen in the Victors Spoils agency model. It is the first advertising agency to be built on crowdsourcing principles. A typical advertising project for a client may include An account director or account executive A strategy directorA creative directorA production department unterstellung full-time employees work at the advertising agency office with the exception of the creative department. This area is crowdsourced, meaning that every project that comes into the advertising agency is outsourced to the crowd. Putting the Crowd in Crowdsourcing A crowd is a seemingly endless supply of talented freelancers who are prepared to work on any jobs that become available. They include Art directorsCopywritersProducersDesignersWritersStrategists Victors Spoils maintains a large database of creatives, and they will access this database as and when they need work produced. A creative brief is issued to the crowd, the ideas come flooding in, and directions are chosen from the ideas the agency receives. Advantages of Crowdsourcing There are many benefits to adopting crowdsourcing, such as The overhead Is lower You only pay creative people as needed, and only if their ideas are chosen. Also, benefits are not included.The talent pool is large An advertising agency built on crowdsourcing can choose from thousands of available creatives.It allows an agency to expand and contract as needed Agencies that do not use crowdsourcing layoff or rehire creative staff, depending on the economy. However, with crowdsourcing, the creative department grows and shrinks to accommodate each job.The work, theoretically, is fresher You can have different teams working on the same client for years to obtain new ideas, rather than repeatedly tapping a select few and draining the creative well dry. You have access to international talent The geographical barriers no longer exist, as you can team up a writer in India with a designer in Japan, all via cloud computing.Collaboration Great teamwork and collaboration across multiple disciplines, languages, and age ranges. Disadvantages of Crowdsourcing There is also a downside to crowdsourcing that can affect both agencies and freelancers Talent is only paid for chosen ideas This means that dozens, perhaps hundreds, of people are working for free in the hope of having their idea chosen. This devalues creative talent enormously.Other traditional agencies find it difficult to compete Economically, crowdsourcing is highly desirable among agencies. However, it does skew the marketplace in favor of freelance-only geschftliches miteinander models, which could negatively affect creative careers.Below-average wages They fall well below the average salary, for the lucky ones who actually have their ideas chosen. A greater probability of failure Creative departments in the worlds top agencies are staffed with the best minds. The external talent pool that remains is not comprised of top-level talent, as 99% of those are employed. Crowdsourcing, therefore, sacrifices an expensive A-team for a much cheaper B-team.A breakdown of working relationships As creatives change for each project, its difficult to build solid relationships with reliable staff.No accountability With no contracts and low?- or no?- wages, the creative team will always be searching for a be tter deal. Future of Crowdsourcing Because of its money-saving benefits and access to fresh creativity, crowdsourcing will likely continue to be used by some agencies in the industry. However, others may want to weigh the pros and cons to determine if it is a worthwhile strategy to adopt.