Leveraging Bright Ideas
Focused Crowdsourcing
I just read “The Crowd Is Wise (When It’s Focused)”, an article in the New York Times on Open Innovation. The article extensively discusses the Netflix Prize competition, where Netflix offered $1 million to anyone who could improve its movie recommendations system by 10%. Netflix has found a winner but is giving its other contestants a few weeks to triumph the winner. If no one can come up with a better algorithm, the $1m belongs to the AT&T researchers who have been scrupulously working on the project for months.
The Netflix contest has worked so well because, instead of approaching the masses indifferently, it has focused its efforts on key experts in the field.
Along the same vein, we take a thematic approach when it comes to marketing. By taking the themes of our challenges into consideration, we’re better able to pick and identify the right students for solving the challenges.
For example, one of our recent challenges was to propose an efficient fashion market research system for our client, VILLA Inc,. VILLA told us it needed a system which would keep it up-to-date with the constantly and rapidly changing fashion trends among its target market. Sending mass emails to university students did make sense, but targeting fashion / design / merchandise majors was a lot more fruitful. What would have been even better is interacting with these students, organizing sessions with them where they could engage in a dialogue about the competition they’re being asked to take part in.
It takes a little research to find out where your potential participants are. Getting as many heads involved doesn’t necessarily mean you’re sprinkling all the wisdom of crowds on your challenges. Focused efforts place quality over quantity, which is what any company needs to innovate.
Crowdsourcing is not unlike marketing. If you’re looking to sell detergent, you could place expensive 30-second commericals on the top TV channels at primetime. Or, you could send a team of sales people to residential areas in the afternoons to give away samples, flyers and simply talk to your target consumers- the housewives. It’s simple- don’t be redundant, reduce waste coverage.
The Netflix contest has worked so well because, instead of approaching the masses indifferently, it has focused its efforts on key experts in the field.
Along the same vein, we take a thematic approach when it comes to marketing. By taking the themes of our challenges into consideration, we’re better able to pick and identify the right students for solving the challenges.
For example, one of our recent challenges was to propose an efficient fashion market research system for our client, VILLA Inc,. VILLA told us it needed a system which would keep it up-to-date with the constantly and rapidly changing fashion trends among its target market. Sending mass emails to university students did make sense, but targeting fashion / design / merchandise majors was a lot more fruitful. What would have been even better is interacting with these students, organizing sessions with them where they could engage in a dialogue about the competition they’re being asked to take part in.
It takes a little research to find out where your potential participants are. Getting as many heads involved doesn’t necessarily mean you’re sprinkling all the wisdom of crowds on your challenges. Focused efforts place quality over quantity, which is what any company needs to innovate.
Crowdsourcing is not unlike marketing. If you’re looking to sell detergent, you could place expensive 30-second commericals on the top TV channels at primetime. Or, you could send a team of sales people to residential areas in the afternoons to give away samples, flyers and simply talk to your target consumers- the housewives. It’s simple- don’t be redundant, reduce waste coverage.
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