Simple strategies for crowd alchemy

Spark a conversation with the right people: Some people don't see the lion in the sidecar. Some people do. Those are the people who will remember it and talk about it. Now imagine a brand is the lion.

Walk the talk: Call it Open Source, Crowd Source, Communal Creativity, the idea is the same. The company Equiposition is looking to the community to share in creating a service for modern marketers. They're looking to answer the quesion: Will the idea of a trust community be flexible enough to encompass the free sharing of ideas to create a company?

The truth shall set you free: There are groups/tribes of people who are either willing to embrace change, yearning to keep things like they were or are unable or unwilling to move because they feel the train may have already left the station. The same groups could have subsets based on integrity. Those willing to change are unafraid to tell the truth about a brand experience. Those who yearn to keep the status quo may be concerned that being honest might invite negative comments, crowd-sourcing might lead to clients running stupid advertising or worse yet cost-effective, intelligent competition. Those who feel they're being left behind may not be sure how to discern integrity in the chaos of the explosion of words around them. The news that Unilever has dropped Lowe in favor of IdeaBounty for ad ideas for Peperami is an exciting public test for where one will pitch their teepee. Especially telling, as always, are the comments. Read more here

Pay it forward: Since the consumer is the new marketing manager, they should be rewarded for raising awareness of a brand. Creating an intelligent conduit for the flow of currency from the brand to the consumer should be part of the new economy. You no longer have to be an ad creative to get paid for sharing your thoughts and ideas with a marketer. It's the democratization of creativity, that's all.

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