I am happy to share the “The State of Crowdsourcing in 2015” trend report (“How the world’s biggest brands and companies are opening up to consumer creativity“) with you, which we wrote in collaborative spirit with François Pétavy (CEO of eYeka) and Joël Céré (Insights & Innovation Solutions Director at eYeka). For the first time since the beginning of the crowdsourcing phenomenon, besides a sporadic blog post in late 2013, this report takes a (big) step back to look at the evolution of crowdsourcing since the mid-2000s, providing important insights about how it is used for marketing and innovation across the globe.

The data of this report partly comes from the crowdsourcing timelines I have been curating for the past years

Data related to brands’ usage of crowdsourcing comes from the timelines listed below (except for 2015), which I have been curating for the past years. The original timeline was released in September 2012, before being split into yearly timelines because of the high volume of crowdsourcing initiatives. You can browse through these timelines on:

• Crowdsourcing by World’s Best Global Brands Before 2011
• Crowdsourcing by World’s Best Global Brands in 2011
• Crowdsourcing by World’s Best Global Brands in 2012
• Crowdsourcing by World’s Best Global Brands in 2013
• Crowdsourcing by World’s Best Global Brands in 2014
• Crowdsourcing by World’s Best Global Brands in 2015

Data related to FMCG companies’ usage of crowdsourcing has been gathered by ourselves too, looking up publicly available data regarding contests launched by 10 major FMCG companies (General Mills, Reckitt Benckiser, PepsiCo, Unilever, Mondelez, The Coca-Cola Company, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Kellogg’s and AB Inbev) since 2011 on four leading crowdsourcing platforms (eYeka, Mofilm, Tongal and Zooppa).

Here are three visuals about its findings:

Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies increased crowdsourcing usage by 48% in 2014 compared to 2013.

Looking at the cumulative adoption of crowdsourcing, we found that 85% of the 2014 Best Global Brands have used it in the last ten years.

In 2014, the most crowdsourced type of content by the Best Global Brands is video content followed by ideas.

The report, magnificently designed with Fabien Bazire, is prefaced by Jeremiah Owyang, founder of Crowd Companies. He said that “this report, written by experienced experts, is a first step towards better understanding the usage of creative crowdsourcing by leading brands. It shows how brands have used it in the past, who are the major players in the field and where we are heading.”

This report is a first step towards better understanding the usage of creative crowdsourcing by leading brands (Jeremiah Owyang, founder of Crowd Companies)

Note that I recently found a great article with tips about writing trend reports, which I would advise anyone to read to get smarter about such projects, which are nothing but easy (I would endorse tip #4 – don’t be afraid to start over again – above the others).

Without further ado, for more insights into crowdsourcing, its evolution, or the platforms that facilitate it, don’t hesitate to go download the full report on eYeka’s website. You can also read a preview version on Slideshare. Join the discussion below in the comment section, and by using the #CSreport2015 hashtag on social media.

Download eYeka’s crowdsourcing trend report on: