Those who follow this blog probably know that I like to relate the work of a Munich-based company called Hyve AG. The consultancy has worked with (mainly German) brands like BMW, Nivea, Henkel or Osram in co-creation efforts; building branded engagement platforms and setting up consumer communities to co-innovate with consumers. Hyve’s CEO, Dr. Michael Bartl, recently talked to Werben & Verkaufen (“promote & sell”) about web-based user communities and social relationships. Since the interview is in German, I thought I would translate some excerpts into English… Continue reading →
Author / YannigRoth
Is crowdsourcing dead? How creative crowdsourcing platforms evolve
When Jeff Howe coined the term crowdsourcing back in 2006, he defined it as “the act of a company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined (and generally large) network of people in the form of an open call” (this definition is still on Wikipedia). Today, other buzzwords like co-creation and open innovation flood the marketing and innovation blogs. To know what’s happening with crowdsourcing, let’s just take a look at how the platforms based on crowdsourcing principles evolve. Let’s take a look at different types of platforms using crowdsourcing principles : virtual ad agencies, creativity platforms and (still) the crowd-sourcers. Continue reading →
Lessons from the failure of social product development-platform CrowdSpirit
When I read the German book Marke Eigenbau (Do-It-Yourself brand) about a year ago, I claimed that it was a fascinating and eye-opening book about the revolution of consumption going on currently. Mass-customization, co-creation, crafting and 3D-printing are symptomatic movements towards tailored consumption and/or production initiated by the the consumer. Seth Godin said it in 2005 already: Small is the new Big. Someone who recognized and wanted to build on this revolution is Lionel David, founder and former CEO of CrowdSpirit, an innovation community based on the idea of crowdsourcing the whole product development process, from ideation to marketing (and even distribution). The platform is not online anymore, and here’s why… Continue reading →
How crowdsourcing delivers authentic insights and/or breakthrough innovation
(click on image to access article)
Here’s a blog post I recently wrote about crowdsourcing. The inspiration came from an academic paper of French researchers Jean-Fabrice Lebraty and Katia Lobre who identify two relevant sources of value for crowdsourcing: innovation (new ideas, concepts and uses) and authenticity (brand perception, marketing message etc.). I thought this had to be shared, and therefore translated into English! Glad to find it on crowdsourcing.org, I hope it will encourage mature discussion about the concept of crowdsourcing in marketing.
EDIT (June 26th): The article won the CIGREF-AIM 2011 award, which rewards the best article published in the French academic journal Systèmes d’Information et Management.
What brings better innovation: Competition or collaboration?
Today, when you talk about innovation, you’ll probably discuss open innovation as well. Keeping the corporation closed and hoping that visionnary geniuses come up with ideas is possible (Apple does this!), but more potential lies in opening the innovation funnel to get inspiration from outside. One of the most popular ways to access innovative ideas and solutions is to set up a contest. Popular examples are Pepsi’s Refresh Project (PepsiCo) or the Co-Creation Lab (Hyve for BMW). But are we talking co-creation or crowdsourcing here? In other words, do consumers collaborate or do they compete to win? Recent research suggests that output is better when you combine competitive and collaborative aspects. Continue reading →
L’Académie Française ajoute le pluriel “incroyaux” à son dictionnaire
La rédaction et la diffusion du dictionnaire constitue l’une des missions principales de l’Académie Française. Contrairement à des ouvrages descriptifs comme le Robert ou le Petit Larousse, le dictionnaire de l’Académie Française cherche à préserver l’essence littéraire de la langue française ; vous ne trouverez donc pas de buzzer, de mobbing, de rallye raid ou de urgentissime, exemples tout droit tirés du Petit Larousse 2011. De toute façon, les immortels (c’est ainsi que l’on appelle les académiciens) n’en sont qu’à la lettre “P” puisque le dernier fascicule, publié en octobre 2010, s’arrête au mot promesse. Cela peut paraître étonnant, mais le processus d’écriture est long et fastidieux…
Mais il suffisait d’aller voir dans le 13è fascicule, qui recense tous les mots de incorrection à installer, pour remarquer cet incroyable changement. Le pluriel de incroyable peut être à la fois incroyables et incroyaux, peut-on lire dans le cahier n°13. Cette décision n’a pas encore été justifiée pas l’Académie Française. Mais même sans prise de position de la part de l’institution, il est probable que l’emploi fréquent du mot (dans les forums internet, sur les les journaux intimes numériques, par les musiciens, à la radio etc.) ait justifié la décision.
Certaines voix s’élèvent déjà contre cette mise à jour, notamment sur facebook, mais il semble peu probable que l’institution revienne sur ça décision. Les mots supprimés du dictionnaire l’ont été uniquement parce qu’ils n’étaient plus utilisés: il en a été ainsi pour archidiaconat, chouanner, friponneau ou imployable par exemple. Un cousin proche, celui là…
Carrefour’s Global VP of Design about branding, design and innovation
The slide says : "It's not the consumer who does change with the time, but He changes the time"
Yesterday, the Design & Innovation club of the ESSCA-Alumni invited Philippe Picaud, VP of Design of the world’s second-largest retailer Carrefour, to speak about his experience and the role of design in corporate strategy. The speaker is learned designer, and highlights that “in the 70’s, designers were not meant to stay within corporation“. He did. He took on more and more design responsabilities in companies such as Texas Instruments, Philips or the French sports retailer Decathlon, which he morphed “from a retail-company to a brands-company“. It’s his fault if Decathlon is the only credible and innovative sports vendors in France! 😉 Continue reading →
Yannig Roth / This is my personal blog 