The wisdom of crowdsourcing

Companies large and small around the world are trying crowdsourcing for new-product ideas, brand fine-tuning, and other marketing efforts. Waitrose is crowdsourcing its newest dessert. Unilever crowdsourced a TV advert for Peperami. BT crowdsourced the next plot turn in its Adam and Jane campaign. Trek Light Gear, a small business, crowdsources new product concepts.

Crowdsourcing is a popular way to get customers more involved in brands, hear the 'voice of the customer' unfiltered, save money and support the marketing planning process.

Customers are also using crowdsourcing to sift through marketing claims, seek brand recommendations, get peer reaction to products and more via social media. With the click of a mouse or a few taps on their mobiles, they can ask the crowd (or be part of the crowd providing marketing thoughts to companies).

Remember, however, that customers don't always know what they would like in a product or communication, and they can't always articulate their thoughts in a way that marketers can interpret correctly.

The bottom line: Although crowdsourcing can potentially lead to good insights, don't over-rely on the wisdom of crowds when researching and executing a marketing plan.