The crowd sourcing debate goes on...

I've heard further bleating from the design industry on crowd sourcing.

As I have mentioned before in one of the discussions the way the industry works needs to change and that the current widely accepted business model is flawed. Crowd sourcing maybe just be the catalyst that changes the status quo.

The question now becomes how do you get remunerated for the value created not the cost of the input here is were it gets challenging. The models of performance never seem to work based on their being to many variables. Perhaps a new quantitative indicator is needed. Would favorability work measured through a variety of means (blogosphere, tweets, mentions, lines of copy). It's been an old ad metric so why not - surely standout is what it is all about anyway? This would align well to the tribal theory of brand management, where control is handed to the faithful.

A more radical way of looking at it would be to say that IP has no true value in what is becoming a rapidly open source society where competitive advantage through design exists for months rather than years (please nobody quote me Apple on this - heard it all before and try a different reference - it's good for the soul). Maybe the value is not created through design at all, maybe value is only generated at the point of interaction / engagement and therefore, coming full circle, crowd sourcing is part of that value generation.

I wonder if T-mobile / Orange with their naturally networked and savvy audience will be brave enough to go down the crowd source route. If so this could be the tipping point.

Free pitching : come on get over yourselves

Well the GLA certainly stirred up a hornets nest the other week. The readers of that erstwhile industry magazine were salivating at the injustice of it all. I just can't understand why.

Free pitching can be looked on in a number of different ways. To the client it is effective a try before you buy mechanism, much better than creds as it is actually relevant and it doesn't cost a penny. Market forces also dictate that there are more agencies likely to indulge in free creative when times are tougher. To an agency it is a sacrifice of IP, is a loss of time that could be spent on other things and often ends up a beauty contest.

Many companies who build their business model on an IP basis are having problems with remuneration. Take the record industry, book publishing, film industry, TV, newspaper publishing, product design, etc. all of which have had consciously or not had to create and then give away IP for free. In some cases to the tune of many billions. They are all now seeking new commercial models that use the technologies that destroyed there old business models. I'm sure for one that Spotify will ride to the rescue of the record industry and give unsigned bands a new outlet.

To all in the industry I think this is a wake up call. Free pitching is here to stay, crowdsourcing will increase and unless we look at new more innovative business models that accept this then our industry will become an anacronysm alongside those that fail to adapt.