Don’t fear the crowd
Crowd power. Crowdsourcing can lower the cost of creative and raise demand for what creative people do, and that means “more jobs, and eventually, better work by spreading the creative wealth around,” according to James DeJulio, founder of US crowdsourcing outfit Tongal.
“Examine for a moment the market and the reason why crowdsourcing has become such a hot button issue,” says DeJulio in his Tongal blog. “There are far more out-of-work creatives than working creatives. Crowdsourcing just makes this market more efficient. This is especially true at a time when businesses will need more and more content. First and foremost, the way that content gets generated will have to change and that new demand in the market will be met with new businesses that facilitate that, like ours.
“There will always, always be high paying jobs for top creative, however we’re certain that in the middle, businesses want a fresh voice at a lower cost and the chance to potentially develop a new top creative’s career,” he adds. “At the same time, we want to provide opportunity by creating more opportunity.”
So, agencies really really shouldn’t be afraid of crowdsourcing at all. “Look, we’re not replacing ad agencies,” as DeJulio told brand-e.biz a couple of months ago. “This is complementary. And let’s face it, the agencies don’t want to be in the business of running online contests, do they?”
