We now live in a connected world where creativity flows freely. This has led brands to exchange ideas and collaborate with their customers, influencing new products, behaviour and communications.

Back in 2009, giffgaff launched as a crowd-sourced brand, empowering its members to influence its service offer and customer support. Consumers taking part in product development is a well-established trend. Walker’s ‘Do

Us a Flavour’ competition started back in 2008 and is a concept that’s been replicated many times. There are clear benefits in crowd-sourcing for brands. As Andrew Needham, the CEO of research agency Face said, “By opening innovation processes to outside voices, organisations not only gain a broader range of perspectives to enrich the innovation gene pool, they also gain valuable scale.”

Big corporations increasingly embrace and encourage customer collaboration through dedicated online programmes. Febreze used Procter & Gamble’s Connect and Develop initiative to grow their brand into a billion dollar business. Rather than reinventing a category where others had existing expertise, they collaborated with external companies through the platform. Similarly, the Unilever Foundry is an initiative to encourage collaboration with start-ups. In February, they established a central hub, IDEAS, to manage crowd-sourced activity.

Crowd-sourcing and collaboration can add value to marketing campaigns as well as product development. It enables brands to connect on a more personal level and can help turn customers into fans. Ben Tollet, ECD of adam&eveDDB, summed this up at Advertising Week 2015, “Stop having ideas of your own. Ideas belong to everyone. Make it as big as it can be”.

Read on for examples…