Crowdsourcing Defined
"Crowds don't innovate -- individuals do." So said Dan Woods in his September 2009 article, The Myth of Crowdsourcing at Forbes.com. He goes on to explain: "The recent coverage of the $1 million Netflix prize was rightly heralded as a victory for crowdsourcing. The competition was designed to create a better algorithm for recommending films. But in the popular press, and in the minds of millions of people, the word crowdsourcing has created an illusion that there is a crowd that solves problems better than individuals. For the past 10 years, the buzz around open source has created a similar false impression. The notion of crowds creating solutions appeals to our desire to believe that working together we can do anything, but in terms of innovation it is just ridiculous." "There is no crowd in crowdsourcing. There are only virtuosos, usually uniquely talented, highly trained people who have worked for decades in a field. Frequently, these innovators have been funded through failure after failure. From their fervent brains spring new ideas. The crowd has nothing to do with it. The crowd solves nothing, creates nothing." "What really happens in crowdsourcing as it is practiced in wide variety of contexts, from Wikipedia to open source to scientific research, is that a problem is broadcast to a large number of people with varying forms of expertise. Then individuals motivated by obsession, competition, money or all three apply their individual talent to creating a solution."
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crowdSPRING offers alternative creative services model
Chicago-based crowdSPRING is an online marketplace for “crowdsourced” creative services. What, you ask, are “crowdsourced” creative services? The concept is another of the intriguing developments of online mass communication – doing for creative services what Craig’s List did for classified ads on the Web.The crowdSPRING site allows you to reach a large pool of creative talent by bringing together designers, illustrators, writers, photographers and others to submit their work and ideas to business people looking for work at an affordable price. The current “crowd” numbers more than 76,000 designers, illustrators, writers and photographers from 185 countries. crowdSPRING calls their creative community “The World’s Greatest Creative Department.”
In May 2007 crowdSPRING co-founders Ross Kimbarovsky and Michael Samson had a vision of an online platform that would bring together businesses and the best creative talent in the world. They began their online presence in May 2008, and In February 2010 they launched a new writing service, including everything from company and product names to website content and newsletter articles. The company recently surpassed its one-millionth creative entry, establishing a remarkable milestone in the crowdsourcing industry.
crowdSPRING’s service orders are typically for logos, product packaging, product design or graphic design. On average, projects receive over 110 entries from designers throughout the world – then buyers choose the option they like best. crowdSPRING charges a $39 posting fee plus a 15% fee on top of the total award amount. So, if a project award is $400, the total cost to the Buyer is $460 plus the $39 posting fee.
According to company, some of the benefits are:
crowdSPRING was founded on three core principles: offer buyers choice, give creatives a level playing field, and protect intellectual property for all. This system takes the risk out of buying creative services by offering buyers choices up front – actual designs to choose from, instead of bids or proposals. Established businesses and startups can obtain high-quality work in a short period of time without several interactions and revisions from a large agency team charging hourly rates.
Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, needed a logo, sticker and a poster for his new Random House/Doubleday novel, Tell All. The logo project received 439 entries for two prizes of $600 each and the poster received 417 entries for $1,200. The poster is pictured above and you can click here to visit the page depicting the logo project entries.
On average there are seven projects from publishers posted on the site, ranging from educational materials targeting schools to new generation travel guidebooks for U.S. and Canadian Universities. Check out this page with some recently completed book design projects.
Author Guy Kawasaki turned to crowdSPRING to create the cover for his next best-seller. He received more than 760 designs to select from and paid $1,000 for the winning cover. The Chicago Reader, a Chicago institution and one of the country's leading city weeklies, posted a project for a logo for a new deal program. They received 359 logos to select from and only paid $750.
Other brands utilizing crowdSPRING are LG, ConAgra, Livestrong, and Tivo. Rock bands Judas Priest and the Pet Shop Boys have used them for projects, as have motivational speaker Tony Robbins and NBA star Josh Powell. For buyers who prefer to remain anonymous, crowdSPRING Pro ensures their projects remain confidential, protecting them from competitors.
“crowdSPRING is an open, transparent marketplace with a global reach and is made up of tens of thousands of designers and writers from around the world," said Mike Samson, co-founder of crowdSPRING. "Project values vary greatly on the site, so each Creative determines for themselves whether they feel that the offer and the scope of work required is fair or not. In short, they choose the projects they like and participate in those, and choose not to participate in the projects they don't like,”
“Unlike with a publisher, or a record company, the Creatives on crowdSPRING are not contractually bound to participate -- they come and go as they please and decide for themselves if an award is 'fair' or not," added co-founder Ross Kimbarovsky. "Not surprisingly, our data shows a clear correlation between the amount of the award offered and the number of creatives who participate in a given project.”
crowdSPRING and its business model have received some of the most prestigious awards in the industry, including a Stevie Award for New Product or Service of the Year in the 2009 American Business Awards, and Wired (magazine) Small Biz of 2008. crowdSPRING was one of five start-up companies in the world nominated for a 2009 Webby Awards for Community, and received nominations for best e-commerce site in the 2010 Stevie Awards, among many others.
crowdSPRING protects the intellectual property of all parties by offering free legal contracts customized for each transaction. This allows business people to concentrate on running their companies with peace of mind, while providing creatives with an environment in which they can freely utilize their creative abilities.
crowdSPRING also offers community tools to rate the work of its creatives, complete with feedback, stats, private messaging and portfolios. Part of the goal is to also make the site turnkey for the buyer. crowdSPRING handles administration details such as project management, file transfers and payments, as well as communications.
To learn more about the world of marketing, design, digital creativity and business strategy, follow crowdSPRING’s blog at http://blog.crowdspring.com. Join the crowdSPRING community on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/crowdspring.