Crowdsourcing, or soliciting services, ideas or content from a group of people or online community, is an innovation that has turned many traditional models on their heads. Advertising agencies and digital media shops are not immune to this new trend. This article posted by Cheryl Ross to MediaJobs.com discusses the trend as it pertains to advertising.

Two industry experts have shared their views about the future of advertising in a blog featured in the Harvard Business Review – and their ideas make for “disruptive reading” for any art director or account manager with an eye for innovation.

John Winsor, CEO of Victors and Spoils, and Wharton School Professor of Marketing, Jerry Wind, begin with the statement, “Much like newspapers, conventional advertising agencies are becoming irrelevant.”

No cages 

If this is causing a cold sweat to break out in the reading art director or account manager, relax. They’re far from pessimistic. Agencies, they say, need to capitalize on today’s new democratized creativity trends facilitated by crowdsourcing, open innovation and co-creation. When Windsor’s agency heard that Harley Davidson was dropping a long-term agency, it chose to steer away from the traditional pitch process. Instead, it posted a brief to its 7,200-strong crowd of strategists and creatives, comprising freelancers, brand and advertising enthusiasts and moonlighters from other agencies. All had chosen to collaborate on the new open working model (aptly called “No Cages”) at V&S. Read the rest of this entry »