O2 gets the people to make the network

O2 is planning a user-generated brand, backed by user-generated marketing. It's called giffgaff and it's being described as a "people-powered" mobile network. Yes, it will have the back-end business of the O2 network.

But at the front end, giffgaff is the latest, and boldest, example of an advertiser embracing consumer ownership of its brand. Giffgaff won't have expensive advertising campaigns. It won't have call centres to help customers use the giff-gaff network. It won't have armies of execs sitting in offices making all the decisions.

Instead giffgaff's community of customers will help each other with any problems using the network; online tools will allow customers to ask each other for advice and to share information. The customers will advise on any business decisions the brand needs to make. They will recommend product innovations. They will create their own image for the brand using coloured pixels. And the customers will market the product to other potential customers. As far as is practically possible, it's the consumers who will manage O2's new brand.
In return, the more giffgaff's customers recommend the brand to other users, the more they create user-generated marketing, the more they engage in the community spirit of the brand, the greater the discounts they will receive on giffgaff call rates and top-ups like text messaging.

This is great news as it shows that the crowd can know influence the total look, feel and direction of a brand - great stuff - can't wait to see the results.

Obama embraces co-creation and crowd sourcing: what we define as enviro-creation

Obama embraces crowdsourcing and the principles of what we define as enviro-creation

Some of his citizen crowdsourcing ideas include:

White House Open for questions: an interactive question and answer session with the President.

Recovery.org dialogue: a crowd-sourcing process designed to tap the IT community for ideas for implementing Recovery.gov.

Open Government Directive collaboration: a collaborative policy-writing process to openly develop a draft of the Open Government policy.

Data.gov: a web portal providing access to Federal government data sets.

Putting citizens at the heart of the decision making process is the way forward.

We need to learn from Obama - because in the UK institutions and the government are so un-trusted. The Government, public policy makers and institutions need to re-build the bridge between them and the public - a great starting point is to place the public within the heart of the decision making process. For more on this and how you can do it see http://www.envirocreation.blogspot.com/

Asda embraces brand democracy

Asda has just rolled out a number of initiatives that tap into the principles of Democratic branding.

Firstly the company is to build on its existing Pulse of the Nation community of 18,000 people and will ask them for their views on the design of upcoming George clothing ranges and new food and household lines. This great open door policy has been named "Chosen By You". The public will be involved in the early product-design process of George - with their opinions being sought out every six weeks.

The second initiative is called the "Bright Ideas" cash reward scheme. This will offer participants up to 5% of any money saved by the retailer if their idea is put into practice.

The third great idea from the Asda stable is to give consumers access to its business and employees. Asda's key buyers and staff are posting regular updates on an Aisle spy blog with webcams streaming live images of the supply chain and head office.

This for someone who believes passionately in brand democracy is great news as it shows that the principles of web 2.0 are now firmly being entrenched into the heart of big business. Those foundations of co-operation, collective wisdom, co-creation and creativity will continue to turn the world up side down as the grassroots participate in the creation of brands that they want to see.

Crispin Porter + Bogusky embrace crowdsourcing

The revolutionary advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky has embraced crowdsourcing. The agency have offered an award of 1000 dollars for the design of a logo for the electric motorcycle start-up Brammo. Over 700 people have submitted work.

Peperami reaches out to the crowd

Peperami's are reaching out to the public to create a new advert.

The company is offering $10,000 (£6,087) in a competition to find ideas for its next TV campaign for snack food brand Peperami. In the process they have dropped their ad agency and are turning to the public to develop a new idea. This technique is called crowd sourcing and it will be huge in the next few years. Other brands such as Doritos have already used this technique.

The big question we all need to ask is - is the future bright: is the future crowd sourcing?