13 Fun & Fascinating Facts Not to be Feared on Crowdsourcing

While the world tends to look at the number 13 in fear (Paraskevidekatriaphobia), we tend to like that number at crowdSPRING.  In honor of the Friday the 13th superstition, we “slashed” through the web to identify 13 exciting and engaging facts to help get those creative juices flowing.  If, by chance, you are unlucky coming up with ideas on how to use these facts, don’t be afraid to give us a call.  Our customer service reps, Jason Voorhees and Freddy Kruger, would be happy to help.

• The term "crowdsourcing" is a portmanteau of "crowd" and "outsourcing," coined by Jeff Howe in a June 2006 Wired magazine article, "The Rise of Crowdsourcing".
• In February 2007, Dell launched the website IdeaStorm to allow Dell to gauge which ideas from the crowd are most important and most relevant to the public. To date, IdeaStorm has generated nearly 17,000 ideas and have implemented close to 500.
• Following in Dell’s footsteps, Starbucks launched MyStarbucksIdea.com, an online community that has enabled customers to play a role in shaping the company’s future.  Nearly 130,000 ideas have been submitted on products, experience and community involvement since its March 2008 launch.  
• Yep, it’s true, crowdSPRING crowdsourced its own logo, prior to even launching crowdSPRING.com in May 2008.  What did we pay, you ask? $200!     
• In 2009, Netflix was the first large brand to hand out $1 million to a seven-person team of mathematicians and computer engineers called BellKor's Pragmatic Chaos, who built a media recommendation system.   Immediately following, GE used crowdsourcing to generate 60 ideas in four days for everything from ad campaigns to product concepts.
• AdAge, the leading global source for advertising and marketing news, ran an online poll in 2009 on whether crowdsourcing was a threat to the agency business; 61% of respondents said yes.  Many participants commented that crowdsourcing would be dead within one year.  Oops – wrong!
• Crowdsourcing has demonstrated itself to be a potential problem-solving tool especially for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.  BP’s Alternative Response Technologies organization asked for the help of engineering, science and technology experts around the world to submit ideas and technologies to stem the spill and for onshore removal and remediation methodologies.  The team received more than 116,500 submissions for suggestions and engineering innovations. More than 300 were considered for field-testing and deployment and 20 were immediately tested and placed under evaluation.
• Some of the more successful crowdsourcing projects include the famed stickers that adorn Chiquita bananas, Air New Zealand’s crowdsourcing for a new script for their safety video, Barilla looking for a new pasta shape, LG searching for the mobile phone of the future, Phillips Electronics finding news designs and technology to innovate their steam iron, Frito Lay Canada’s DORITOS® transport trucks and the U.S. House of Representatives House & Means Committee website redesign. Others include Old El Paso, Siemens, Pillsbury Crescent Rolls and California Milk Processor Board Got Milk? Campaign commercial.
• In 2010, Gap’s unveiled a new logo design, which was immensely disliked by the public.  After its loathsome debut, Gap hastily turned to crowdsourcing.  The company ultimately stayed with their original logo.  Other brands that suffered logo disasters created by traditional agencies rather than creative crowdsourcing?  Tropicana, Jack in the Box, London 2012 Olympics, Sci-Fi Channel’s SyFy and Pepsi.  Our recommendation?  www.crowdSPRING.com
• KRC research conducted a survey in 2011, finding that crowdsourcing plays a vital role in corporate social responsibility (CSR).  Of the 216 Fortune 2000 business executives surveyed, 44 percent said they have used crowdsourcing to provide ideas and help in decision-making on how to tackle issues. 95 percent found it valuable to their company. 
• Also in 2011, the word ‘crowdsourcing’ was officially added to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary.  So was cougar, bromance and helicopter parent, among others.   Microsoft Office spellcheck has yet to add it. 
• According to a report released in 2012 from crowdsourcing.org, the field of Crowdsourcing mobilized nearly $300 million in 2011.  The report also found that the number of people preferring crowdsourcing over outsourcing have doubled (100%) since 2010. Based on the top crowdsourcing sites, including crowdSPRING.com, $1-2 billion have been paid to crowdsourced workers so far. 
• As of Friday, April 13, 2012, there were 10,100,000 references to ‘crowdsourcing” on Google and 2,940,000 on ‘creative crowdsourcing.’  

773.972.7060 or lauren@connectcomsinc.com

About crowdSPRING

crowdSPRING  is the world's #1 marketplace for custom logo design, web design, a new company name or other writing and design services. Entrepreneurs, small businesses, nonprofits and agencies simply post what they need, when they need it and how much they want to pay. Once posted, over 113,000 creatives from 200+ countries around the world submit an average of 110 options for the buyer to choose from until they find “the one.”  crowdSPRING is a privately held company based in Chicago. To learn more on why crowdSPRING is trusted by more than 28,000 happy clients worldwide, visit http://www.crowdspring.com.  To hear more about the world of small business, startups, design, marketing and business strategy, follow crowdSPRING’s blog, their Twitter stream or their Facebook page.

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