Update on Pepperami’s “crowd-sourcing” for new ad

Interesting to read in Marketing that Unilever brand Pepperami has received 1185 ad ideas via the "crowdsourcing" website Idea Bounty. I posted back in August on the brand's decision to fire its agency of 16 years, Lowe London, and take the bold move of tapping into Idea Bounty's global network of freelance creatives.

The brand team have whittled down the ads to a final shortlist of 22 ideas. They will pick the winner by the end of the month, with the victorious creative team bagging a bounty of $10,000.

A few learnings from this innovative process already:

1. Works best when you have a defined creative territory. In this case Pepperami has its "animal" character, with the endline "Its a bit of an animal". This I find tough on Lowe, whose creative brilliance came up with this branding property. Shouldn't they at least get some sort of licensing fee?

2. Saves money, but not time. Noam Buchalter, of Unilever business unit Chrysalis, reports that the mew approach saved money, but the time spent was the same as on a traditional brief. I would guess it takes even more time, as someone had to sift through 1185 ad ideas to find the good ones.

3. Clever PR for Unilever. The company has got great coverage in the marketing press for this move. Not the main objective, but a good way of promoting the company as being innovative.

So, watch this space to see what creative work comes out of this fascinating process.