Internet Question: Is crowdsourcing a possible marketing tool?

Some trivia for starters: In the UK, Unilever is offering 10,000 pounds in a competition to find ideas for its next TV campaign for snack food brand Peperami.

What does that mean for its creative agency Lowe? Trouble. In that market, Unilever has already dropped hints that it doesn't need Lowe. According to reports, consumers have been more than keen to participate in this campaign.

Closer home, Frito-Lay is creating its next potato chips flavour with the help of consumers. The winner will receive a cash prize of Rs 50 lakhs and 1% of the sales turnover from the new flavour, which will launched by the end of May 2010.

There's Dell which is also looking at consumers to get ideas for its products and services.

So the signs are there. Increasingly, marketers are looking at consumers for ideas for their brands. The purpose is to try out the wisdom of the crowds, rather than simply rely on their agencies.

Is crowdsourcing then evolving as a possible marketing tool? What risks and benefits does crowdsourcing bring along with it? With social media tools at hand, which categories can experiment with crowdsourcing?

And what does this radical shift in fishing for ideas mean for agencies?

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