The Shifting World of Advertising

Posted on | June 11, 2010 | No Comments

If you have watched any TV at all in the last couple of weeks, then you have probably seen the new ad campaign by DISH Network.  It is a clever campaign that features two astronauts floating in outer space while they flip the “Free H.D.” switch on the DISH satellite (see video below).  The campaign has been well received, and is part of what appears to be a fairly robust media push by DISH (based on how many times I saw it during the Stanley Cup Finals alone).

The coolest part of the DISH ads is not that they are funny (which they are), or that they cleverly introduce a strategic and competitive shift by DISH (which they do), but that they were created by Victors & Spoils, the first ad agency built on crowd-sourcing principles.  

When we helped launch V&S last fall, the outcry from the traditional agency world was fast and furious.  As someone who had never been part of that world, I was shocked by the angry and personal nature of the response.  Among the most repeated claims was that crowdsourcing, although fine for the creation of logos and such, could never be applied to larger, more complex projects.  The use of the crowd, the argument went, would result in weak specs, low quality work and brand dilution.  Even more disturbing was the claim that crowdsourcing was merely a way of exploiting the creative talent pool with little or no pay.

In the first six months, V&S has let their work speak for itself.  In doing so, they have established three indisputable facts.  First: given the right level of curation, the crowd can develop as good of, if not better, work then any other agency.  Second: a focus on providing the creatives with quality assignments, good tools and fair compensation, results in a happy crowd that is eager to participate in the V&S system.  And third: by removing the bloated overhead that exists at large ad agencies, the work can be done far more efficiently (i.e., clients save a lot of money, which they tend to like).

All of this is adds up to an impressive start for the folks at V&S as they continue to navigate their way through the challenges of being first. 

The more intriguing question is what does all of this mean for the traditional ad agencies who continue to operate in the world of scarcity and non-transparency, charging clients outrageous amounts to support a business model that now appears out of touch and out of date?   Only time will tell.  But if they are slow to adapt, then they may just end up on the outside looking in — swapping war stories with newspapers, tv networks, and other relics of yesterday’s media world.

Category: Crowdsourcing, Portfolio Companies

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