Ideas for all; iPhones for some

While brainstorms are certainly a fun part of the PR profession, (oh the games, we play!) we can all relate to feeling a little creatively stumped from time to time.

But don’t fret! Good ideas do exist outside the walls of a PR agency (gasp!) and there are a lot of ways to get them, including crowdsourcing.

Crowdsourcing, the concept of asking a mass of people for their ideas, is nothing new, but only recently has it really exploded in use.  Given the value it can offer at the brainstorming phase or even as a PR tactic itself, it’s worth having a refresher:

1) Low cost
2) Allows you access to more brains than you might otherwise have access to
3) Garners insight into your consumer
4) Can create a collaborative kinship among you and your idea generators

(Photo via @shoothead on Flickr)

Brands like Kmart, Best Buy, and Starbucks, have all created their own idea hubs because they realize their consumers have tons and tons of great ideas hidden in their complaints about leaky coffee cups and restocking fees. Consumers see value too in getting to share their thoughts and maybe one day seeing some change.

Recently, famed NY Times technology writer, David Pogue asked his active Twitter following what technology enhancements they’d like to see in cell phones, home theater and cameras for a NY Times article, titled “Tech Ideas from Twitterland”. Through this project he pulled in a wealth of interesting ideas ranging from the funny to the downright, “why haven’t they thought of this yet!” 

Twitterer @betaboy commented that he’d like to see cell phones with “Flip-out charging prongs, so you can charge it anywhere there’s an outlet. No need to carry cords/chargers.” Sounds good to me!

Twitterer @larrybehrens dreams of a cell phone with “A special detector that helps you avoid run-ins with iPhone snobs.” There was a time when I would have agreed with @larrybehrens but that was before I became one of those shameless snobs and had a room full of people shaking their phone like a Polaroid picture to get the Yelp Augmented Reality app.

Never to be outdone, the government is getting on the “ask and ye shall receive” crowd-sourcing concept with the launch of the FCC’s platform Ideascale.  The platform allows virtually anyone, anywhere to offer their thoughts on the National Broadband Plan, discuss ideas with others on the site, and then rank the best ones.  In terms of engaging people in the process, this program is a great start.

Between Twitter, Facebook, forums, commenting communities, blogs, Flickr, YouTube, and more, there are plenty of opportunities to connect with people eager to tell you what they think.  Now all you have to do is ask.