Now & Next: Future of Engagement

Peoples Insights
100+ thinkers and planners within MSLGROUP share and discuss inspiring projects on social data, crowdsourcing, storytelling and citizenship on the MSLGROUP Insights Network. Every week, we pick up one project and curate the conversations around it on the MSLGROUP Insights Network itself but also on the broader social web into a weekly insights report. Every quarter, we compile these insights, along with original research and insights from the MSLGROUP global network, into the Peoples Insights Quarterly Magazine. We have synthesized the insights from our year-long endeavor throughout 2012 to provide foresights for business leaders and changemakers in the ten-part Peoples Insights Annual Report titled Now & Next: Ten Frontiers for the Future of Engagement. In 2013, we continue to track inspiring projects at the intersection of social data, crowdsourcing and storytelling, with a focus on projects that are shaping the Future of Citizenship. Do subscribe to receive our weekly insights reports, quarterly magazines, and annual reports, and do share your tips and comments with us at @PeoplesLab on Twitter.
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Inside
Foreword
by Olivier Fleurot
04 05
Introduction
by Pascal Beucler
Executive Summary
by Gaurav Mishra and Nidhi Makhija
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Ten Frontiers for the Future of Engagement

#1. Crowdfunding
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#6. Social Curation
52
#2. Behavior Change Games
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#7. Transmedia Storytelling
62
#3. Collaborative Social Innovation
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#8. Collective Intelligence
69
#4. Grassroots Change Movements
32
#9. Social Live Experiences
77
#5. Co-creation Communities
44
#10. Collaborative Consumption
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Olivier Fleurot,
Chief Executive Officer, MSLGROUP
Foreword
Throughout 2012, more than a hundred of our planners have been tracking and monitoring new and inspiring web platforms and brand programs in the areas of social data, crowdsourcing, storytelling and citizenship, under the leadership of Pascal Beucler, our Chief Strategy Officer. We are delighted to share with you the results of this massive undertaking, our Now & Next: Future of Engagement report. It highlights what we think are the ten most important frontiers that will define the future of engagement for marketers and entrepreneurs. As I mentioned during the recent Investor Day organized by Publicis Groupe in London, we, at MSLGROUP, are dedicated to inventing the future of communication and engagement. In this report, we recognize that the future is already here, it is just not very evenly distributed (as William Gibson said), and showcase the web platforms and brand programs that point to the future, so that we might cocreate it with our clients. Faced with the huge transformations created by the digital and social revolution, all businesses and organizations need to rethink how to engage with their stakeholders. We aim to be our clients most trusted advisors in this fast-changing and increasingly complex world, by helping them navigate it and create unique value in it. For this to happen, we first need to demonstrate a deep understanding of the new dynamics at work in the conversation economy and articulate a compelling vision for the future of engagement. I believe that youll find that our report on the future of engagement does both. I hope that you will enjoy reading this report and share your own thoughts with us, so that, together, we can really reinvent the future of engagement.
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Pascal Beucler,
Senior Vice-President & Chief Strategy Officer, MSLGROUP
Introduction
The future doesnt fit in the containers or mindset of the past.
Our Now & Next: Future of Engagement report identifies the ten most important frontiers that will define the future of engagement in our Social Age: Crowdfunding, Behavior Change Games, Collaborative Social Innovation, Grassroots Change Movements, Co-creation Communities, Social Curation, Transmedia Storytelling, Collective Intelligence, Social Live Experiences and Collaborative Consumption. As trusted advisers to our clients around the globe, were committed to helping them navigate the complexity of today and prepare themselves for the even higher complexity of tomorrow. To do this well, we need to live in two modes at all times: the now and the next. We need to acknowledge the trends that are already here and we need to anticipate the groundswells that are on the horizon.
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In short, we need to find a way to synthesize powerful insights into valuable foresights. Our approach is to crowdsource the web platforms and brand programs in the areas of social data, crowdsourcing, storytelling and citizenship that are pointing to the future of engagement, find the interconnections between them, identify the patterns they form, then extrapolate these patterns into the future. Over more than a year, we have studied hundreds of web platforms and brand programs and synthesized them into the ten frontiers for the future of engagement. Here are the most important patterns we see across these ten frontiers: Its a Peoples World: Entrepreneurs and changemakers, not organizations and corporations, are creating the future of engagement (crowdfunding, collaborative consumption). The consequence is that organizations must learn best practices from entrepreneurs and changemakers, and adapt them to their own engagement efforts. Its a Purpose-led World: Engagement is increasingly being ignited by a shared purpose and a sense of citizenship (grassroots change movements, collaborative social innovation). Theres an urgent need for organizations to collaboratively redefine what they stand for and design purpose-inspired platforms and programs. Its a Boundless World: Engagement is increasingly unbound by channel. Media organizations are often in the forefront of digital media innovation (transmedia storytelling, social curation, social live experiences). Corporations must follow their lead and create platforms and programs that are truly unbound by channel. Its a Social World: The shared purpose that fuels engagement is often a societal purpose like sustainability, wellness and learning (crowdfunding, grassroots change movements, collaborative social innovation), but also self-interest and self-improvement (behavior change games, collaborative consumption). Corporations need to tap into both these motivations. Its a Complex World: While entrepreneurs, changemakers and media organizations
are creating long term platforms, corporations often limit themselves to creating short-term programs that are easier to fit into the framework of a campaign. Corporations must learn the skills and mindset needed to create long-term platforms. Its a Demanding World: Media organizations and corporations are beginning to acquire innovative startups to engage people in more meaningful ways (behavior change games, collective intelligence, collaborative consumption). Corporations will increasingly need to behave like venture capitalists, with a portfolio of investments in the future. Its a Fragmented World: Entrepreneurs are creating specialized software solutions to help organizations engage people using specific tools, in specific verticals. Such engagement solutions will become even more niche, even as bigger players try to position their engagement solutions as more integrated. Its a Global World: The platforms and programs that point to the future of engagement are originating not only in the US, but from all over the world, including Europe, Asia and Latin America, with the Nordics contributing a disproportionate share of pathbreaking projects. Welcome to our brave new world! Its not an easy world to navigate, but its a Darwinian one, in which competition is open to all, and where the best will dominate. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to all our planners around the globe who have shared their insights on the MSLGROUP Insights Network, with a very special mention for our colleagues Gaurav Mishra and Nidhi Makhija, who have synthesized these insights into foresights.
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Nidhi Makhija,
Manager - Insights, MSLGROUP
Gaurav Mishra,
Asia VP of Insights, Innovation & Social, MSLGROUP
Executive Summary
Ten Frontiers for the Future of Engagement
We are delighted to share our report titled Now & Next: Future of Engagement. The report highlights the ten most important frontiers that will define the future of engagement for marketers, entrepreneurs and changemakers: Crowdfunding, Behavior Change Games, Collaborative Social Innovation, Grassroots Change Movements, Co-creation Communities, Social Curation, Transmedia Storytelling, Collective Intelligence, Social Live Experiences and Collaborative Consumption. #1. Crowdfunding: inspiring people to collectively fund projects they are passionate about and help bring them to life. #2. Behavior Change Games: using game design technique and the power of communities to motivate people to achieve challenging tasks in the real world. #3. Collaborative Social Innovation: synthesizing community contributions to cocreate innovative and sustainable solutions around a shared purpose. #4. Grassroots Change Movements: inspiring people to act as change agents in a way that their actions can be aggregated or coordinated, leading to significant impact and meaningful change. #5. Co-creation Communities: synthesizing community contributions to create new artifacts including books, movies, music, art, software, products and solutions. #6. Social Curation: aggregating, organizing and sharing content created by others to add context, narrative and meaning to it. #7. Transmedia Storytelling: sharing interlocking parts of a storyworlds on different media channels to create an immersive experience and drive participation, action and loyalty.
#8. Collective Intelligence: synthesizing search, social and sensor data streams into insights about our behaviors in relation to relevant others to guide smarter actions. #9. Social Live Experiences: blending technology, community and location to create immersive experiences that blur the boundaries between online and offline. #10. Collaborative Consumption: Using technology and community to enable people to share, sell, rent, swap, barter and gift spaces, products, services and experiences.
Synthesizing Insights into Foresights

We have not only synthesized insights from hundreds of web platforms and brand programs into the ten frontiers for the future of engagement, but also identified the most important patterns that cut across these ten frontiers: 1. Inspiration from Everyone
Synthesizing Insights into Foresights

Throughout 2012, 100+ planners on MSLGROUPs Insights Network have been tracking inspiring web platforms and brand programs at the intersection of social data, crowdsourcing, storytelling and citizenship. Every week, we picked up one project and curated the conversations around it on the MSLGROUP Insights Network itself but also on the broader social web into a weekly insights report. Every quarter, we compiled these insights, along with original research and insights from the MSLGROUP global network, into the Peoples Insights Quarterly Magazine. Now, we have synthesized the insights from our year-long endeavor in future scanning as foresights into the future of engagement, in the form of this report. We believe, like William Gibson that, the future is already here; its just not very evenly distributed. So, innovative web platforms in the areas of social data, crowdsourcing, storytelling and citizenship point towards interesting possibilities for brands programs that leverage similar models to engage people. In turn, the web platforms and brands programs of today give us clues to the future of engagement tomorrow. In our individual reports on the ten frontiers that will define the future of engagement, we start by describing why they are important and how they work; we then examine web platforms and brand programs that point to the future (that is already here); then finish by identifying some of the most important features of that future, with our recommendations on how to benefit from them.
Source: egorick on Flickr
People -- citizens and consumers, changemakers and entrepreneurs, artists and hackers are creating the future of engagement, not organizations and corporations. So, organizations can learn best practices from entrepreneurs and changemakers and adapt them in their own engagement efforts. Consider collaborative consumption, where corporations (like automobile manufacturers) are trying to adapt their product-centric ownershipdriven business models to compete with the service-centric access-driven startups (like carsharing and ride-sharing services) that are creating the sharing economy. 2. Shared Purpose and Self-Improvement
Source: camdiluv on Flickr
The shared purpose that fuels engagement is either a sense of citizenship, or a desire for self-improvement. Sustainability, wellness and learning are the three most powerful areas not only for grassroots change movements and collaborative social innovation, but also for behavior change games.
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These areas dont only have the best alignment between societal impact and financial impact, but also the strongest linkage between personal actions and a community multiplier effect. Corporations need to tap into both these motivations, design purpose-inspired platforms and programs, and leverage networked technologies to engage people. 3. Brands as Media Platforms
creating niche social platforms to connect people in innovative ways and specialized software solutions, often in specific verticals, to help organizations engage people with in more meaningful ways. Media organizations and corporations are beginning to partner with, invest in and acquire innovative startups in order to future-proof their engagement strategy. This is most visible in areas like behavior change games, collaborative social innovation, collective intelligence and collaborative consumption. Corporations will increasingly need to behave like venture capitalists, with a portfolio of investments, with short-term, medium-term and long-term technology horizons. 5. Inspiration from Everywhere
Source: triplefivedrew on Flickr
Media organizations are far from dead; instead, they are almost always in the forefront of digital media innovation, especially in areas like transmedia storytelling, social curation and social live experiences, often in partnership with social networking platforms. While corporations have aspirations to become owned media platforms, they often limit themselves to creating short-term programs that fit more easily into the tried and tested framework of a campaign (with the exception of Nike with Nike+). If corporations wish to catch up with social networking startups and media organizations, they must learn the skills and mindset needed to create long-term platforms. 4. Corporations as Venture Capitalists
Source: gsfc on Flickr
The platforms and programs that point to the future of engagement are originating not only in the US, but from all over the world, including Europe, Asia and Latin America, with the Nordics contributing a disproportionate share of pathbreaking projects. This means that US-based organizations must plan to not only replicate their US engagement strategy in other markets, but also learn from innovations in other markets. In particular, European markets are taking the lead in areas like collaborative consumption and social live experiences, which need dense urban centers to be successful. In addition, big emerging markets like China, India and Brazil are producing innovations that are often amongst the best examples in their categories anywhere in the world. As you read our reports on each of the ten frontiers, do consider how your organization might benefit from them, using the lens of these five important patterns. We hope that our report will both provide inspiration and guide action, as you continue your journey to create the future of engagement.
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Source: werkunz on Flickr
Even as the large social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Sina and Tencent are consolidating their strength, entrepreneurs are
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CROWDFUNDING
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People and brands put their money where their mouse is.
What is Crowdfunding? How Does Crowdfunding Work?
On most crowdfunding platforms, a creator (an individual or a group) pitches a project to the community and asks for small amounts of funding. Then, the creator and the community promote the project on the crowdfunding platform, on the social web, and in mainstream media, to gather support for the project, and help it reach the funding goal within a specified duration. Successful creators often have a clear plan for completing their project and a public history of successfully completing similar projects, backed up by links to project website and personal social network profiles. By launching the crowdfunding project in public, creators back up their projects with their reputations. Most backers support crowdfunding projects based on trust, to help their friends or public figures they have long admired create something meaningful. Others are inspired by the newness of the idea or the rewards promised by the project, such as backstage passes for a concert or being included in a films credits. Yet others are attracted to the idea of co-creating the project, by having insider access to updates and the ability to contribute their own ideas to it. Crowdfunding platforms offer creators more than just money. They also help creators test their ideas in public, build a strong community that supports them and spreads the word, and gain visibility on the platform itself, on social networks, blogs and sometimes even newspapers and television.
Source: p22earl on Flickr
Crowdfunding involves people coming together to collectively fund projects they are passionate about and help bring them to life. Crowdfunding has been used to support a wide variety of projects, including disaster relief, citizen journalism, political campaigns, startups, art (music, movies and books), game development, scientific research and causes. In return, funders receive a reward, which might include a product, a customized experience, equity or simply recognition, depending on the type of project. Microlending platforms like Kiva (video), peer-topeer lending platforms like Prosper and microdonation platforms like DonorsChoose (video) can be considered to be predecessors to crowdfunding platforms. However, crowdfunding in its present form can be traced to the inception of platforms like indiegogo (video) in 2008 and Kickstarter (video) in 2009, both of which connect people to creative projects in need of funds. It entered mainstream consciousness in 2012, when several projects on Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms raised more than $1 million each and up to $10 million in funding. These include technology gadgets like e-paper watch Pebble; a music record and tour by Amanda Palmer; gaming projects like gaming console Ouya; and even a community center in Glyncoch, Wales. The success of such crowdfunding projects shows that people are willing to offer financial support to people and projects they believe in, and has created a new model for artists and entrepreneurs to fund their projects.
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View the full infographic at pleasefund.us View the full infographic at intuit.com
As Stephan Angoulvant, design director at texting printing company Lumi, shared: For us, Kickstarter has been a powerful tool to connect with a community passionate about our work, to help us collect critical insight, and to provide a time line that helps us organize our activities as we grow our project. Platforms offer one of two funding models: all or nothing in which the creator only gets the funds if the project reaches the funding goal, and keep it all in which the creator gets whatever amount the project has raised, irrespective of whether it has met the funding goal. Over time, three distinct models of crowdfunding have emerged, focused on donations, lending and investments.
businesses, and Crowdfunder (video) and CrowdCube (video) on startups.
Crowdfunding for Brands

Several brands have used crowdfunding principles in their programs to connect their fans with worthy projects and non-profits (targeting backers), and to encourage fans to start their own projects and catalyze positive change (targeting creators). In the most popular model, brands ask their employees, customers or fans to vote for eligible non-profits to receive philanthropic grants. Many brands also enable the community members to directly back the non-profits by volunteering or donating money. Several brands have launched recurring programs that follow this model, which include Chase Community Giving (video), American Express Members Project (video), and Starbucks Vote.Give.Grow. In another popular model, brands ask their fans to act as changemakers by creating their own projects and gathering support from their networks to qualify for funding. Not only do these projects receive funding, but also visibility from the brand and its community members, and support from the brand and its employees to realize and scale the idea. Branded programs that follow this model include the Pepsi Refresh Project (video), Benettons Unemployee of the Year (video) and Mahindra Groups Spark the Rise (video). Both of these types of crowdfunding programs tap into the same dynamics as the crowdfunding platforms. Brands provide change makers and non-profits the opportunity to connect with a larger community, and offer their fans a range of projects that match their passions. Changemakers and non-profits activate their networks to support the
View the full infographic at intuit.com
As crowdfunding becomes mainstream, we are beginning to see niche crowdfunding platforms targeting specific geographies, funding models and types of projects. Pozible (video), Zeczec and WeFund focus on diverse projects in Australia, Taiwan and the U.K. respectively. ArtistShare (video) focuses on music projects, CrowdRise (video) and Razoo (video) on nonprofits, LoudSauce (video) on meaningful ads, GiveForward (video) on patients, GoFundMe (video) on personal projects, SpaceHive (video) on public spaces, Credibles (video) on food
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projects, and keep backers engaged with updates on progress during the fundraising period. The brand provides credibility and visibility, beyond funding. Finally, brands rely on the wisdom of crowds to identify projects to fund, and fans feel affinity not only for their favorite projects, but also for the brand for creating the platform to support them.
[Kickstarter] recently boasted that it expected to raise $150 million in contributions in 2012. By comparison, the National Endowment for the Arts, noted Yancey Strickler, one of Kickstarters founders, has a budget of $146 million. Kickstarter follows the all or nothing funding model, in which only projects that have successfully met their funding goals approximately 43% of all Kickstarter projects receive funds. Kickstarter believes this model protects everyone involved, as projects with insufficient budgets are less likely to succeed. Since 2009, Kickstarter has helped raise more than $250 million for more than 24,000 projects.
Crowdfunding case studies

Throughout the year, we have tracked the conversations around a number of crowdfunding platforms and branded crowdfunding programs in our weekly insights reports and quarterly magazines; here are a few highlights.
Crowdfunding platform: Kickstarter

Read the full case study on our blog or on Slideshare
Crowdfunding platform: LoudSauce

Source: kickstarter.com
Kickstarter is the largest U.S. crowdfunding platform, empowering artists and engineers to raise funds from individuals. Mike Bulajewski, a user experience designer, described Kickstarter as: A place where artists and engineers can connect with the people in direct peer-to-peer relationships who arent just buying entertainment, theyre helping make dreams a reality. Kickstarter focuses on funding of creative projects and fills a gap that was created by the slow economy and budget slashes. As journalist James Reed observed in the music industry: As the music industrys financial resources continue to crumble, more independent musicians are turning to fans to directly finance work that might not otherwise get done. This need has helped fuel the growth and success of Kickstarter. Journalist Patricia Cohen noted:
Source: loudsauce.com
LoudSauce is a crowdfunding platform that funds advertising for social good. The platform offers people a unique opportunity to broadcast messages that can help society. As social activist Jeremy Williams commented: Most of us cant afford a billboard. But if we got together with like-minded people and each chipped in a bit, perhaps we could use just a small part of the advertising network for something positive. This opportunity helps non-profits and organizations reach larger crowds and create larger networks of like-minded people. Blogger Beth Buczynski observed: Most of these [social media] outlets require people to opt in to receive updates and invites. This means that for the most part, organizations with the ability to catalyze social and environmental change end up preaching to the choir.
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While the platform may not have an immediate impact on traditional media buying and advertising, it is finding support from both consumers and advertisers. As advertiser Michael Caissie commented: I work in advertising and my goal is to make a more human way of communication and this concept of ideas coming from the public is almost to me revolutionary.
Way to go, Chase- it is refreshing to see a big faceless corporation making things right. Thanks for looking out for the little guys! However, the need to campaign for votes and compete with other charities has led to much debate amongst non-profits about the return on investment of participating in such programs. As consultant Carrie Hirmer commented: For us, being in one of these contest-type grants has been a wonderful thing so far. It may not work as well for some organizations. It has helped increase awareness of the need for our project and has served as a door-opener, so to speak, for relationships that will last long after the contest ends. This type of program also requires constant campaign management and proactive communication with audiences. B.L. Ochman, a consultant and contributor to AdAge.com, who has written about this program at length, considers Chase Community Giving to be: a model of what and what not to do in a corporate philanthropy campaign.
Branded crowdfunding program: Chase Community Giving

Branded crowdfunding program: Benetton Unemployee of the Year

Source: mybanktracker.com
Since 2009, Chase Community Giving has donated more than $28 million to more than 500 charities by asking its employees and customers to first nominate eligible charities, then asking its 3.8 million fans on Facebook to vote for their favorite charities. The four-year program has contributed much learning to Chases internal giving strategy. As Samantha Smith, journalist at NY Times said: JPMorgan Chases goal with the above contribution is to continuously engage communities that care and are knowledgeable on change in the JPMorgan Chase Foundations giving strategy. The program has also helped spread the word about Chases philanthropic efforts and shape peoples opinion about the brand. As Julie Brown commented on Facebook:
Read the full case study on our blog or on Slideshare In 2012 Benettons Unemployee of the Year gave 500,000 to 100 projects to celebrate young peoples ingenuity, creativity, and ability to create new ways of addressing the problem of unemployment.
Source: unhate.benetton.com/unemployee-of-the-year
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Crowdfunding
While Benetton is famous for highlighting social issues in its advertising, this campaign marks the brands first effort to support these issues financially. As Stuart Elliott, columnist at NY Times wrote: For almost as long, critics have dismissed the [Benetton] ads as exploitative because they do not offer solutions to the problems or assistance to the causes that could use financial help. Now, however, Benetton is going to put some money where its mouth is. Youth unemployment is a cause that has a large passionate following globally, and the program has inspired widespread coverage of the issue and participation from 42,266 unemployed young people. As NYTimes reader DJ noted: Every little bit helps when you have no job at all." The 5,000 grants and the relevance of the cause will help Benetton build a deeper relationship with the youth market. As Adweek blogger Tim Nudd wrote: They may be less provocative than last years, but perhaps theyll make a more lasting difference in the lives of the target market.
Source: votegivegrow.com/
Involving customers also complemented Starbucks contribution to non-profits. As Starbucks customer Suzanne C commented: This seems like a good way for SB to not only donate funds to a non-profit but to also raise awareness for the non-profits that are out there! In return, customers feel a sense of pride for contributing to worthy causes and a sense of affinity for Starbucks for making it happen. As Starbucks customer Sarah commented: Feels good to patronize a company that is philanthropically minded.
Branded crowdfunding program: Starbucks Vote.Give.Grow

Read the full case study on our blog or on Slideshare In 2012, Starbucks Vote.Give.Grow gave $4 million to 124 local non-profit organizations based on votes from My Starbucks Rewards cardmembers. The program created an opportunity for Starbucks to involve brand loyalists in its corporate purpose. As social do-gooder Tara Nami commented: One of the focus areas of the Starbucks Foundation is helping the communities in which they operate, and during the month of April we, the people, get to help them decide where and to whom it goes to in our very own communities.
Branded crowdfunding program: Mahindra Spark the Rise

Read the full case study on our blog or on Slideshare In 2012 and 2013, Mahindra Group is giving grants of $1 million to 96 ideas and projects that can drive positive change in India under its Spark the Rise program. Mahindra also connects change makers with each other and mentors, to help create an ecosystem for social innovation in India.
Source: sparktherise.com
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The program is a demonstration of Mahindra Groups commitment to its corporate philosophy Rise. Ad veteran Ramesh Narayan commented: Mahindra is making a statement it is committed to helping India, and backing it with action. [Spark the Rise] is an eloquent statement of its positioning, unlike a mere advertising campaign that says the company is committed to some cause or the other. The initiative taps into the passions of the Indian crowds, as former ad-man Lakshmipathy Bhat pointed out: The rallying cry of Rise and the call to action of Spark the Rise couldnt have come at a better time there are heroes emerging from every walk of life and being egged on by the general public. As consumers evolve in the digital age, it is important for brands to be seen as authentic and socially responsible. Narayan commented: As consumers get younger and more aware, these will be increasingly important critical factors affecting choice."
We also expect some niche crowdfunding platforms to focus on connecting brands with creators and backers. Projeggt (video) in Spain is trying to promote a model where brands sponsor projects in return for custom rewards from creators. Already, we are seeing examples of brands, organizations and celebrities supporting projects on crowdfunding platforms. For instance, Mozilla Firefox is offering matching grants at Crowdrise. Some brands will go further and create their own crowdfunding platforms, and ask their community members to fund projects and non-profits on a matching grant basis, not only through virtual actions such as voting. However, as branded crowdfunding programs become mainstream, and their novelty wears off, we expect that they will become more focused, with a stronger alignment between the brands purpose and the type of projects or non-profits it funds.
The Future of Crowdfunding

In the near future, we expect equity-based crowdfunding platforms to become a popular way to fund startups across the world, as financial regulation is modified to allow allocation of equity against crowdfunding. Such models already work in markets like the UK. We also expect consolidation amongst the larger crowdfunding platforms, as large crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and indiegogo become truly global through organic growth, acquisitions and partnerships. For instance, indiegogo is already investing in supporting projects by creators from across the world and building a strong global network of partners, and Kickstarter has already expanded to the UK. In parallel, we expect even more niche crowdfunding platforms that focus on an underserved segment or geography, as white label crowdfunding software like Launcht, Hayduke, Invested In, CrowdForce and Catarse become more powerful.
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Crowdfunding
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BEHAVIOR CHANGE GAMES
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People use the power of games, networks and data to change their behavior
What are Behavior Change Games?
people to track and change their behaviors. For instance, 10 million people use personal finance management service Mint.com (video) to track over $80 billion in credit and debit transactions and almost $1 trillion in loans and assets. Behavior change games use the power of games, networks and data to help people create meaningful change. In 2012, a number of niche behavior change games emerged across a diverse range of topics. Quentiq (video), FitBit (video), Nexercise (video), Health rageous (video), Hotseat, Jawbone UP (video), Striiv (video) and Zamzee (video) help people track their workouts and activity automatically. Fitocracy, Super Better (video), Habitual, SlimKicker, Hubbub (video), HealthMonth, Mindbloom (video), Healthy Heroes (video) and Goalpost help people become healthier and develop good habits. Practically Green, Recycle Bank (video) and OPower (video) help people adopt a greener lifestyle and save electricity. Mint (video) and Pay off (video) help people manage their finances and debt. Urgent Evoke (video) and World Without Oil (video) educate people about social issues and encourage them to contribute to solutions. Code Academy and DuoLingo (video) help people master a programming language, or learn French. Epic Win (video) and The Email Game (video) help people increase their productivity and complete tasks or clear their email inbox. Finally, Goodify (video), Keas (video), Shape Up and Youtopia (video) are focused on organizations and schools, and help them motivate employees and students to volunteer or get fit. Some of these behavior change games have also created social impact at scale. Shape Up has helped 700,000 people lose 1 million pounds, PayOff has helped members pay off $41 million of debt, and OPower has helped people reduce energy consumption by 1.6 billion kilowatt hours and save $179 million on electricity bills.
Source: nanpalmero on flickr
Behavior Change Games use game design elements and the power of communities to motivate people to achieve challenging tasks in the real world. Behavior change games have been used to enable people to lead a healthy and sustainable lifestyle, recover from illness and injury, manage time and money, learn new skills, and engage with political and social causes. The rise of behavior change games can be tracked to three changes in how people play games. First, social games on Facebook have widened the appeal of games beyond the video gaming niche of kids and young adults. For instance, Zyngas Farmville (video) had more than 83 million monthly active users at its peak. Second, marketers, entrepreneurs and change makers have adapted game design principles in contexts other than entertainment, to design marketing and loyalty programs, social networks and training software, and serious games for social impact. For instance, location-based social network Foursquare (video), which uses gamification to make checking-in more fun, crossed 25 million users in September 2012. And, third, the explosion in personal, social and location data has led to the popularity of the quantified self movement, enabling
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How do Behavior Change Games work?
Source: latddotcom on flickr
The success of behavior change games shows that people can change deeply entrenched behaviors and form lasting good habits, if they are able to break up big challenges into small goals, receive feedback on their progress, and tap into their networks for support. This is not surprising. Game researcher Jane Mc Gonigal, who is also the author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World explains why such games work: Gamers spend on average 80% of their time failing in game worlds, but instead of giving up, they stick with the difficult challenge and use the feedback of the game to get better. With some effort, we can learn to apply this resilience to the real-world challenges we face.
Source: hyerdashery on flickr
Most behavior change games include four game design mechanisms: setting goals and missions, tracking progress, receiving incentives, and receiving support. The first step in most behavior change games involves setting a goal and missions, quests or challenges to achieve the goal. Players have missions assigned to them, choose from a set of pre-configured missions, or create their own missions. Missions range in difficulty, and new players are encouraged to start with easier missions before proceeding to more difficult ones. On Mint (video) and Payoff (video), typical goals include paying off a credit card debt or buying a house, while on Fitocracy and Super Better (video) typical missions include eating healthier or working out. Most behavior change games track progress by asking players to complete virtual tasks (Urgent Evoke (video), World Without Oil (video), Code Academy and DuoLingo (video)) or self-report on their progress (Recycle Bank (video), Fitocracy and Super Better (video)), while some automatically track data through sensors and feeds (Quentiq (video), Nexercise (video), Zamzee (video), OPower (video), Mint (video) and Payoff (video)). Most games use
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Click to watch: Jane McGonigal at TED 2010
points, rankings, levels and leader boards to help players measure their progress and compare their performance to friends, similar others, and other players. For instance, OPower compares players energy consumption to that of their neighbors and Mint compares peoples spending habits across categories such as coffee, phone bills and gas. These benchmarks help players reevaluate their missions and encourage a healthy sense of competition, both to beat their own best performance and that of their friends. Players receive incentives when they accomplish tasks such as completing their profile, inviting friends, sharing their progress, or achieving a milestone. Incentives range from rewards like points, virtual goods and unlocked content; recognition through badges, levels, titles and special privileges; and in some cases real-life prizes including cash prizes (Payoff.com) and holidays packages (Recycle Bank). Incentives are effective in attracting first-time players, helping them get started and creating fun and excitement. After they are hooked and begin to successfully complete missions, players receive the ultimate incentive to keep playing they see a change in their behavior and experience a sense of pride and self-empowerment. Most behavior games are intrinsically social in nature. They encourage players to share their performance with their social networks and connect them to other people who have struggled with or overcome similar challenges. These communities of friends and like-minded strangers offer players support, encouragement, advice and, when needed, a good dose of peer pressure. In some games, friends have specific roles to play; for instance, in Super Better, players invite allies to create special missions for them, while in Urgent Evoke, players give power votes and act as mentors for others. Behavior change games work best when they are designed with wonder, playfulness and storytelling at their core. In spite of the hype around gamification and the success of white label gamification solutions like Badgeville (video), Bunchball (video), and BigDoor, its not enough to just add community or game elements to boring tasks. Game researcher Nicole Lazzaro explains why we play games: Wonder, one of the strongest emotions of game design, rivets player attention and unleashes powerful neurochemicals that facilitate learning. At the heart of every intellectual pursuit, at the
Annual Report Behaviour Change Games
root of nearly all engagement, wonder keeps players coming back. Game researcher Raph Koster argues in his book Theory of Fun for Game Design that games and stories have a complimentary role: Games tend to be experiential teaching; stories teach vicariously. Games are good at objectification; stories are good at empathy. Games tend to quantize, reduce, and classify; stories tend to blur, deepen, and make subtle distinctions. Games are external they are about peoples actions; stories are internal they are about peoples emotions and thoughts.
Behavior Change Games for Brands

Brands are beginning to create their own behavior change games, as marketing campaigns, smart phone or social apps and even sensor-enabled products, to help people change their behavior in an area that is aligned with the brand purpose. Several brands are adding game elements or even creating social games to deepen engagement with their grassroots change movement campaigns. These are typically short term contests, tied to marketing campaigns or important events, with prizes for participation. For example, MTV created the MTV Fantasy Election (video) to educate and engage young voters around the 2012 U.S. elections. Players created teams of politicians and gained or lost points based on their teams performance on five criteria civility, transparency, honesty, engagement and public opinion calculated by using data from social networks and non-partisan civil society organizations. Other brands are creating smart phone or social network applications that enable consumers to sign up for challenges, self-report on their progress, and get the support of their friends to stay fit. For example, GE has created a series of social apps including HealthyShare (video) andFit Friendzy (video) as part of its Healthy magination (video) initiative to help players stay fit. Finally, sports and fitness brands are creating sensor-enabled products and creating games and communities around them to enable people to automatically track their personal data and use it to change their behaviors. Nike with Nike+ has been an early leader in creating a behavior change game ecosystem, including the Nike+ community, Nike+ iPhone and Android apps (video) and several Nike+ products including the Nike FuelBand (video). Since 2006, Nike has
motivated its community of 7 million people to achieve 13 million daily fitness goals, run 733 million miles, and burn 27 billion calories. Now, Adidas is trying to replicate its success with miCoach (video).
Behavior Change Games case studies

Throughout the year, we have tracked the conversations around a number of behavior change platforms and branded behavior change programs in our weekly insights reports and quarterly magazines; here are a few highlights.
SuperBetter relies on the power of its community to help motivate people. Players are encouraged to invite family and friends, or other members of the SuperBetter community, to become their allies. Allies keep players motivated with words of encouragement and by creating new quests for them. Alex Goldman reflected: I suppose this is a bit of a no-brainer, but I was shocked at how motivating it was to have other people designing quests for me. The quests I created for myself seemed so pedestrian by comparison." As success stories begin to emerge, acupuncture student Jason Lay commented: I see healthcare professionals of different strokes being very interested in SuperBetter. The potential for hands-off delivery and training of health-promoting habits and attitudes is tremendous using this gaming model. SuperBetter has over 100,000 members and people have used the game to meet health challenges ranging from sleeping disorders, obesity and self-confidence issues, and even to meet life challenges such as completing a novel.
Web platform: SuperBetter

Source: superbetter.com
Branded program: MTV Fantasy Election

Launched in 2012, Super Better is a super-hero themed online game that helps people improve their resilience, meet their health goals, recover from illness or injury, and have fun along the way. The game packages everyday occurrences into elements of a super-hero story and offers a new perspective to solving daily challenges. For instance, obstacles are bad guys or villains that need to be defeated in order to win. As one player commented: The very idea has changed the way I approach work as a challenge to defeat and earn my reward (pride). As part of the story, players choose personas for themselves. Personas can be based on real or fictional heroes and help motivate players to achieve goals they previously considered impossible. As SuperBetter player Courtney Sloan commented: The gaming aspect allowed me to step away from myself and do things not because I wanted to, but because my hero self would not take no for an answer. She had the willpower, so would I.
Source: fantasyelection.mtv.com
To educate and engage 18-29 year olds around the 2012 U.S. elections, MTV launched Fantasy Election a game in which players create teams of politicians and gain or lose points based on the politicians real-life behavior. For instance, politicians received points for engaging with their constituency on social networks or in a town hall, and lost points for inaccurate statements and uncivil advertising. Players who selected
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good politicians scored more points, climbed the leader board and increased their chances of winning prizes. TIME journalist Keith Wagstaff noted: The idea is that while Millennials might not venture to a host of dry political sites to keep track of which politicians are disclosing funding sources and making false claims, they might pay attention if their Fantasy Election team loses points especially if those points can lead to prizes like a trip for four to the Video Music Awards. MTV offered a total of 3,022 prizes ranging from $5 gift cards to an all expense paid trip for four to the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards to keep people engaged during the two month campaign. The game also gives political issues a much needed layer of fun. As blogger Gary Henkle noted: Fantasy Election 12 can definitely be used as a tool by student activists to bring their disengaged friends on board. For any friend who says I want to be more involved, but I dont know how this works, this game makes discovery of the political process more fun than a didactic civics lesson, and as mentioned brings awareness in less time. MTV Fantasy Election replaces MTVs 20year Choose or Lose election slogan with a campaign more suited for todays youth. As Keith Wagstaff said: The days of simply prompting young people to vote from a rock concert are over; twentysomethings expect everything to be online and that includes political engagement.
In 2012, Nike introduced the Nike Fuel Band a wearable product that measures peoples daily activities and work outs in a virtual metric called NikeFuel. People can view their performance data on their smart phones or the Nike+ website and can compare results and NikeFuel earned with friends and members of the 7 million strong Nike+ community. Nike targets the everyday athlete with the FuelBand. As journalist Jessica Stanley observed: Just Do It is one of the best positioning statements in the world, but customers started to change. Dont just say it, help us. The FuelBand does this by re-positioning everyday activities and chores as a sport, measuring peoples daily activities and rewarding them for doing more. The concept of instant feedback immediately appealed to self-trackers, like Jenna Wortham, who commented: From the moment I wrapped the band around my wrist, I was enamored with the idea of a device that could help me collect data about my habits and behavior, so that I could try to improve them. Ever present on the wrists of the owner, the FuelBand displays the amount of NikeFuel earned for the day, and motivates people to meet their daily goal. MSLGROUPs Gaurav Mishra talks about how the NikeFuel band has helped him become more active: I am a big believer in breaking down a large challenge into small challenges and ticking them off in public. I remember that the year I first bought a Nike+ shoe was the year I ran most regularly. The instant feedback and the sense of progress were almost addictive. Then, I lost the sensor, and lost my stride. I bought a NikeFuel band a few weeks back and I have seen my activity levels go up significantly since then. Instead of taking a taxi, I walk 3+ km to work, both ways, and I am planning to buy a bike for the weekends. I even created a goal on Nike Plus to finish 2012 active. Another FuelBand user Alyson Shontell wrote: The mix of guilt and competition the FuelBand makes you feel pushes you to make healthier decisions.
Branded product Nike FuelBand

Source: nike.com Annual Report Behaviour Change Games
The Nike FuelBand is the latest addition to Nikes suite of fitness tracking products, all of which
incorporate some elements of games, networks and data to help people achieve their fitness goals.
The Future of Behavior Change Games

We believe that we are only beginning to understand the potential of behavior change games to create meaningful change for individuals, communities and the world, and also their many risks. In the future, behavior change games that tap into the power of games, networks and data will become pervasive across business, civil society and government organizations and permeate all aspects of society. Game designer Jesse Schell, who is the author of the classic The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, predicts in his visions of game pocalypse talk: Games and real life are reaching out to each other with such force that we might come to a condition of gamepocalypse-where every second of your life youre playing a game in some way.
Specifically, we expect healthcare and insurance companies to work with governments to explore behavior change games as cost-effective ways to manage, treat and prevent long-term illness such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. As Dustin DiTommaso, VP of Experience Design at Mad*Pow, said: Each year, billions of dollars are spent to move our behaviors in a healthier direction to avert crisis such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other costly and painful afflictions. Leveraging the motivational dynamics of game play to energize and sustain people through behavior change is a challenging yet profound solution. We expect to see a new generation of innovative sensor-based gadgets designed to track data and trigger behavior change in niche areas. Products like the Withings blood pressure monitor, FitBit Aria Wi-Fi scale (video), MyZeo sleep manager (video) and Changers solar charger (video) are early examples of this trend. We expect brands to create their own behavior change game ecosystems, like Nike did with Nike Plus, or acquire innovative startups that integrate the power of game, network and data, like Intuit did with Mint (video). Other brands will sponsor third party behavior change games and make them available for employees and associates like Aetna did with Mindbloom Life Game (video). We also expect more brands to partner with games to create dedicated versions for their employees, like Zappos did with SuperBetter. Zappos was a development partner with of SuperBetter from the game's inception, and Zappos employees were the first to use SuperBetter to achieve their health goals.
Click to watch: Jesse Schells Visions of Gamepocalypse talk at The Long Now Foundation
We expect the gamification enterprise solutions ecosystem to mature, and new startups to focus on niches like governance and public services, health and wellness, environment and sustainability, and education and learning. For instance, UBoost offers gamification solutions tailored for education and health. We expect behavior change games to also become more focused on specific demographics, diseases or habits, to create customized experiences and close-knit communities. For instance, Goalpost has created a 12-week game to help people quit smoking and Zamzee (video) focuses on helping teens become more active.
Click to watch: Zappos + SuperBetter
Finally, we expect more start ups like Goodify (video), Keas (video), Shape Up and Youtopia (video) to offer solutions for companies to inspire employees and engage them around health and wellness, and social service, and we expect these startups to specialize around narrow niches.
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Annual Report
Organizations and people co-design innovative and sustainable solutions to create shared value.
What is Collaborative Social Innovation?
reach new groups of innovators from across the world, thanks to the internet. Third, networks like TED, PopTech, Echoing Green, Ashoka and StartingBloc are connecting young change makers and showcasing their work, through conferences, challenges and fellowships, inspiring others to follow in their footsteps. As a result, we are seeing a number of platforms focusing on different aspects of collaborative social innovation. Open IDEO (video) by design and innovation consultancy IDEO has partnered with businesses, governments, and non-profits to create a series of collaborative social innovation challenges.
Source: thinkpublic on Flickr
Collaborative social innovation initiatives involve businesses, governments, non-profits and change makers coming together to co-create innovative and sustainable solutions around a shared purpose. Such initiatives typically focus on the areas that have the highest potential to create shared value: environment, energy and sustainability; health, wellness and nutrition; education, learning and capability building; and governance, public services and public spaces. Change makers are typically rewarded with prize money, recognition, funding or support; organizations find solutions to important challenges; and society at large benefits from the innovative solutions. The rise of collaborative social innovation can be attributed to three broad trends. First, businesses, governments and non-profits are realizing the importance of multi-stakeholder social innovation solutions that create shared value, especially in the context of engaging Gen Ys. Second, organizations like the XPrize Foundation, which have a long history of creating large-scale, high-profile, incentivized prize competitions to solve problems that are important for society, are learning how to
Click to watch: OpenIDEO by IDEO
ChallengePost, MindMixer (video), Ashoka Change makers (video) and One Billion Minds are other third-party collaborative social innovation platforms which enable organizations to create challenges for the public. ChallengePost focuses on open government challenges and MindMixer encourages civic engagement, while Ashoka Change makers and One Billion Minds feature a wide range of social innovation challenges. Other platforms, like MIT Center for Collective Intelligences Climate CoLab project, are focused on a single topic, like climate change.
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Open government is another important area for collaborative social innovation. In the US, Challenge.gov, which is built on Challenge Post, has created a series of open government challenges for federal, state and local agencies, while Data.gov encourages developers to build applications using its public data sets and showcases the best applications. In parallel, organizations like Sunlight Foundation and Code for America are helping create the ecosystem to enable collaborative social innovation. In the UK, SparkCentral is a government collaborative social innovation platform that aims to build partnerships across the public, private and voluntary sectors to deliver more for less. In Finland, Open Ministry is a legislation crowdsourcing platform that enables Finnish citizens to propose new laws to the parliament. Some of these collaborative social innovation platforms have had significant impact. For instance, Ashoka Change makers has channeled $600 million in funding to more than 10,000 social innovators, through more than 50 challenges, with the help of more than 500,000 community members. The success of collaborative social innovation initiatives shows that organizations and people are capable of co-creating innovative solutions to complex problems, and has created a new model
How does Collaborative Social Innovation work?
Source: grafixer on Flickr
Collaborative social innovation platforms are typically a hybrid of three models: innovation challenges, innovation ecosystems, and open data platforms. Most online collaborative social innovation initiatives follow a contest model in which an organization posts a challenge on a platform and invites individuals, groups of individuals or other organizations to submit innovations. These innovations can be at any stage of completion, ranging from ideas or sketches to full-blown business proposals to products, services or technologies that already exist at a smaller scale. Some platforms include a structured design thinking approach with inspiration, concepting, evaluation and collaboration phases (OpenIDEO), while others break up the challenge into what, where and who elements (Climate CoLab). Some platforms match community members with challenges based on interest (ChallengePost) while other motivate community members by using game mechanics like a design quotient score (OpenIDEO).
Click to watch: Ashoka Change makers
for change makers to showcase their innovations, for governments and foundations to find solutions to societal issues and for businesses to realize sustainable growth. Like MITs Thomas W. Malone says: We want to create more intelligent organizations, more intelligent businesses, more intelligent governments, more intelligent societies. As all the people and computers on our planet get more and more closely connected, its becoming increasingly useful to think of all the people and computers on the planet as a kind of global brain.
Annual Report Collaborative Social Innovation
Innovations are judged either quantitatively according to a set of scoring criteria or qualitatively by a panel of judges typically made up of experts, specialists and members of the funding committee. In some cases, community members must vote on ideas to increase their chances of appearing before the judges. Winning innovators are rewarded with either cash prizes (ChallengePost, Ashoka Change makers) or with recognition and satisfaction that they have helped contribute to social good (OpenIDEO, Open Ministry). Some of these innovation challenge platforms are designed primarily as destination communities (OpenIDEO, One Billion Minds), while others offer white label options to enable organizations to create their own standalone challenge platforms (ChallengePost, MindMixer). For some platforms, like Ashoka Change makers, the innovation challenges are a small part of the overall innovation ecosystem, which includes community, capability building and funding. For other platforms, like Data.gov, the innovation challenges serve the purpose of connecting government agencies who can share public data with change makers and developers who can build applications on top of this data to improve how these agencies deliver public services. In essence, all collaborative social innovation platforms are designed around four dynamics: connect, catalyze, crystallize, and celebrate. First, platforms need to connect stakeholders so that they have a context to engage with the organization and with each other. Then, platforms need to catalyze interactions so that new ideas and projects can emerge organically. Next, platforms need to synthesize these ideas into solutions that benefit from and build upon the best ideas. Finally, platforms need to celebrate the most powerful or popular ideas, actions and stories by highlighting them.
and connect social innovators (Mahindra Spark the Rise, Dell Social Innovation Challenge) and also as part of their business strategy, to co-create innovative and sustainable solutions that create shared value (GE Ecomagination Challenge, GE Healthymagination Challenge (video)). Social innovation challenges that are part of a companys business strategy usually benefit the change-maker or innovator, the business itself and society at large. In such programs, the brand is usually looking to invest in or acquire the innovation, or promote it by supporting it with its business scale. For instance, since the launch of the GE Ecomagination Challenge (video) to find innovations in energy and sustainability, GE has committed $134 million to 22 investments and commercial partnerships, granted $1.1 million in seed funding to early stage companies and entrepreneurs, and acquired one of the businesses that entered the challenge.
Click to watch: GE Ecomagination Challenge
Collaborative Social Innovation for Brands

Just like third-party collaborative social innovation platforms, branded collaborative social innovation platforms are typically a hybrid of three models: innovation challenges, innovation ecosystems, and open data platforms. The most popular model for brands is innovation challenges, or contests to crowdsource social innovation solutions. Several brands have launched social innovation challenges, both as part of their citizenship strategy, to fund, inspire
Other social innovation challenges dont have a direct impact on the companys business, but do strengthen the companys reputation by strengthening its association with social innovation. In many such initiatives, companies partner with educational institutions or nonprofit organizations and target students and young innovators. Dell Social Innovation Challenge (video), HP Social Innovation Relay, Citi Innovation Challenge, Sony Open Planet Ideas (video#!), Toyota Ideas for Good (video), Samsung Solve for Tomorrow (video), Intel Innovators (video),Sygenta Thought for Food Challenge (video, McKinsey Social Innovation Video Contest and Dell Go Green Challenge (on MSLGROUPs Peoples Lab crowdsourcing platform) are good examples. Some companies commit to long-term social innovation challenge platforms, with the intention of creating an ecosystem to connect change makers and build capabilities. For
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instance, both Mahindra Spark the Rise (video) and Pepsi Refresh Project (video) ran for two years and created significant impact. We have covered both these initiatives in our Future of Engagement report on Crowdfunding as examples of crowdfunding programs focused on creators. Anand Mahindra, Chairman and Managing Director of Mahindra Group, talked about the role of such initiatives: The way companies build brands has evolved. In version 2.0, we saw companies come in with a larger purpose and meaning, beyond the business. Now, we are trying to build a 21st century corporation, by energizing people and giving them a core purpose to be part of. Some of these social innovation ecosystems take the shape of public-private partnerships that bring together stakeholders from business, government, academia and civil society to institutionalize social innovation. For instance, Walmart has created 14 Sustainable Value Networks since 2005 to bring together diverse stakeholders to develop solutions to fulfill Walmarts commitment towards renewable energy, zero waste and sustainable products. IBM launched the Smarter Cities Challenge (video) to collaborate with local governments and co-fund technology-based solutions to city-specific urban challenges. HP launched the Catalyst Initiative to collaborate with educators in finding innovative solutions to enhance student literacy in STEM subjects. In other collaborative social innovation initiatives, companies create open networks to share intellectual property and knowhow, and encourage stakeholders to build upon it. As an example, to realize its vision of sustainable considered design, Nike created the GreenXchange (video) in 2009 as an open platform for companies and people to share green intellectual property, processes and ideas. Michael Dell, CEO and Chairman of Dell, sums up the opportunity this positive multi-stakeholder approach opens up for all of us: The new engine of innovation driven by collaboration, openness, stewardship and the power of the social web gives all of us an opportunity to drive even more rapid, meaningful change across global institutions.
Collaborative Social Innovation Case Studies

Throughout the year, we have tracked the conversations around a number of behavior change platforms and branded behavior change programs in our weekly insights reports and quarterly magazines; here are a few highlights.
Web platform: Open Ministry
Source: avoinministerio.fi
In March 2012, the Finland Citizens Initiative Act went into effect, giving citizens the right to propose legislation to the Finnish Parliament, provided 50,000 citizens of voting age support the idea within six months. To facilitate this, a group of non-profit entrepreneurs launched web platform Open Ministry through which citizens can propose and vote on new legislature online. Several banks and telecom providers have supported this platform by providing free access to their verification APIs. Journalist Susan Fourtan welcomed the move: Today, companies are crowdsourcing everything from designs of cars to marketing slogans. Why shouldnt governments follow suit? Indeed, people too are interested in collaborating over legislature. Joonas Pekkanen, founder of Open Ministry, wrote: Citizens have begun to call for a more open, transparent and participatory western democracy in place of the old rigid system.
Annual Report
Collaborative Social Innovation
David Meyer, a writer at GigaOm.com, attributed the success of the initiative to Finlands culture of openness and history of collaboration between citizens and the government, and noted the global significance of the Open Ministry project: Nordic countries tend to have relatively close societies where people are enthusiastic about pitching into civic life Tech-driven democracy fans in other countries may not find the environment as conducive to crowdsourced legislation right now, but on the other hand they just got themselves a model to study. In October 2012, the first citizen-proposed law, a ban on fur farming, entered Parliament with the support of 55,000 citizens.
In early 2012, Intel gave $300,000 to youth innovators who presented ideas on how they would change the world through technology, as part of the Intel Innovators contest. The contest helped youth innovators gain attention not only from the industry, but also from their close and extended networks. Pascal Wagner, a participant in the contest, reflected on how the experience led him to reach out to his extended network for support and become more vocal about his project: While walking around my college campus, I had over 20 different people stop me asking me about Wordio and the competition most of them had not known that I was working on this project for the last four months. A unique aspect of Intel Innovators is the use of gamification to involve people who werent participating directly in the contest. Rooshabh Doshi, member of the MSLGROUPs Insights Network, noted: Making fans who invest the most amount of social capital on participants, Top Fans and allowing them to be a part of The Battleground to award an idea $50,000, gives them an immense feeling of belonging at the end of the day Its a win-win for fans as well as participants at the end of the day. Intel Innovators was a part of Intel Innovators of Tomorrow branding campaign and demonstrated the commitment of the company to fostering innovation among young entrepreneurs. Noah Kerner, CEO of Noise, the agency behind the campaign, said: [Start ups] can raise money from funds like GEs 200MM Ecoimagination Challenge or programs like Intel Innovators, which we created in part to give young entrepreneurs access to funding that they might not otherwise have. In the future, there will be an increasing number of opportunities like this so young entrepreneurs can get more creative about how they raise money and smarter about how much equity they give up.
Branded program: Intel Innovators

Click to watch: Intel Innovators

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Branded program: Dell Social Innovation Challenge

Click to watch: Dell Social Innovation Challenge
Suzi Sosa, a Dell employee and contributor to Forbes BrandVoice highlighted the importance and rise of systems innovations, a trend emerging in the social entrepreneurship industry as well as in the Dell Social Innovation Challenge: Though not always as simple or sexy as product innovations, systems innovations are critical for our planet. The worlds most urgent problems remain unsolved because they are tied to broken systems that no single product can remedy. The winners of this years Dell Social Innovation Challenge created two systems innovations that not only have the potential to impact the lives of millions, but also reflect an important and exciting trend for social entrepreneurship worldwide. The Dell Social Innovation Challenge community has 230,000 members. Nearly 500 employees have participated in challenge as mentors or judges.
Source: dellchallenge.org
Since 2007, the Dell Social Innovation Challenge has inspired 15,000 students from 105 countries to share 4,500 proposals to tackle the worlds problems and has empowered them with access to peers, mentors and faculty members and $450,000 in funding. Dell has also committed to investing a further $5 million to engage more students every year. The Dell Social Innovation Challenge has acted as an incubator for several promising start ups, and has helped entrepreneurs boost their skills, networks and marketability. Katherine Bascom, who was part of the 2010 winning team Shining Hope for Communities, said: Since weve won [the challenge], weve raised $1.2 million from funders like Echo in Green, Newmans Own Foundation and several other small family foundations. Weve been featured in New York Times, Vogue Magazine and Fast Company and other media outlets.
Branded program: Mahindra Spark the Rise

Source: sparktherise.com
Annual Report
Collaborative Social Innovation
In 2012 and 2013, Indias Mahindra Group is giving grants of $1 million to 96 ideas and projects that can drive positive change in India under its Spark the Rise program. Mahindra also connects change makers with each other and mentors, to help create an ecosystem for social innovation in India. The program is a demonstration of Mahindra Groups commitment to its corporate philosophy Rise. Ad veteran Ramesh Narayan commented: Mahindra is making a statement it is committed to helping India, and backing it with action. [Spark the Rise] is an eloquent statement of its positioning, unlike a mere advertising campaign that says the company is committed to some cause or the other.
ChallengePost and MindMixer, which are focused on social innovation and civic engagement. Mature organizations will need to go beyond platforms and commit to long-term publicprivate partnerships that create strong multistakeholder ecosystems to scale both the engagement in such initiatives and the impact of the innovations that result from them (Dell Social Innovation Challenge, IBM Smarter Cities Solutions). Specifically, we expect educational institutions to become more proactive in both partnering with other organizations to co-create collaborative social innovation initiatives targeted at students, and find innovative ways to bring such initiatives into the classroom (OpenIDEO University Toolkit, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow). Even as more corporations create brandingdriven collaborative social innovation challenges, we expect more Fortune 500 firms to follow GEs example and create challenges which have a direct business impact, by investing in the winning innovations, or using their business clout to scale them. As open government data and application programming interfaces (APIs) become that norm, we expect many more governments to open up civic data and invite developers to build applications on top of them. We also expect some non-profits and corporations to experiment with this model and share data or intellectual property in an open network so that third party developers can build social innovation applications on them. In a TED Talk, former U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer Beth Noveck said: If we want to see the hopeful, exciting kinds of innovations in clean energy and education and development, if we want to see those adopted and scaled, we must all participate. Open up institutions and let the nutrients flow throughout our culture to create open institutions, a stronger democracy, a better tomorrow. Finally, as organizations become better at designing and measuring collaborative social innovation initiatives, we will see them investing heavily to replicate pilot innovations across markets and scale their impact (Walmart Sustainable Value Networks).
Click to watch: Mahindra Spark the Rise
Former ad-man Lakshmipathy Bhat noted the need for companies to embrace purpose-driven campaigns like Spark the Rise: Consumers are a lot more wary of advertising claims. They also have access to information on the internet which allow them to form a considered opinion about a brand and not just depend on what the advertising says. So in a way, companies can be caught out if they were to merely pay lip service to a claim In this context, the Mahindra Group initiative, Rise is commendable.
The Future of Collaborative Social Innovation

In the near future, we expect collaborative social innovation to become the norm both for corporations creating innovations that create shared value and governments and change makers designing solutions for social good. Even as white label open innovation platforms like BrightIdea and Peoples Lab mature, we will see more specialized platforms like
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4. GRASSROOTS
CHANGE MOVEMENTS
Annual Report
Brands and people act together around a shared purpose to create meaningful change.
What are Grassroots Change Movements?
in fact, trust in all organizations is at an all-time low across the world, and people believe that they themselves can drive real change, not governments or corporations. Third, people are searching for meaningful connections with communities around a shared purpose; they expect organizations to enable such connections, and are willing to reward organizations who do. Finally, the scale of social networks (Facebook has one billion members globally), the ease of one-click sharing via Facebook Likes and Twitter Retweets, and the virality of popularity-driven activity streams have made it easy for people, especially Gen Y, to participate in and help spread such movements. Unilever CEO Paul Polman succinctly summed up the power of social movements and their importance for corporations: If [social media activists] can bring down the Egyptian regime in a few weeks, they can bring us down in nanoseconds. We have seen a number of grassroots change movements, in which social media has played an important role. Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street (video), India Against Corruption, Spains 15-M (video) and Mexicos Yo Soy 132 (video) focused on economic equality and political regime change. Kony2012 (video) and Free Pussy Riot (video) focused on human rights in Uganda and Russia. WWFs Earth Hour (video) and 350 (video) focus on climate change. It Gets Better (video) and All Out (video) focus on LGBT issues. Bonos ONE (video) and RED (video) fight poverty and AIDS in Africa. Movember (video) rallies people around mens health, Adbusters Buy Nothing Day (video) promotes anti-consumerism, Free Hugs Campaign (video) encourages human kindness and Startup Weekend supports entrepreneurship.
Source: untitlism on Flickr
Grassroots change movements involve a large numbers of people acting as change agents, in their own lives or in their communities, in a way that their actions can be aggregated or coordinated, leading to significant impact and meaningful change. Grassroots change movements might be catalyzed and managed by organizations, including corporations, or they might be sparked by an event and spontaneously spread through the initiative of volunteers. Many grassroots change movements are political and focus on issues like human rights, freedom of expression and economic equality. Now, many organizations are applying a similar approach to catalyze behavior change and create shared value in the areas of environment, energy and sustainability; health, wellness and nutrition; education, learning and capability building; and happiness, kindness and human potential. Grassroots change movements have moved into the mainstream due to four important dynamics. First, people have new types of power: to access information, connect with each other, express their opinions, and change the course of public debate. Second, people dont trust organizations;
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The success of such grassroots change movements shows that people have the desire and the tools to participate and act to drive change around a shared purpose they are passionate about.
How Do Grassroots Change Movements Work?

Click to watch: 350
We have also seen an ecosystem of dedicated platforms and products to support such movements. Change.org (video), Avaaz.org (video), Care2 (video) and Causes (video) are amongst the leading platforms for changemakers to start and support petitions, raise and donate funds, recruit and volunteer, and create and share content, each with several million members. Edward Nortons Crowdrise (video) partners with celebrities to raise funds for non-profits. eBay co-founder Jeff SkollsParticipant Media and Take Part use socially conscious movies like An Inconvenient Truth, Contagion and Food Inc to promote social actions. Agencies like Blue State Digital, Purpose and GoodCorps exclusively focus on creating social movements, while organizations like New Organizing Institute help build capabilities for grassroots organizers. Finally, changemakers use platforms like Meetup, UStream and Kickstarter (video) to organize events, livestream video or raise funds.
Grassroots change movements typically involve four change drivers: a shared purpose to inspire people, an ongoing platform to organize people, a series of interconnected programs to energize people, and stories to spark participation and action. Almost all grassroots change movements have a strong shared purpose. Often, the purpose is to oppose a harmful practice, prevent a negative outcome, or fight to protect something, but movements focused on positive outcomes also work (Free Hugs Campaign (video)). Often, movements are initiated by an individual, a small group, or an organization, and then carried forward by volunteers and supporters. Many movement organizers provide how-to guides to show supporters how to get involved (Earth Hour (video), It Gets Better (video)). The best movements create a ladder of engagement for supporters, to first get them involved with simple actions like signing petitions, voting for causes, or sharing content; then get them more engaged by asking them to share personal stories, donate money, buy merchandise, or volunteer time; and finally convert them into partners by inspiring them to recruit supporters, raise funds, or organize local events. Some movement platforms also use gamification features, like points and leaderboards, to move supporters up the ladder of engagement. (Movember (video)).
Click to watch: Participant Media/ Take Part
Some grassroots change movements have achieved significant impact. The Arab Spring movement led to a series of regime changes across the Middle East. The Occupy movement and Take the Square movements have spread to over 100 cities in the United States and over 1500 cities globally. 1.1 million people worldwide registered for the Movember movement in 2012 and raised $135 million for mens health.
Click to watch: Movember Fundraising Tips
Annual Report
Grassroots Change Movements
Even writer Evgeny Morozov, who rails against slacktivism in his book Net Delusion recognizes the value of this approach: Create diverse, distinctive, and non-trivial tasks; your supporters can do more than just click send to all button all day. Facebook could actually be a boon for those organizing a campaign; they just need to figure out a way in which to capitalize on identity aspiration of slacktivists by giving them interesting and meaningful tasks that could then be evaluated. If a movement becomes successful, the original leaders find ways to spread the movement across the world, while maintaining its original spirit (Adbusters/ Occupy). Many movement organizers also create guides to help volunteers organize local chapters or events (How to Occupy, Earth Hour, 350, Startup Weekend). Some organizers create interactive maps, so that supporters can easily find local chapters (Earth Hour, 350, Take the Square). Movement platforms can be designed to have ongoing engagement, like an online community or a physical space, or periodical engagement, like an annual event or an annual contest (Movember, Earth Hour). The most successful movements keep supporters engaged through a series of interconnected programs (350 2010 summary, 350 2011 summary, Kony MOVE:DC, Kony Cover the Night) and a stream of stories, often shared by the community members themselves (We Are the 99%, It Gets Better).
Many movement organizers proactively seek the support of celebrities to gain more visibility. Invisible Children asked supporters to email or tweet to specific celebrities whose support could spread their message. Earth Hour partnered with celebrities to create the I Will If You Will campaign.
Click to watch: Earth Hour I Will If You Will
Finally, stories and content play a big role in sparking a wave of sharing and participation, which help movements go viral and achieve results. For instance, the Kony2012 video has received 95 millions views on YouTube and attracted global attention to the Kony 2012 campaign. The Free Hugs Campaign video has received 74 million views. The original It Gets Better video has received more than 2 million views and the response videos have more than 50 million views collectively.
Click to watch: Free Hugs Campaign Click to watch: All Out
Sometimes, these programs result in offshoot projects that spread the movement to new constituents or in new directions (Occupy Network). Often, other organizations join in a movement and create their own offshoot projects, helping the movement grow (Amnesty International Free Pussy Riot Map).
Grassroots Change Movements for Brands

Brands are realizing the power of grassroots change movements and creating movement marketing initiatives to benefit from them. Scott Goodson, author of the movement marketing book Uprisingsummarizes how movement marketing works:
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You start by identifying a powerful idea on the rise in culture. You then join, fuel and add real tangible value to the idea through innovative marketing and social media. People who share the passion for the idea join the cause. And rally others to get involved too. And so, a movement is born, which smart brands can profit from. Brands can engage in grassroots change movements at many levels, starting with participating in existing movements, then creating their own campaigns around purpose and participation, and finally catalyzing and committing to long-term movements. Many brands start by participating in or partnering with movements that resonate with their values, and encouraging their employees to participate. For instance, Gap (video) and Google (video) encouraged their LGTB employees to create videos to participate in the It Gets Better movement. Several brands have supported the Earth Hour and (RED) movements, and some have played significant roles in promoting these. For instance, Starbucks with its annual {RED) programs (2008 video, 2009 video, 2010 video) has raised more than $10 million for the (RED) Global Fund.
Some brands see movement marketing as an extension of cause marketing, and create campaigns that rally support for a cause. Here, brands typically partner with a non-profit and make a donation to it, often based on sales or community participation, but also create content that inspires community members to pledge support, share their own stories and spread the word. For instance, Google Take Action (video) rallied people to pledge their support for a free and open web. Aircel Save Our Tigers (video) catalyzed a public debate in India to protect tigers. Brand crowdfunding programs, like Chase Community Giving (video), American Express Members Project (video), and Starbucks Vote. Give.Grow, that ask community members to support non-profits by volunteering or donating money can also be included in this category. Increasingly, brands are creating movements marketing campaigns that focus on inspiring people to change their own behavior, and aggregating these actions so that they add up to meaningful change. For instance, P&Gs Secret Mean Stinks (video) aims to end girl-to-girl bullying and inspire girls to gang up for good and be nice to each other. Sometimes, these behavior changes movements can be fun and whimsical. For instance, Doritos in Argentina created a movement to bring slow dancing back (video). Some brands create an annual event to focus their effort to bring about behavior change. For instance, American Express Small Business Saturday encourages Americans to shop at independent stores, each year on the Saturday following Thanksgiving (2010 video, 2011 video, 2012 video). Other brands create a series of interconnected behavior change campaigns around their shared purpose, or Social Heartbeat. For instance, over the years, Starbucks has created a series of movement marketing campaigns in the US, which link back to its shared purpose of being the third place and nurturing community values (vote in the 2008 elections, pledge 5 hours of volunteer time, change local communities, bring your own tumblr, help create jobs). Tata Tea Jaago Re in India has created campaigns to inspired people to register to vote, volunteer for causes and spread positivity. MSLGROUP has helped Alpenliebe inspire millions of young people in China to share, appreciate and engage in everyday acts of kindness, through a movement marketing campaign that is now entering its third year. Some of these behavior change movements can also be seen as behavior change games. For
Click to watch: Starbucks RED
Some brands create short-term campaigns around purpose and participation, but stop short of committing to them long enough to turn them into movements (GE Celebrate What Works). Sometimes, these short-term campaigns are a part of long-term purpose-led programs (GE Ecomagination Tag Your Green (video). Brands that have committed to long-term movement marketing initiatives can take three distinct routes. They can rally people to support a cause or raise funds for it; they can inspire people to change their own behavior in a way that adds up to meaningful change; and, they can create ecosystems to support changemakers who are creating change in their own communities.
Annual Report Grassroots Change Movements
instance, Nike has created a series of campaigns, increasingly around Nike Plus and Nike Fuel (video), which use gamification features like challenges and levels to inspire people to become more active (Nike Global Game on World, Nike Hong Kong Make It Count, Nike Mexico Bid Your Sweat, Nike Global Missions). Finally, some brands are creating long-term platforms, with the intention of creating an ecosystem to connect changemakers and build capabilities. These platforms provide the tools and the enabling ecosystem for people to act as change agents in their own communities. Often, these platforms ask community members to create their own grassroots change projects and activate their networks to get funding and scale their projects. For instance, both Mahindra Spark the Rise (video) and Pepsi Refresh Project (video) created platforms to support changemakers that created significant impact. We have covered both these initiatives in our Future of Engagement reports on crowdfunding and collaborative social innovation. In summary, brands can create a campaign around purpose and participation, but it becomes a movement only if people make it their own. For movement marketing to work, the brand needs to think of itself as a custodian of the movement, not its owner; it needs to nurture the movement over multiple years, but also create the space for it to become bigger than the brand itself. If a brand tries to control the movement, and keep it on message, the movement is likely to be stillborn, or die a slow death.
Grassroots change movement: Kony2012

Source: sinuousmag.com
Grassroots Change Movements Case Studies

Throughout the year, we have tracked the conversations around a number of grassroots change movements and branded programs in our weekly insights reports and quarterly magazines; here are a few highlights.
In March 2012, non-profit Invisible Children released a 30 minute documentary that sparked a grassroots change movement to make indicted war criminal Joseph Kony famous and pressurize policy makers to call for his arrest. The documentary broke records by topping 100 million views in just six days. Social Media strategist Calum Brannan shared his views on why the video went viral: Viewers are shown Share buttons in the first few seconds almost subliminally, now Im not a psychologist, but one could hazard a guess this helps plant that seed. This video is emotive, its a roller-coaster of happy to sad to shock. Film maker Russell invites the viewer to participate in an experiment, and the use of the word We and Us instantly builds a sense of community and is very personal. The end of the video provides clear instructions on how you can help, leading with financial ones first, then powerfully suggests that the least you can do is Share the video. People were directed to the Kony 2012 website and given specific calls to action to spread the word, sign a pledge, buy Kony 2012 actions kits, donate money and send messages to lawmakers and celebrities, including Bill Clinton, Justin
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Bieber and Oprah, asking them to tweet on #StopKony and retweet other #StopKony tweets. Many celebrities responded to these messages, including Oprah who tweeted: Thanks tweeps for sending me info about ending #LRAviolence. I am aware. Have supported with $s and voice and will not stop. #KONY2012. The Kony2012 campaign inspired many to think deeply and share their opinions, thereby flooding their social network streams with KONY 2012 content and building momentum of the movement. Science and technology writer Peter Murray wrote: Not only is the video being viewed like crazy, but people are posting their own clips and commentary. In this new age of interactive media, viewers are investing their own time to record and upload their own thoughts. As I write, 278 video clips have been uploaded to the KONY 2012 YouTube video campaign. As of the 200th video, their average length was six minutes. Ashraf Engineer, member of the MSLGROUP Insights Network commented: For me, the root of the campaigns success lay in its calls-to-action. People want to be involved, to feel that they are making a difference. It was by giving viewers a sense of participation that the campaign went viral. This is an important lesson for marketers too. Involvement spells success.
Grassroots change movement: Free Pussy Riot

Supporters wearing the balaclava, the symbol of the movement, at the Russian Consulate in New York City, via FreePussyRiot.org In March 2012, supporters of Russian feminist punk-rock band and anti-Putin activist group Pussy Riot initiated the Free Pussy Riot movement to protest the detention of three band members and to attract international intervention. The remaining band members created FreePussyRiot.org as the central platform of the movement, where they shared news updates and progress, including live tweets from the court house, in multiple languages; and directed people to fundraising campaigns (FundRazr), online petitions (Avaaz.org, Change.org, Causes.com) and events such as the Global Day of Solidarity which took place in 74 cities across the world. The organizers also recruited support from organizations such as Amnesty International and The Voice Project, and musicians and artists, each of whom created programs at the grassroots level. For instance, The Voice Project encouraged people to buy merchandise on CafePress, musicians and poets organized fundraising events such as readings and benefit concerts, rapper Peaches created a music video, Paul McCartney tweeted his support to his 1 million followers, Madonna wore a balaclava (the symbol of the movement) and addressed the issue at her concert in Moscow, and Amnesty International urged people to write to Russian officials and share photos of themselves wearing balaclavas. Tom Watson, a journalist at Forbes, pointed out that the movement went viral because it involved niche communities who shared the same passions:
Click to watch: KONY 2012: Whats Next
Inivisible Children, organizer of the Kony 2012 movement, continues to engage its network of supporters with follow up programs and specific calls to action to attend conferences and rallies, share photos on Instagram with #move:dc, message politicians who have not yet confirmed their support and buy merchandise on their web platform.
Annual Report
Grassroots Change Movements
Like the Occupy movement, it involved a small group that magnified its attention through other nodes: Amnesty International, feminist bloggers, the foreign policy press, and a vast mob of supporters on Twitter and Facebook. Suzanne Nossel, Executive director, Amnesty International USA, pointed out that the balaclava and the image of the Pussy Riot activists has also helped the cause attract attention not only from musicians and activists, but also the media: Observers have chalked up Pussy Riots prominence to the groups provocative name and the band members adroit use of historical images with a 90s era Riot Grrl style. Content too played a large role in attracting attention and keeping people motivated. For instance, A few hours after the three women were sentenced to three years imprisonment, the remaining group members released a new single, Putin Lights a Fire. This song was picked up by The Guardian who used it to create a video montage with multimedia from the trial and fan protests. This in turn was published in sites including the Huffington Post, thereby reaching a larger audience.
Grassroots change movement: It Gets Better Project

Source: itgetsbetter.org
In response to a rise of gay youth bullying and suicides in the U.S., Dan Savage and Terry Miller created the It Gets Better Project, a purposeinspired movement that solicits personal stories from LGBT adults and allies to let LGBT teens know that life gets better. Social media and YouTube gave the co-founders the opportunity to reach out to supporters and LGBT teens across the globe with their message in real-time and without the need of seeking approvals or spending money. In an interview with ABC News, Dan Savage co-founder of the It Gets Better Project said: It occurred to me that we can talk to these kids now. We dont have to wait for an invitation or permission to reach out to them using social media and YouTube. They posted their video a week after a controversial suicide, at a time when the LGBT community and legislators were paying attention to the cause. As Heidi Massey, a non-profit new media consultant said: The timing was perfect. It was so relevant to what was going on. Since its launch in September 2010, more than 50,000 stories and messages of support have been shared on YouTube from LGBT adults and allies including celebrities Barack Obama, and companies including Gap and Google. The videos have collectively been viewed more than 50 million times. Journalist Ivor Tossel pointed out why so many adults connected to the concept of sharing their story:
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Click to watch: Free Pussy Riot The Guardians video montage
Blogger Courtney Fowler noted: So what does Pussy Riot teach us? It indeed has shown us what is possible in an interconnected world. It shows us how successfully a protest movement can employ the internet to spread their message globally.
Its a testament to the projects universality. Put aside the question of homophobia for a moment. Who hasnt, at some point, wanted to deliver a message-in-a-bottle to their younger selves? Who hasnt wanted the reassurance that the trial of adolescence will eventually end? The movement also makes use of transmedia storytelling tactics to increase its impact. Two one-hour specials on MTV have helped the movement reach more people, a book of essays was launched and supporters encouraged to donate them to school libraries, and a musical tour involves local audiences around the cause. The It Gets Better platform acts as the action center of the movement, keeping people up to date on the latest developments and videos shared, and directing people to share their story, pledge their support, donate to the cause, buy merchandise and connect on social media.
leaders, created conversations across the social web, organized kindness trips with non-profit partners, compiled the most inspiring stories into a kindness bible, and honored them on the world kindness day. In response, an engaged community of 150,000+ members shared 151,000+ kindness stories and 3,270,000+ shares and comments across social networks, and the success of the campaign led to 330+ print articles and TV reports. In 2012, Alpenliebe continued to engage the community with the 365 Days of Positive Power campaign, in which it created an infographic everyday to inspire the community to engage in a specific act of kindness. The community grew to more than 600,000 members and engaged in 3.1 million shares and comments across social networks, making Alpenliebe the third most influential brand on Sina Weibo. The Alpenliebe Kindness Movement is one of the best examples of purpose-inspired movement marketing from China because of how it inspired behavioral change in Chinese youth through a sustained integrated marketing program across two years.
Click to watch: It Gets Better
Branded program: Alpenliebe Kindness Movement

Read the full case study on our blog or on Slideshare Alpenliebe, the flagship brand of Perfetti Van Melle, the third largest confectionery company in the world, is positioned around the proposition of sweetness in the mouth, kindness in the heart in China. In 2011, Alpenliebe decided to convert kindness into a shared purpose, a social heartbeat and catalyze a movement to inspire, organize and energize millions of Chinese youth to share, appreciate and engage in everyday acts of kindness. Alpenliebe created a series of kindness videos on Tudou and a TV series with its celebrity kindness ambassador, crowdsourced kindness stories on a Renren minisite, partnered with key opinion
Annual Report Grassroots Change Movements Click to watch: Case study: Alpenliebe Kindness Movement by MSLGROUP
As Henry Mason, head of research and analytics at independent firm Trendwatchingcommented: For brands, its never been easier to surprise and delight audiences; whether sending gifts, responding to publicly-expressed moods or just showing that they care. Via social networks, brands can now access consumers moods, intentions, desires or frustrations as they happen, and can therefore address them in a much more personalised and timely fashion."
Branded program: Nike Find Your Greatness

Already inspired to work out after watching athletes on the Olympics, and the Find Your Greatness spots, people took up Nikes challenge to earn NikeFuel and share photos of their FuelBands and activity graphs on Facebook and Twitter. Nike catalyzed this movement with a goal to make August 12 the most active day in the history of Nike+. Nike+ products owners participated and succeeded in setting a new record 596 million NikeFuel points. In the words of CMSWire blogger Deb Lavoy, Nike Find Your Greatness is an example of how corporate purpose can be both very, very profitable, while also creating value and prosperity for its customers. By merging corporate purpose (inspiring athletes) and narrative (find your greatness), Nike was successful in exciting people about the brand and motivating people to use the products.
Source: gameonworld.nike.com
In time for the London 2012 Olympics, Nike launched the purpose-inspired Find Your Greatness movement, sharing stories of everyday athletes from various locations around the world, challenging the notion that greatness is reserved for elite athletes, and inspiring everyday people to become active. The campaign is an extension of Nike tagline and co-founder Bill Bowermans philosophy: If you have a body, you are an athlete. Nike featured a new story every day, covering 19 different sports, including gymnastics, basketball, BMX and Wushu. The minimalist ads featured normal people and delivered hard hitting messages.
Click to watch: Nike Game On World
Branded program: American Express Small Business Saturday
Click to watch: Nike Find Your Greatness
People sent in their #FindGreatness stories via Twitter and images via Instagram, and Nike featured the best stories on its digital hub Game On World A sub-campaign, #FuelCheck, promoted Nike products more directly, while also engaging the Nike+ online community. People were encouraged to set and measure goals using their Nike+ FuelBand, earn Nike Fuel points by working out, and share their achievements through social networks Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and its own Nike+ Community.
Source: facebook.com/SmallBusinessSaturday
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In November 2010, American Express launched Small Business Saturday, a purpose-inspired movement to encourage Americans to support local independently owned businesses and shop small on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. In its third year, American Express promoted the movement with a nationwide radio and TV campaign, and encouraged small business to promote themselves with free advertising credits on Facebook and Twitter, free marketing materials (in association with partners like FedEx), tips on getting customers and tips on setting up Facebook pages, YouTube ads and Foursquare deals. 500,000 small business owners leveraged these materials and tools via Facebook and the Small Business Saturday website, adding to the momentum of the movement.
and 213,000 tweets mentioned the movement in the month of November 2012. As psychology professor Ross Steinman pointed out, customers are willing to pay extra and see the money go to their communities.
Branded program: Google Take Action
Source: GOODCorps
In November 2012, Google launched the Take Action platform to spread awareness about freedom of the internet and recruit support from global audiences to keep the web free and open. The platform launched a few weeks before a closed-door United Nations meeting, hosted by the International Telecommunications Union, in which 193 countries met to revise the twenty four year old International Telecommunications Regulations treaty.
Click to watch: AmEx Small Business Saturday
As PRWeek reporter Lindsay Stein wrote: Business owners are ticking up their grassroots communications for American Express Small Business Saturday initiative. American Express mobilized supporters to do four things: shop small, rally friends to do the same, spread the word on social media and share photos of themselves at small shops on Instagram with #SmallBusinessSaturday. People could find participating stores using a tool on the Small Business Saturday website. American Express also incentivized participation for cardholders, rewarding them with a $25 credit for spending $25 at a participating merchant. The cause resonated with leaders and policy makers as well, who voiced their support for the movement across the nation. President Obama tweeted his support and participated by shopping at a local bookstore on Small Business Saturday. $5.5 billion was spent at independent merchants on Small Business Saturday in 2012, 3.2 million people have liked the movement on Facebook
Annual Report Grassroots Change Movements
The platform shares information about the perceived threat and directs web users to sign the Free and Open petition online. To increase the credibility of its cause, Google directed people to similar web effort, Protect Internet Freedom, where more than 1,000 organizations from more than 160 countries have spoken up too, showed a video mash up of people sharing their support and plotted messages from supporters on an interactive global map. Michael Ender, a contributor to Information Week, noted: The site essentially establishes a timeline to explain the companys fears. One bullet point focuses on the past, reminding visitors that many governments are actively censoring web results and enacting laws that threaten online expression. Another looks to the near future, warning that "some of these governments are trying to use a closed-door meeting in December to regulate the Internet. Googles chief internet evangelist Vincent Cert spread the word through an email to web publishers and influencers and guest articles on NYTimes and CNN, and urged people to spread the word and take action.
Many web writers, including David Gewirtz at ZDNet, echoed the message: This is a time for action. Visit Googles Take Action site and take action. Pick up the phone, Tweet, post, Facebook, yell, protest, email your Congresscritter, donate, and otherwise make a fuss. Remember, We The Internet can make one heck of a fuss when were angry. Earlier in the year, Google played a key role in energizing netizens to voice their opposition to U.S. anti-piracy and copyright bills SOPA and PIPA. To date, 3.1 million people have signed the Free and Open petition.
quests, track their progress and receive support. We also expect that transmedia storytelling will play an increasingly important role in cutting through the cacophony of a million movements, building an emotion connection with people, and inspiring them to participate and act. We expect that movement marketing will become the norm for brands, and most brands will experiment with it to engage Gen Ys and Gen Zs. In response, we will see a rise in cynicism for such programs, with people accusing brands of movement-washing. To create successful movements, brands will not only need to create campaigns to catalyze the movement, but also commit to the movement for the long term. Brands will be expected to show their commitment to the movement by going beyond engaging celebrity endorsers and asking community members to share their stories, and creating long term platforms to enable behavior change, support changemakers, or co-create solutions. Brands will also need to take action themselves to show that they have skin in the game and create compelling content to inspire community members to take action. In essence, brands will have to learn the four skills writers Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith outline in their book The Dragonfly Effect: 1) focus: identify a single concrete and measurable goal; 2) grab attention: cut through the noise of social media with something authentic and memorable; 3) engage: create a personal connection, accessing higher emotions, compassion, empathy, and happiness; and 4) take action: enable and empower others to take action. Finally, corporations will need to learn how to participate in, and even catalyze, multistakeholder movements to shape public opinion. For instance, MSLGROUP in Sweden created the Job Roast initiative to spark a public debate on youth employment before the elections.
The Future of Grassroots Change Movements

In the near future, we expect grassroots change movements to become the norm for civic participation as Gen Ys and Gen Zs learn more powerful ways to connect online and offline to support causes they believe in. As smartphones become ubiquitous, and location awareness becomes an integral part of how we connect with each other on social networks, we expect the boundaries between online and offline action to blur. With people exercising their power in a more organized fashion, all types of organizations, including governments, public institutions and corporations, will need to understand how movements and create crisis response plans in anticipation of public uprisings. With non-profit organizations and activists adopting grassroots change movements as the primary mode to rally support for their causes, we expect that people will begin to feel movement fatigue, especially for movements that involve fighting against something. Instead, we expect people to channel their energies towards movements that aim to create positive change in the areas of environment, health, education and human potential and participate in collaborative social innovation initiatives to co-create sustainable solutions for complex problems. Specifically, we expect that people will grow tired of the many movements that ask them to engage in simple tasks like signing a petition, voting for causes, or sharing content. Instead, they will participate in a smaller number of movements and engage in more meaningful acts like donating money, volunteering time, or organizing local events. In a related trend, we expect grassroots change movements to look more like behavior change games, with platforms that enable people to set personal goals, undertake
Click to watch: The JobRoast: Public Affairs, Dragons Den style

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5.
CO-CREATION COMMUNITIES
Annual Report
Brands and people partner to bring in a new renaissance of creativity.

What are Co-creation Communities?
communities, often building upon easy-to-use open-source kits (Arduino). Author Patricia Martin calls this cultural movement "The Renaissance Generation". As a result, we are seeing a number of platforms focusing on different aspects of co-creation. Threadless (video) invites its community members to submit t-shirt designs in themebased challenges. HitRecord invites artists to upload their creations, remix others creations, and participate in collaborative projects. Quirky (video) and Ahhha (video) invite wannabe inventors to collaborate with the community to convert their ideas into products. Cut On Your Bias (video) invites fashion enthusiasts to collaborate with new fashion designers on their upcoming collections. Other platforms, like OpenIDEO (video), which we have covered in our report on collaborative social innovation, focus on bringing together businesses, governments, non-profits and changemakers to co-create innovative and sustainable solutions around a shared purpose.
Source: ngmmemuda on Flickr
Co-creation involves organizations, entrepreneurs, artists, experts and people coming together people to create new artifacts including books, movies, music, art, software, products and solutions. Artists, entrepreneurs and organizations benefit from the contributions of community members, while contributors showcase their insights and creativity, and get rewarded in terms of recognition or prizes. The rise of co-creation can be attributed to three broad trends. First, millions of people all over the world are expressing themselves not only by posting blogs, photos, and videos, but also by hacking software and hardware, and making art and craft. Second, people are increasingly thinking of themselves as creators, showcasing their creations in online portfolios (Behance (video), deviantART, SoundCloud), and selling their creations in peer-to-peer online marketplaces (Etsy, Cafepress, Zazzle (video), BandCamp, Lulu). Third, people are teaching each other how to create things (Howcast, Instructables (video), Skillshare (video), Craftsy (video)), and learning by making things together, in online (DIY.org) and offline (MakerFaire (video)
Source: Threadless
In the public consciousness, co-creation communities are best known for the free usercreated encyclopedia Wikipedia and the free and open source operating system Linux, but they have also resulted in books (The Mongoliad,Business Model Generation), movies
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(Life in a Day (video), Britain in a Day (video), One Day on Earth (video), One Day in Venice (video), The Cosmonaut (video),CollabFeature (video)), music (Genetic Music Project) and art (The One Million Masterpiece). Some of these co-creation platforms and projects have had significant impact. For instance, Threadlesss community of 2.3 million members have submitted and voted on 260,000 t-shirt designs and won $7.1 million in awards. National Geographic and YouTube received 4,500 hours of footage in 80,000 submissions from 192 countries for Life in a Day and the YouTube channel has been viewed 34 million times.
Source: Quirky.com/Learn
Source: Life in a Day
The success of co-creation platforms like Threadless shows that people dont only desire to express themselves creatively, but they also want to create together with likeminded creators, in online and offline communities. Equally importantly, the success of co-creation projects like Life in a Day shows that its possible to break down big creative endeavors, like making a movie or creating a product, into small tasks, inspire thousands of contributors to engage in the task, then aggregate the contributions back into a meaningful artifact.
Typically, the platform owners, or their partner organizations initiate co-creation projects (Threadless, Cut On Your Bias, OpenIDEO, Life in a Day), but community members can also initiate projects (HitRecord, Quirky). On many platforms, community members retain the right to their own contributions, but winners usually give over their rights for prize money, or licensing fees. In some cases, the initiators share the ownership of the project by releasing it under a Creative Commons license. Most co-creation platforms enable community members to submit contributions, activate their social networks, and rate, vote and comment on contributions. Some also provide gamification features like points and levels to encourage community members to participate more (OpenIDEO, Quirky). A few platforms also enable community members to collaborate with others and form teams. Some platforms are more restrictive, and only allow community members to vote on options (Cut On Your Bias). Most co-creation platforms rely on challenges to attract contributors and encourage participation, so community members often end up competing with each other. However, many co-creation platforms incentivize community members to support others contributions by rewarding them with social influence (OpenIDEO) or cash (Quirky), or creating a culture of quid-pro-quo collaboration (Threadless). In essence, all co-creation communities are designed around four dynamics: connect, catalyze, crystallize, and celebrate. First, platforms need to connect community members around a shared interest so that they have a context to engage with the platform and with each other. Then, platforms need to catalyze
How do Co-creation Communities work?

Co-creation communities can be classified across three important dimensions: the relationship between initiators and contributors, the possibilities for participation, and the nature of collaboration.
Annual Report
Co-creation Communities
contributions, often by running time-bound challenges. Next, platforms need to synthesize these contributions into meaningful artifacts and products. Finally, platforms need to celebrate the most powerful or popular contributions by rewarding them.
Co-creation Communities for Brands

Consumers are beginning in a very real sense to own our brands and participate in their creation we need to begin to learn to let go. - A. G. Lafley, former CEO and Chairman of P&G Branded co-creation communities can be classified into three models: branded challenges on niche crowdsourcing platforms, branded co-creation challenge platforms, and ongoing cocreation communities. In the first model, brands run short-term public or private challenges on niche crowdsourcing platforms to tap into their specialized communities: designers, developers, animators, filmmakers, engineers, or scientists. Challenges typically have phases for entry submission, community voting, and selection of winners by jury members. Creativity-driven challenges related to creative designs, branded videos and animation films (Zooppa, PopTent (video), Tongal (video), Eyeka (video),MOFILM, Springleap, Talenthouse) are typically public, and winners are often selected based on a combination of community voting and jury judgment. Solution-driven challenges related to software applications, product innovations, and business solutions (Top Coder, Kaggle (video), Local Motors (video), Innocentive (video), Jovoto (video)) are sometimes private and winners are sometimes selected based on objective technical criteria.
In the second model, brands create their own co-creation challenge platforms to engage their community members and crowdsource branded videos (Doritos Crash the Super bowl, Pepsi Halftime (video), Tata Indica Xeta Shootout) and product innovations, including limited edition designs (Nescafe Dolce Gustos Euro Design Contest, Citroen You Like It We Make It (video), Heineken Your Future Bottle (video), Nike ID (video)), new food and beverage flavors (Mountain Dew Dewmocracy (video), Lays Do Us a Flavor (video)), Dominos Australia Social Pizza (video), McDonalds Mein Burger (video), Lec Ice Cream), new product designs (Fiat Mio (video)) and business solutions (GE Ecomagination Challenge (video), GE Healthymagination Challenge, GE Imaging Innovation Challenge). Some brands host the challenge on niche crowdsourcing platforms to tap into the community, but also promote them on their own branded destinations (GE Quest (hospital video, flight video), Dominos Ultimate Delivery Vehicle (video)). Other brands need to create their own branded destinations to provide sophisticated dashboards to community members to pick and choose product options to customize their product (Nike ID, McDonalds Mein Burger, Fiat Mio). Some challenges offer separate community prizes based on community voting, and jury prizes based on jury selection, and some reward community members who offer constructive comments and feedback with prizes.
Source: Fiat Mio
Source: Jovoto
In the third model, brands build and nurture their own co-creation communities and encourage contributions through a series of challenges (Heineken Ideas Brewery (video), Dominos Think Oven)). The most successful of these cocreation communities, like Nike ID (video), not only run a series of challenges but also create value for consumers between challenges, by enabling them to customize the products on an ongoing basis. Other co-creation communities, like LEGO CUUSOO (video), rely on the almost unlimited passion of their brand fans to sustain engagement, and only need to regularly review
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popular submissions, and launch them as new products. Several brands have invested heavily in ongoing ideation platforms to co-create the brand experience with their customers and launch product and process innovations based on customer ideas (BarclayCard Ring(video), My Starbucks Idea, Dell Ideastorm, Best Buy IdeaX). These communities rely less on challenges and rewards, and more on community engagement and customer support, to sustain participation from community members.
In 2011, LEGO opened up its Japanese crowdsourcing platform CUUSOO to global audiences, inviting adults to submit and vote for new LEGO product designs. Levent Ozler, editor-in-chief of Dexigner, summarized the process: Ideas that are supported by 10,000 votes have a chance of being selected to become part of the LEGO Groups product portfolio and sold in LEGO Brand retail stores and the LEGO online shop. Consumers who have their ideas chosen will earn 1% of the total net sales of the product.
Source: Nike ID
All the three models need brands to incentivize community members to submit and support contributions. Incentives can range from social influence and gift cards on one extreme, to a Super Bowl TV spot (Doritos Crash the Super bowl), a million dollars or 1% of net revenue (Lays Do us a Flavor), or a $10 million commercial contract (GE Ecomagination Challenge).
Source: LEGO CUUSOO Process and Summer Review Results
CUUSOOs 10,000 vote requirement helps streamline the crowdsourcing process. The Idea Connection team noted: Lego receives original ideas but is not weighed down by too many which can be costly and time consuming to examine. And fan support can provide some kind of indication of the potential popularity of a concept. The fan-facing effort has challenged LEGO to increase the speed of its product release cycle. Matthew Kronsberg, a writer at Fast Company, said: Such an outpouring of [fan] interest would be squandered though, if that consumer desire was left to wither through a traditional product development cycle. And this is where the second, and possibly more significant piece of the Cuusoo endeavor comes into play: Lego Minecraft will go from concept to release in roughly six months, rather than Legos typical two- or three-year process. There are currently 3,787 live projects at LEGO CUUSOO. Three co-created products have been launched to date, and a fourth one is in production.
Co-creation Communities Case Studies

Throughout the year, we have tracked the conversations around a number of branded cocreation challengesin our weekly insights reports and quarterly magazines; here are a few highlights.
Branded program: LEGO CUUSOO

Source: lego.cuusoo.com Annual Report Co-creation Communities
LEGO has launched several efforts to nurture and enable a spirit of creation amongst adults and children alike, with digital tools LEGO Digital Designer and LDraw, and social networks LEGO Club and ReBrick. Joren de Wachter, an IP strategy consultant, noted: The genius of Lego is to embrace and share that creativity, rather than trying to own it.
Blogger Reuben Halper noted: Its all about the execution in this case as Razorfish created a compelling experience for users to generate their own bespoke burger creation. Perhaps more importantly, they also provided the tools to for users promote their burger creation and encourage their friends, as well as the general public, to vote for the eventual winners. The five most popular burgers were featured in McDonalds TV commercials and served at 1,415 McDonalds locations in Germany for a week each. Online, 116,000 burgers were created, 12,000 user-generated marketing campaigns were created and 1.5 million votes were cast. In real life, the campaign set local benchmarks for promo burgers sold, customers gained and revenue raised.
Branded program: McDonalds Germany Mein Burger

Source: mcdonalds.de/mein_burger
To celebrate its 40th anniversary in Germany, McDonalds launched Mein Burger, a six-monthlong crowdsourcing campaign that invited Germans to make their own burgers online. People used a Burger Configurator tool to choose from 70 ingredients (bread, meats, sauce) to build their dream burgers, and to give them personalized names. Nidhi Makhija, member of the MSLGROUP Insights Network, pointed out that these names served as an outlet for creativity and acted as content pegs people could push out while asking for votes: It helps differentiate the crowdsourced burgers without having to scrutinize the ingredients. The burger inventors can name their creations after themselves for an ego boost. And the comedians out there get to have some fun (someone even suggested a Mc Gyver burger!). People then gathered support from their social networks using a DIY marketing tool kit from McDonalds.
Source: Mein Burger Case Study
In two years, more than 460,000 recipes were created and voted upon an abundance of data and insights for McDonalds. The campaign has been launched with adaptations in Austria, the Netherlands and Spain.
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Branded program: Heineken Ideas Brewery

To participate in the Ideas Brewery challenges, people submit their elevator pitch online in the form of text, images or video. Raz Godelnik, a contributor at TriplePundit, wrote: In Heinekens contest, not only can everyone access ideasbut they can also vote for their favorite ideas. Participants are also encouraged to promote their ideas via social networks, as number of votes is factored in to which ideas win the contest. A jury selects finalists who are invited to a cocreation workshop in Amsterdam to refine their ideas with Heineken experts and make their final pitch. Then, three winners are announced and receive a share of $10,000.
Source: ideasbrewery.com/Idea
In March 2012, Heineken launched Ideas Brewery, a platform through which the brand shares co-creation challenges and connects with consumers. The first challenge asked people for ideas on Sustainability, the second challenge asked people to Reinvent the Draught Beer Experience, and the third challenge asks people to share insights on the 60+ demographic.
Source: Ideas Brewery Reinvent the Draught Beer Experience Workshop
Future of Co-creation Communities

Co-creation challenges around crowdsourcing designs, videos and stories have already become the norm for adding a social media component to brand campaigns, and many creators are becoming fatigued with them, forcing brands to support them with bigger paid media budgets, more attractive prizes, and celebrity endorsements. We foresee that, going forward, the best way to run such challenges on a small budget would be to partner with a niche creative crowdsourcing community like Jovoto or MoFilm. We also expect such creative crowdsourcing communities to specialize by country and language, with Neocha Edge in China and Brandfighters in Netherlands being early examples. At the same time, we expect more brands to run higher order co-creation challenges focused on product innovation and incentivize contributors with a percentage of revenue (Lays Do Us a Flavor), and even create ongoing co-creation
Source: Ideas Brewery 60+ Challenge Brief
The team at Coverstories highlighted the need to co-create designs and products with consumers: For a company with consumer products it should be regular way to work out new ideas. Whether public or a closed focus group, tapping into real customer thinking cant be wrong and offers a valuable reality-check on product development. In terms of Innovation Management it is currently the most effective and productive way to go.
Annual Report
Co-creation Communities
platforms to invite ideas from customers (Dell Ideastorm) or enable customers to customize their products (Nike ID). We also expect thirdparty product innovation communities like Quirky to create end-to-end new product development solutions for brands, beyond ideation. Author Nilofer Merchant lists co-creation as one of the 11 Rules for Creating Value in the Social Era: More and more companies embrace consumers as co-creation partners in their innovation efforts, instead of as buyers at the end of a value chain. Consumers, traditionally considered as value exchangers or extractors, are now seen as a source of value creation and competitive advantage. This collaboration shares power between the participants as we start to recognize value creation as an act of exchange, not simply a one-way transaction. As an exchange, all parties need to do it sustainably as each must have equilibrium to stay viable. We also expect that more organizations will follow PepsiCos example in replicating cocreation best practices across brands (Mountain
Dew Dewmocracy, Doritos Crash the Super bowl, Pepsi Halftime) and countries (Lays Do Us a Flavor), and run them over multiple years (Doritos Crash the Super bowl, Lays Do Us a Flavor) to maximize the benefit from them. Even as white label co-creation solutions like MSLGROUPs Peoples Lab, Brightidea and Spigit mature, we expect more players to enter the markets with niche offerings. Some of them will specialize in platform-specific co-creation apps (like Napkin Labs for Facebook), while others will specialize around use cases (like product customization). We also expect more niche crowdsourcing communities like Zooppa and Innocentive to offer specialized white label solutions for brands to host both short-term and long-term co-creation communities. Finally, we also expect crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter to differentiate themselves by adding features and incentives to encourage community members to not only fund projects, but also co-create them.
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6.
SOCIAL CURATION
Annual Report
Media, organizations and brands curate content to drive social engagement.

What is Social Curation?
Social curation involves aggregating, organizing and sharing content created by others to add context, narrative and meaning to it. Artists, changemakers and organizations use social curation to showcase the full range of conversations around a topic, add more nuance to their own original content, and set the stage to crowdsource content from their community members. The rise of social curation can be attributed to three broad trends. First, people are creating a constant stream of social media content, including updates, location check-ins, blog posts, photos and videos. Second, people are using their social networks to filter relevant content, by following others who share similar interests. Third, social media platforms are also curating content, by giving curation tools to users (YouTube playlists, Flickr galleries, Amazon lists, Foodspotting guides), using editors and volunteers (YouTube Politics, Tumblr Tags) or using algorithms (YouTube Trends, Autogenerated YouTube channels, LinkedIn Today). As a result, a number of niche social curation platforms have emerged to enable people to curate different types of content including links, photos, sounds and videos into boards (Pinterest), trees (Pearltrees (video)), pages (Scoop.it (video)) and narratives (Storify (video), Cowbird). Some social curation platforms are focused on specific niches; for instance, Learni.st (video) helps people curate lessons and Fancy helps people discover cool things to buy. In addition, media organizations are using social curation to add depth to their programming and media entrepreneurs are creating new media business models around social curation. News media organizations are curating conversations around popular topics (The Guardian #smarttakes) and important events (Al Jazeera War on Gaza, Facebook and CNN Election Insights, Current TV Politically Direct). Entertainment media organizations are using social curation to amplify the participation around sports and entertainment events (GRAMMY Live, Oscar Buzz, E! Entertainments GRAMMY Heat Gauge (video), Fox MLB Playoff Hub,Turner Sports Ryder Cup, Fox Sports Survival Sunday, ESPN NCAA Tournament of Tweets, I Heart Radios Twitter Tracker) and shows (X Factors USA, ABCs Pretty Little Liars Suspect Tracker, American Idols Fan Wall). Media organizations are also creating hubs to enable fans to connect with anchors and stars (NDTV Social, CBS Connect Lounge). Media entrepreneurs are building new types of media platforms around posting excerpts from the most relevant stories from around the web (The Drudge Report, The Huffington Post) or linking to them (Techmeme, mediagazer, memeorandum, WeSmirch, Alltop (video)). Finally, changemakers, artists, entrepreneurs, and organizations are using social curation in many meaningful ways. Changemakers are curating stories to put a spotlight on important issues (ViewChange (video), Human Rights Channel (video), Amnesty International: Free Pussy Riot Map Project, Global Voices Threatened Voices) and provide support during crisis situations (Japan earthquake, Haiti earthquake (video)). Artists and storytellers are curating social content to create new types of artifacts (Band of the Day (video), The History of Jazz (video), On the Way to Woodstock (video), 7 Days in September (video)). Entrepreneurs and organizations are building curation-driven communities around specific professional niches (Venture Maven, Muck Rack) and sports leagues, teams and athletes (Olympic Athletes Hub (video), NBA China, MLB 140 Club, FC Barcelona, Team Great Britain, NY Giants), artists (MTV Music Meter (video), Billboard Social 50 Chart) and even countries (Curators of Sweden (video)).
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curation, with a number of people contributing or curating content in sequence (Curators of Sweden). Social curation platforms use different visualizations to showcase content. Streams continue to be the most popular visualization (Venture Maven, Oscar Buzz), but dynamic grids are also becoming popular (GRAMMY Live). Some platforms filter content by location and plot them on interactive maps (Al Jazeera War on Gaza, I Heart Radios Twitter Tracker). Some platforms are organized as directories to search for and find people (Olympic Athletes Hub, NDTV Social). Many platforms use sophisticated social data visualizations to display content (E! Entertainments GRAMMY Heat Gauge, Current TV Politically Direct). Increasingly, social curation platforms are mashing up different visualizations to create rich, interactive dashboards (Facebook and CNN Election Insights).
Click to watch: Ushahidi Haiti Earthquake
Some of these curation initiatives have gained significant traction. For instance, Pinterest has more than 40 million users and Huffington Post is amongst the top 25 websites in the US with 39 million unique views and 37 million social actions per month. The popularity of these platforms shows that social curation is an increasingly important model of social engagement for social networks, media platforms, and organizations.
How does Social Curation work?

Typically, social curation platforms can be classified across four dimensions: the interplay between creating, curating and co-creating content; the method of curation, through themes or people; the visual representation of curated content; and the possibilities for participation. Most standalone social curation platforms (Pinterest, Storify) are built almost entirely around curated content, but others (Cowbird) use a combination of original, curated and crowdsourced content. Social curation platforms created by media organizations typically aim to amplify participation around their original content (including news reports, TV shows and sports events) through curation and co-creation, but some, like Al Jazeera War on Gaza, focus almost exclusively on curation. For many changemakers, the value of social curation lies in showcasing diverse point of views. For many artists, social curation is only the first step in creating original artifacts with well-crafted narratives. Most social curation platforms search for and filter content by keyword, then group relevant content into themes, and sometimes highlight the most influential people talking about the themes (Current TV Politically Direct, Grammy Live, Oscar Buzz). Other social curation platforms filter content by people and organizations, then highlight the most popular content created or curated by them (Venture Maven, Olympic Athletes Hub, NBA China, MLB 140 Club). Some social curation programs are built around serial
Annual Report Social Curation Click to watch: The Olympic Athletes Hub
Finally, different social curation platforms offer different possibilities for participation. Some platforms merely make it easy for people to make sense of the curated content. Others also enable community members to follow people, vote on options, share content, add comments or updates, and upload photos directly from the interface. Still others add gamification elements to the platform (Pac 12s Battle of the Tweets), or give community members access to special content based on the level of participation (Mission Impossible Flock-To-Unlock).
Social Curation for Brands

Almost all consumer brands, and many organizations, have started experimenting with social curation, by showcasing their own social content, or social content about them, on their websites. Some brands have started creating short-term social curation hubs to curate the conversations around their own events, like fashion shows
(Victorias Secret) and product launches (Ford Fusion). Other brands have created social curation hubs around events they are participating in. KPMG created the World Economic Forum Live dashboard to showcase the most important conversations and trends emerging at Davos in 2012 and 2013. Taylor Made created a social hub to help fans connect with athletes during the 2012 US Open Golf. During the 2012 London
Olympics, GE tied up with NBC to track Twitter conversations around the Olympics. Another opportunity is to use social curation to create niche communities around a shared profession, passion, or purpose. For instance, in 2009, Microsoft created a unique B2B community called Exec Tweets, where people could find and follow top business executives from different sectors and engage with their tweets.
Now, several brands are pioneering powerful branded content programs by integrating original content, curated content and crowdsourced content. Pepsi Pulse has transformed the Pepsi homepage into an interactive pop culture dashboard driven by social media, as part of its #LiveforNow campaign. The dynamic grid dashboard is a mashup of original articles about pop culture and live performances, content from Pepsis many celebrity endorsers, and relevant fan content, including content tagged with #livefornow. Secret Mean Stinks Gang Up For Good uses a similar dynamic dashboard to mash up original videos and tips on stopping teen bullying with fan conversations and photos from a series of social media challenges for teens. iQ by Intel uses a sophisticated social curation system to mash up Intels own original content with content created and curated by Intel employees to showcase technologys impact on our lives.
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Source: meanstinks.com/
Finally, many brands are integrating elements of social curation into their co-creation communities, and the boundary between curating content and co-creating content is blurring, especially in the context of short-term campaigns.
Social Curation Case Studies

Throughout the year, we have tracked the conversations around a number of social curation platforms and branded programs in our weekly insights reports and quarterly magazines; here are a few highlights.
Social Curation platform: Pinterest

Source: pinterest.com Annual Report Social Curation
Pinterest is one of the largest social curation platforms with 40 million users. Pinterest enables people to upload, curate and organize images on theme-based boards and embed or share these boards on their blogs and social networks. People can also browse through other curators boards, like or share images, re-pin images to their own boards, leave comments, follow boards for updates and follow curators who share similar interests. MSLGROUPs Gaurav Mishra noted: Pinterests goal is to connect everyone in the world through the things they find interesting, through their shared tastes and interests. Pinterest combines two powerful ideas: curating social interactions into stories (Storify) and connecting people based on their interest graph (Hunch)." For instance, blogger Joe Murphy uses Pinterest to discover new things: I browse what others pin in common are as such as books, travel, or products, for ideas to inspire my activities, books to read, places to visit [For Christmas,] I watched peoples pinboards of products they love or want very carefully for ideas to add to my shopping list or wish lists. Pinterest has received media attention and, indeed, new users, for its focus on visual content and for structuring content in boards as opposed to streams. As Pinterest super-user Drew Hawkins said: With the rise of platforms like Pinterest and infographic sharing etc., its becoming more obvious that people dont like to read. If a story can be told with visuals, it has more impact right now. Pinterest offers that story-telling capability using different boards that many other social networks dont exclusively offer. The social curation platform has also attracted the attention of marketers. As Huffington Post contributor Joe Waters pointed out: The heavy presence of women 25-44 on Pinterest is what distinguishes it from other new social media platforms, which are generally populated by men 18-24. Heres a site that already has the audience everyone wants: women and moms who make most of the household buying decisions. Brands have used Pinterest to convey their brand message (Whole Foods), to encourage people to pin their products (Barneys New York Valentines
Day Wish List), to engage with prospective customers (bmi Airlines Pinterest Lottery), and to engage with Pinterest influencers (Kotex Womens Inspiration Day (video)).
Social Curation platform: The Fancy

Source: itunes.apple.com
Fancy is a social curation platform that also serves as a commercial marketplace. People create catalogs of things they want to own, sell or buy, and window shop or shop by scanning streams of photos and searching by category, price range, color and curated gift guides. Then, people can make their purchases within the platform itself. The platform caters to a new breed of online shoppers, as Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst at Forrester Research, pointed out: The Web is very much about spearfishing and people looking for things they already know they wantthats why Google has been so successful These guys are supporting the other audience of shrimpers out there who are just looking for cool things to discover.
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Fashion blogger Elizabeth Canon noted: The Fancy allows merchants to claim products that are posted and sell them directly on the Fancy. This provides the Fancy with a revenue stream, the user with a more seamless transaction experience and the merchant with a higher likelihood of purchase intent. Fancy earns a fee of 10% for all products sold through its platform. The platform further marries social curation and e-commerce with offerings such as the Fancy Box, a subscription-based monthly gift box featuring some of the most fancyd items, curated by the fancy community; an embeddable buy button for bloggers and publishers; and an affiliate program that rewards curators. Fancy also incorporates social networking elements such as a like button (called fancy), notifications and the ability to follow people, and gamification elements such as badges and rewards to encourage people to upload more content, explore partner stores on the platform and invite friends to join the community. Fancy crossed 2 million users and $200,000 in weekly revenues in October 2012.
based on their profession, interests and their personal tweets. Jeremy Stahl, social media editor at the Slate, noted: The hope of the campaign is that every new curator will share his or her personal experiences of what its like to be Swedish, while illuminating something about the broader culture. The program has attracted plenty of attention, both positive and negative, for the Swedish tourism boards open-mindedness and democratic approach, for the curators unique stories and provocative debates, and for the curators choice of inappropriate language and topics. Melissa Agnes, a thought leader on crisis management, noted: In terms of social media transparency and creativity, this campaign definitely takes the lead. With 69,000+ followers, its proving to be wildly successful since, like a reality show, the world is sitting on the edge of their seats to see what happens next.
Social Curation program: Curators of Sweden

Click to watch: Curators of Sweden
The program has been recognized by the PR industry with two Swedish Golden Eggs and an international Gold Clio, and has also given rise to a new format of engagement on Twitter called Rotation Curation, employed so far by 70 countries, cities, people and cultural groups, and causes.
Source: twitter.com/sweden
In December 2011, the Swedish Institute and VisitSweden launched Curators of Sweden and invited a new Swede every week to run the tourism boards official Twitter account @Sweden. Curators were nominated online and selected
Annual Report Social Curation
Branded program: Pepsi Pulse

Branded program: iQ by Intel

Source: mediabistro.com
Pepsi Pulse is a dynamic website that is updated in real-time to showcase the most inspiring Now moments in pop culture, including music, sports and entertainment, based on social popularity. In addition, Pepsi shares real time original content, including celebrity challenges and behindthe-scenes videos from live events, and invites consumers to add #Now or #LiveForNow to their tweets, instagrams, and pins to be featured on the Pulse. Pepsis partner NewsCred claims that it is reinventing news for publishers, brands and their audiences by licensing and curating full text articles, photos and video from publishers and creating customized content experiences for brands. According to Fast Co.Creates Joe Berkowitz, Pulse embodies the marketing shift from ad messaging to continuous engagement. Brian Solis, a principal analyst at the Altimeter Group and author of The End of Business As Usual, noted: Pepsi is learning, as every business in learning, that if you want to remain relevant with this new type of consumer, you have to be where they are, you have to talk their language [and keep] them feeling like they want to be part of your brand. Marketer and blogger Blair Smith believes that Pepsi can go one step further, and showcase original content to engage more meaningfully: For Pepsi Pulse to be successful it has to go beyond reorganizing existing content and fill the channel with original content. Pepsi has to bring together its sponsorships, events, contests and other unique assets around the world into Pulse. But beyond that it needs to somehow make itself indispensable to its key audience, finding space amongst all of the other social channels we use.
Source: iq.intel.com
iQ by Intel spotlights how people use technology in inspiring ways, to showcase technologys impact on media, life and the planet. The iQ algorithm sources content on technologys impact on society from vetted online sources based on social popularity. Then, it crowdsources the most popular content amongst Intel employees based on what they are sharing publicly, and publishes links and excerpts from them, with original content from sources like Intel Free Press and Intels Creators Project on a touch-optimized interface. iQ was inspired in part from thought leader Tom Foremskis notion that Every Company is a Media Company. Foremski believes that we are witnessing a major business transformation and that companies must learn how to publish, listen, and converse in a very fragmented media world: Every company is a media company because every company publishes to its customers, its staff, its neighbors, its communities. It doesnt matter if a company makes diapers or steel girders, it must also be a media company and know how to use all the media technologies at its disposal. iQ is Intels answer to this challenge of creating a consistent stream of compelling content. With iQ, Intel focuses on content that communicates the power of technology and not the product itself. In his review of Intel iQ, social media thought leader Shel Israel noted: All content includes technology but the focus is not. This is an end-user publication and would not appeal to deep technologists. I would assume a great many of the topics being covered involve products powered by Intel, but on the surface, that appears to be besides the point.
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Blogger and social media professional Michael Kieran highlighted the benefit of this model: At a time when were all drowning in content, theres real value in having customers organically share content thats aligned with your companys marketing messages." As a next step, Intel is building its own customized social curation software based on its proprietary monitoring technology called Social Cockpit (video) and hopes to involve 5000+ employees in the curation process.
Source: business.pinterest.com
The Future of Social Curation

We believe that social curation will change how media organizations and brands tell stories and engage their communities in 2013. We expect news and entertainment media organizations to experiment with new business models tied to social curation. We expect news media organizations to tightly integrate original content, curated content, and crowdsourced content to add depth to their stories and increase social engagement around them. Steven Rosenbaum, CEO of video curation platform Magnify.net and author of Curation Nation, argues: The most successful curators include sites like The Huffington Post, that embrace the threelegged-stool philosophy of creating some content, inviting visitors to contribute some content, and gathering links and articles from the web. Created, contributed, and collected the three cs is a strong content mix that has a measurable impact. We expect lifestyle and entertainment media to go further, and add a social commerce layer to this three-part strategy, to create new business models like Fancy that blur the boundaries between media and commerce players. We also expect more brands to create more powerful social curation programs. Many brands are already active on Pinterest and we are likely to see new types of social curation programs on the platform with the launch of Pinterest business accounts and Pinterest-focused content marketing tools like Curalate. Specifically, we will see many brands use Pinterest, and niche Pinterest-like social curation platforms, for social commerce.
In addition, we will see corporations and brands that are already committed to serious long-term branded content programs (LVMH Nowness, Coca Cola Journey, American Express OpenForum, Qualcomm Spark, Cisco Network, IBM Smarter Planet,HSBC Business Without Borders) to follow the example of media organizations. We expect them, and many others, to design branded content programs (like Pepsi Pulse, iQ by Intel and Secret Gang Up For Good) that have specific strategies for creating longform original content artifacts, using them as provocations to curate and crowdsource shortform content, then creating new long-form content artifacts from such short-form content.
Source: iq.intel.com Annual Report Social Curation
Finally, we expect a number of startups to create social curation products for brands and media organizations. Products like Storyful (video), News Cred (video) and Swift River (video) focus on media organizations and specialize in curating and syndicating the most relevant content. Other products like Percolate (video), Mass Relevance (video), CurationStation (video), Olapic (video) and Publish This (video) target entertainment media organizations, corporations and brands, and offer features to drive social engagement.
Click to watch: Storyful Its all about people
To address this big opportunity, we are creating our own proprietary social curation software that will source the most relevant stories on a topic from vetted sources, rank them based on social popularity on a private dashboard, and enable human curators to publish them on social networks, email newsletters, mobile apps and touch-enabled dynamic web magazines, and drive social engagement around them.
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7.
TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING
Annual Report
Media organizations, changemakers, and brands create cross-platform story worlds to drive participation, action and loyalty.
What is Transmedia Storytelling?
people are consuming news and entertainment in byte-sized pieces, on smart phones and tablets, often on-the-go, leading to new opportunities to create cross-platform, location-aware storyworlds. Second, people have access to so much content that they are filtering for out or skimming most of it, except for content they are most passionate about. Third, people are simultaneously acting as consumers, curators and creators of content, making it possible to create non-linear storyworlds that grow through their participation. As a result, movies, TV shows, games and toys are all turning into transmedia entertainment franchises. Studios are releasing not only movies but also alternate reality games (ARGs), set in elaborate storyworlds (A.I.s The Beast, The Dark Knights Why So Serious? (video), The Hunger Games The Capitol (video), Prometheus Weyland Industries). Television networks are creating transmedia storyworlds to sustain fan interest between TV show seasons (Heroes Evolutions, Lost Experience (video),Dexters Hunt for the Infinity Killer (video), Game of Thrones The Maesters Path (video), True Blood (video), BBCs Sherlocks The Science of Deduction (case study)), and creating book series by TV show characters to deepen fan engagement (Castles Nikki Heat series, How I Met Your Mothers Barneys Bro series). Video game studios are creating ARGs to heighten anticipation around new game launches (Halo 2s I Love Bees, Guns Last Call Poker). Toy brands are building transmedia entertainment franchises around popular characters (Barbie Life in the Dreamhouse, Barbie and Ken Reunion video). Some authors and publishers are creating immersive online experiences to bring alive the storyworlds in their books (Harry Potters Pottermore (video)). Independent storytellers are increasingly turning to transmedia storytelling to engage fans and
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Source: xavitalleda on Flickr
Transmedia storytelling involves telling a story across multiple media platforms including TV shows, movies, graphic novels, books, games, mobile apps, microsites, social networks, online communities and offline events in a way that each platform explores different aspects of the same storyworld. Media organizations, changemakers, and brands are using transmedia storytelling to create immersive storyworlds that drive participation, action and loyalty. The rise of transmedia storytelling can be attributed to three dynamics around how people create, consume and share stories today. First,
build a reputation (Dirty Work interactive web series (video), Pandemic 1.0 ARG (video), The Guild web series and comic book). Beyond the entertainment industry, organizations and changemakers are applying transmedia storytelling to engage people, especially students, around science and social causes (NASAs MarsCuriosity Rover, Urgent Evoke (video), World Without Oil (video), Ed Zed Omega (video), Cosmic Voyager Enterprises (video), Routes (video)).
fictional nature of the storyworld, the depth and width of the storyworld, the interplay of different media channels with the storyworld, and the possibilities for participation. Many transmedia storytelling projects are set in a fictional storyworld, with characters and plots, or even a mythical or speculative universe. Filmmakers, TV producers, game designers and writers use transmedia storytelling to extend their fictional storyworlds across channels (True Blood, Halo 2s I Love Bees). Changemakers and educators often use transmedia storytelling to create speculative universes that provide new perspectives and open new possibilities for participants (World Without Oil). Increasingly, documentary filmmakers and non-fiction authors are creating transmedia projects by creating books, films, games, apps, events and social movements around the same theme or cause (It Gets Better, Half the Sky). Transmedia storyworlds range from simple story extensions to immersive multi-layered, multi-platform experiences. Story extensions can include blogs, vlogs, social network profiles and even books from fictional characters (Gossip Girls blog, MarsCuriosity Rover on Twitter, How I Met Your Mothers Barneys Bro series), to simple apps and games set in the storyworld (Pretty Little Liars Bump and Tell, The Hunger Games Become a Citizen), and book or film adaptations of the original project. Other storyworlds are immersive experiences, with multiple interconnected websites, web video series and multiplayer games that explore back stories, introduce new plots, characters and twists, or re-create the story in the real world (Prometheus Weyland Industries, Pottermore). In some transmedia projects, the storyworld is distributed across many channels, and each channel explores a different part of the storyworld in an interlocked way, sometimes simultaneously and sometimes in sequence (Heroes Evolutions), while other projects have minimal interplay between channels (Welcome to the Pine Point (video)), or replicate the same storyworld across channels (The Lizzie Bennet Diaries). Most transmedia projects that are built around an alternate reality game have a strong live, real-time feel with many moving parts (Dexters Hunt for the Infinity Killer), while others are more asynchronous. Finally, some transmedia projects provide multiple possibilities for fans to co-create the storyworld by deconstructing plot twists on fan wikis, contributing fan fiction and fan art, creating
Click to watch: Harry Potter Pottermore
Some of these transmedia storytelling programs have had significant scale and impact. For instance, the ARG Why So Serious? launched fifteen months before the launch of The Dark Knight and attracted 11 million participants from 75 countries. Harry Potters Pottermore has 4.4 million registered users who have earned nearly 60 million points for exploring the storyworld and performing virtual actions. The Guild web series is currently in its sixth season and has received 83 million views on YouTube. The success of these transmedia storytelling projects shows that, even as attention spans are shortening and media consumption is fragmenting, fans are willing to immerse themselves in non-linear, multi-layered storyworlds, and even extend it through their contributions.
How Does Transmedia Storytelling Work?

At the heart of transmedia storytelling is a storyworld with its own mythology and sociocultural norms, which sets the stage for a cast of characters with their individual narrative arcs and web of relationships. Increasingly, people are consuming such storyworlds not as a linear narrative, but as a multi-layered, multi-platform, immersive experience. Transmedia storytelling projects can be classified across four dimensions: the fictional or nonAnnual Report Transmedia Storytelling
their own parallel narratives in virtual worlds, solving puzzles and playing games to unlock new parts of the storyworld, competing in challenges and tournaments, and participating in scavenger hunts, flash mobs and events in the real world (Why So Serious?). Other projects create an immersive multimedia experience, but provide fewer possibilities for participation (Our Choice). Alternate reality games are a particularly popular form of transmedia storytelling, as they can be effectively incorporated into short-term highintensity campaigns leading up to big launches. Most ARGs comprise of elaborate scavenger hunts that take place across fake websites and blogs, real web publications, fan communities, physical artifacts, flash mobs and rallies, and often include a series of puzzles, single-player simulations, and multi-player challenges or tournaments. Most ARGs induce mystery through hidden clues, suggestive announcements and partial reveals, and new elements are revealed on a preset schedule or after fans complete milestones. Fans share clues and solutions over online communities and wikis, and collaborate to unlock levels and complete the game, to get rewards like points and badges, physical artifacts, or exclusive content.
real life, on TV shows and in video games. Aflac created social media profiles for its mascot Aflac Duck, to engage consumers year round. P&Gs Old Spice created 185 video responses to tap into the popularity of its Old Spice Man, which is not only one of the most memorable marketing campaigns in recent times, but also an entertainment franchise in the making. Most brands have created such storyworlds as part of alternate reality games, as they lend themselves to short-term, high-intensity campaigns. Brands have created alternate reality games to showcase the brand purpose, engage consumers and build excitement around events. Coca-Cola built on its brand promise of happiness by creating a series of ads set in the fictional world of the Happiness Factory. CocaCola has also created a Happiness Factory Bible to outline the storyworld, character back-stories, and potential transmedia projects. Axe created the Axe Anarchy Graphic Novel (video) based on storylines and characters suggested by fans. Wrigleys 5 created the Human Preservation Project (video) to showcase the importance of protecting and stimulating our senses. McDonalds created The Lost Ring ARG to engage consumers around the 2008 Beijing Olympics and drive them to its outlets to search for clues. Audi created the Art of the Heist ARG to launch the Audi A3 in the US and showcase its sophisticated technological innovations.
Click to watch: The Dark Knight Why So Serious?
Transmedia Storytelling for Brands

Brands are learning to use paid or co-branded ads to pull consumers into branded transmedia storyworlds, which aim to retain peoples interest over the long term, and convert them first into passionate fans and then into paying customers, much like movie trailers with entertainment franchises. Some brands bring their fictional characters or mascots alive through ads, web videos, video games and social network profiles. Burger Kings former mascot The King made appearances in
Click to watch: AXE Anarchy: The Graphic Novel
Several technology brands have created branded transmedia storytelling programs to launch new products, highlight product features, and showcase the potential of technology to change our world. Intel & Toshiba created The Beauty Inside (video), an interactive film where anyone could play the role of the lead character. Nokia created an interactive story called Someone Elses Phone to show how a lost phone might reveal all our secrets to a stranger. Nokia also partnered with Tim Kring to create the Conspiracy for Good (video) to support social organizations and showcase its Ovi platform. Microsoft created
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The Vanishing Point ARG (video) to launch Vista. Google created the Niantic Project ARG to showcase its augmented reality app Ingress (video). Orange has created a series of ARGs Alt Minds (video), Detective Avenue (video) and Fanfan 2 (video) to showcase the transmedia storytelling technologies created by the Orange Transmedia Lab. Cisco created The Hunt ARG to engage its sales force and inform them about upcoming Cisco technologies.
Source: twitter.com/MarsCuriosity
Click to watch: Conspiracy for Good
Some brands simply partner with existing media properties to create co-branded transmedia storytelling programs. For instance, Ford sponsored the Legends of Alcatraz ARG, based on the TV series Alcatraz. AT&T partnered with Tim Kring to create the Daybreak ARG (video), based on the TV series Touch, to showcase the power of technology to transform our lives. Microsoft created a Bing-powered treasure hunt called Decode Jay-Z to launch Jay-Zs book Decoded, by releasing each page of the book in a new physical location, one page at a time, and using Bing search and maps to guide fans to them. Coke Zero created an obstacle course and challenged people to Unlock the 007 in them, as part of its brand promotions around the James Bond movie Skyfall.
In 2008, NASA created a Twitter account for its latest Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, to share the story of the robot and the science behind its mission to Mars. A three-person social media team manages the story, tweeting in first person from the point of view of Curiosity, and using simple English or, as Mashable puts it, "the voice of the internet." The account chronicles Curiositys production and testing stages; interactions with students, journalists and science fans; journey from the NASA headquarters to Mars; and current explorations on Mars. For a more serious tone, people could follow NASA on Twitter. Science writer Annalee Newitz calls this type of storytelling "a new kind of hard science fiction": Curiositys Twitter account is a lot more than just a hook to get people interested in science, though. Its successful because McGregor, Smith, and OConnor have created a character with a very distinctive voice. Their task was akin to writing a science fiction story from the perspective of a robot on Mars. Some milestones from Curiosity include: This week, Ive been testing my newly attached arm & practicing hand-eye coordination. New video at http://bit.ly/b1vnnT (September 2010) I HAVE LIFTOFF! (November 2011) Im safely on the surface of Mars. GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!! #MSL (August 2012) NASA also used a variety of participatory programs and multimedia content to engage different audiences and generate excitement around the Mars mission. NASA tied up with Disneys Wall-E and engaged US students in a contest to Name NASAs next Mars Rover. NASA also engaged with global space lovers with a program that invited people to send their name to Mars. To create excitement around the Mars
Transmedia Storytelling case studies

Throughout the year, we have tracked the conversations around a number of transmedia storytelling initiatives and branded programs in our weekly insights reports and quarterly magazines; here are a few highlights.
Transmedia Storytelling: NASA @ MarsCuriosity

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landing, NASA released the videos 7 minutes of Terror, in which scientists explained the challenges of landing a 1-ton robot on Mars, and Grand Entrance, in which Star Trek actors William Shatner and Wil Wheaton described the landing. The mix of transmedia storytelling and engagement programs contributed to the buzz around the landing and helped Curiosity attract 1.2 million followers on Twitter. As the editorial team of the National University of Singapores business blog noted By playing up the wow-factor, explaining the science of the mission in simple but engaging ways, along with a hefty dose of infectious enthusiasm for its own efforts, NASA has broken down the stereotype of egg-head space geeks unable to communicate with the rest of the world. By challenging perceptions, giving new perspectives, brands can strengthen connections with their community.
Blogger Denise Fernandez pointed out: The entire social film experience gives viewers a sense of intimacy and belonging, something cinemas and television have never accomplished yet. Writer Ella Riley-Adams wrote This project seems like a solid combination of vital entertainment factors. The Beauty Inside features one familiar young celeb, one upand-comer (Topher Grace and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, respectively), and will be directed by Drake Doremus, a man with Sundance clout. Viewers can easily get involved and have input in the plotline when they audition, and theyll then spread the news to their friends and followers. This may be an elaborate creation for some simple product placement, but a branded movie with both star power and shareability seems likely to succeed. The Beauty Inside also helped promote the benefits of Toshibas new ultrabook and engage people around the product. As Ashraf Engineer, member of the MSLGROUP Insights Network, commented To me, this was a great way to get your target users involved in the message you want to send out and to display the versatility and utility of your product. The Beauty Inside is the second social film from Intel and Toshiba, after launching the social thriller The Inside Experience in July 2011. The overwhelming positive reactions to both imply that people are ready for more integrated, immersive storytelling experiences.
Branded Transmedia Storytelling: Toshiba & Intels The Beauty Inside
Source: facebook.com/thebeautyinsidefilm
Branded Transmedia Storytelling: Coke Zero: Unlock the 007 in You

Read the full case study on our blog on Slideshare
Read the full case study on our blog or on Slideshare In 2012, Intel and Toshiba created an innovative immersive storytelling experience with The Beauty Inside a six episode web series in which the audience plays the lead role of shape shifter Alex. 26 people participated in the scripted web series alongside Hollywood stars, and 50 people shared their own stories on The Beauty Inside Facebook page via photos and videos. The combination of celebrities, audience participation and a powerful story engaged audiences and led to the viral success of the web series, which received 5.2 million views on YouTube.
Source: youtube.com
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As part of its promotions for the newest James Bond movie Skyfall, Coke Zero challenged unsuspecting passengers at a train station in Belgium to unlock the 007 in them and complete a mission in 70 seconds. The mission began at a Coke vending machine and directed participants to race to Platform 6 to win free tickets to the premiere of Skyfall. Participants evaded obstacles such as an old lady with dogs, a spilled cart of oranges and an attractive ex-girlfriend. 70 people attempted the mission and a video showing the successful attempts was published a week before the UK launch of Skyfall. The video immediately went viral, with 5.3 million views and 44,692 likes in just 7 days and widespread positive coverage on blogs and social media.
Future of Transmedia Storytelling?

In the future, we expect all types of storytellers to create interactive multimedia content using tools like Thinglink (video), Stipple (video), Flixmaster, Mozilla Popcorn Maker (video), 3WDOC (video) and Klynt (video). We also expect transmedia storytellers to orchestrate transmedia projects manage content and mailing lists, publish content according to a schedule or in response to audience actions, make calls and send emails or text messages using tools like Conducttr (video), IFTTT and Zapier (video). We expect transmedia storytelling projects, especially alternate reality games and augmented reality experiences, to create customized experiences around locations, using tools like SCVNGR (video), Moveable and Aris Games. We expect that TV shows will use tools like Galahad (video) and Rides (video) to create truly interactive multi-screen experiences through real-time transmedia storytelling. Transmedia game designer Andrea Phillips believes that television is the most exciting area for transmedia right now: You already have a schedule, you know when your episodes will be airing and you have your pacing. Its a fantastic spine around which to build a more intensive interactive experience If I let you forget about my show for seven days until I air again, that gives you seven days to find something else to care about more. We see more studios adopt the Participant Media model and create engagement, even movements, around their movies using proprietary platforms like TakePart. We also expect more independent authors and documentary filmmakers to try to catalyze social movements around their books and movies. We expect that ARGs will become an even more important part of the launch campaigns for new movies, TV shows and video games. We anticipate that many of these ARGs will be co-branded with technology brands to showcase new possibilities in technology, or with consumer brands to launch new products or create immersive experiences around the brand purpose. Finally, we expect more brands to sponsor or create their own interactive storyworlds, either as short-term campaigns or as long-term destinations.
Click to watch: Unlock the 007 in you. You have 70 seconds!
Marketer Christien Smeja applauded the program for its insight: Great campaign from #coke & #jamesbond, tapping into every mans secret desire to become a secret agent! Blogger Joseph Pedro highlighted the challenge brands face as the online space grows increasingly cluttered, and applauded Coke Zeros success on breaking through the clutter: OK, weve all watched in amusement for the past couple of years as companies worked hard to figure out how to reach consumers through everything from flash mobs to webisodes. We admit we became quite jaded toward the whole thing after a while. So, when we saw that Coke Zero and the new James Bond flick Skyfall were in viral-video bed together we loaded it up with hesitation. Thankfully, it is kind of awesome. Govind, member of the MSLGROUP Insights Network, attributed Coke Zeros success to its long term commitment to storytelling: Coke keeps coming with these interesting engagement ideas all the time. This is a matter of being committed to this strategy of storytelling. Cant happen just by chance.
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8.
COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE
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Organizations synthesize search, social and sensor data streams into insights that guide smarter actions.
What is Collective Intelligence?
Source: jodiejaye on Flickr
Collective intelligence involves analyzing the collective actions and feedback of people, finding patterns and trends, and sharing it back to aid understanding and guide action. Organizations, artists and changemakers are using collective intelligence to analyze opinions and behaviors, identify patterns and trends, and recommend actions or inspire change. The rise of collective intelligence can be attributed to three broad trends. First, people are sharing immense amounts of locationbased, personalized data online, both implicitly by searching, clicking or buying and explicitly by creating profiles, posting status updates, and checking in to locations and events. Second, people are beginning to use sensorbased devices to track and share real world data about our bodies (quantified self) and our devices, houses, and environments (internet of things). Third, web platforms like Google,
Annual Report Collective Intelligence
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are anonymizing and aggregating this data, mining collective intelligence from it themselves, and also making it available for third-party applications via robust APIs. Web platforms are using data to create reviews of the most important trends and events in the previous year (Google Zeitgeist(video), 2012 Year on Twitter (video), Facebook Year in Review); add new perspective to important political, sports and entertainment events (Amazon Election Heat Map (screenshot), Twitter Political Index, Facebook America Votes 2012 (video),Twitter Oscars Index); and even predict potential career paths (LinkedIn Career Explorer (video)), the spread of communicable diseases (Google Flu Trends (video)) and traffic conditions (Google Maps Traffic (video)).
News and entertainment media organizations are partnering with internet platforms or using their APIs to use search and social data to analyze public opinions, predict the outcome of important events (USA Today/ Twitter Election Meter, Facebook/ CNN Election Insights, E! Heat Gauge (video)) or showcase upcoming artists (MTV Music Meter (video)). Several web platforms are finding patterns in user profiles, networks and behaviors to make better product, movie, book, music and restaurant recommendations (Amazon, Netflix, Random Houses Bookscout, Goodreads, Pandora, Bundle). Entrepreneurs and changemakers are creating niche platforms to mine social and search data to improve traffic conditions (Waze (video)), optimize energy consumption (Opower (video)), and aggregate health data to predict outbreak of diseases (Sickweather (video), Flu Near You (video), HealthMap (video)) and even explore effective cures (Patients Like Me (video), NextBio (video)).
How does Collective Intelligence work?

Collective intelligence platforms can be classified across three dimensions: the type of data, the method of data analysis, and the possibilities for participation. Most collective intelligence platforms use a combination of search, social, sensor and self-reported data. Recommendation engines (Amazon) primarily use on-site browsing, buying and rating data, but are beginning to add social data. Navigation apps (Waze) primarily use automatically updated location data from smartphones, with some self-reported data. Many behavior change applications (Opower) use sensor or transaction data from their own or partner devices, but sometimes add in social data. Many platforms from media and entertainment organizations (MTV Music Meter) use social data sourced from social network APIs. Platforms that use search, social or sensor data typically use the public APIs or take a one-time permission from the user. Platforms that use self-reported data from specialized communities often build their own community platforms and add gamification features to encourage people to share data regularly (Patients Like Me). Different collective intelligence platforms synthesize data in different ways. Some platforms use algorithms to cluster users and products based on viewing, buying, or rating behaviors and show their recommendations in terms of users who liked these products also bought these other products (Amazon) or users who have similar characteristics also behaved in this way (Opower). Many platforms plot search, social, sensor and self-reported data on maps, based on keywords or metadata, to find shifts in geographical patterns over time (Sickweather). Other platforms find patterns in social conversations through text and link analysis and connect them back to source or profile data (Facebook/ CNN Election Insights). Some platforms allow users to filter through the data based on time, location, popularity or sentiment to get to more nuanced insights. Many collective intelligence platforms have overlaps with co-creation communities, social curation platforms, and behavior change games, and offer similar possibilities for participation. Crowdsourcing-driven platforms ask users to create profiles, share answers or ideas, and engage with other users content (Patients Like Me). Curation-driven platforms ask users
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Click to watch: Next Bio
Some collective intelligence initiatives have achieved significant impact and scale. For instance, Wazes community of 36 million drivers shared 90 million user reports on real time traffic, accidents, hazards, police, gas prices and map issues, and Opower has used data from 80 utility companies to help reduce energy consumption by 2 billion kilowatt hours and save $234 million on electricity bills. The success of such collective intelligence platforms shows that its possible to synthesize search, social, sensor and self-reported data from millions of people into meaningful realtime insights that can guide actions and change behaviors at scale.
to engage with other users content and tag their own content so that it might be included (Sickweather). Behavior change driven platforms compare the users behaviors with similar others and incentivize them to change their behavior through gamification features (OPower).
all major brands are trying to use big data, including search and social data, to understand and engage with consumers. For instance, Vicks combined aggregated search data from Google Flu Trends with demographic data to target moms in high flu zones with ads for their premium Flu Thermometer. @WalmartLabs has analyzed vast amounts of social data (fast data) and combined it with public web data and proprietary data to create the social genome, a living database of entities (people, events, topics, products, locations, organizations) and their relationships. It is now building a series of collective intelligence social applications using the social genome, starting with the social gift recommendation app Shopycat (video). Finally, some organizations are building platforms and products to synthesize and share insights from sensor data, both in the quantified self-space and the internet of things space. For instance, the Nike+ (video) and Adidas MiCoach (video) range of wearable sensorenabled products enable people to track their workouts, compare themselves with friends and similar others, and even compete with others. Audi partnered with MIT to create a Road Frustration Index (video) based on traffic and weather conditions, reported accidents and driver sentiment from social data.
Click to watch: Waze
Collective Intelligence for Brands

Many organizations and brands are experimenting with collective intelligence in meaningful ways. A number of organizations have created ideation platforms to crowdsource insights from employees, partners and customers, and some have even used these insights to create new product and service offerings (Dell Ideastorm, MyStarbucksIdea). Many other organizations have created long-term public or private insights communities to get a more nuanced understanding of consumer behavior, and some have even shared these insights back with the community. For instance, Nestle launched the Happily Healthy Project (video) quiz to help Australians measure their Happily Healthy Quotient and compare it to nation and state averages, filtered by a number of demographic variables like age, gender and income. Other organizations have partnered with independent community platforms to get insights about specialized high-value communities. For instance, several pharmaceutical companies have partnered with Patients Like Me to understand patient needs and drug performance. Other organizations have taken the social curation route to synthesize and share insights from social conversations around important events. For instance, KPMG built WEF Live to curate the conversations around World Economic Forum and highlight the most important themes from WEF delegates and WEF watchers from around the world. During the 2012 London Olympics, GE tied up with NBC to track Twitter conversations around the games. Almost
Click to watch: Shopycat
Collective Intelligence case studies

Throughout the year, we have tracked the conversations around a number of collective intelligence programs and branded programs in our weekly insights reports and quarterly magazines; here are a few highlights. Collective Intelligence program: MTV Music Meter Read the full case study on our blog or on Slideshare MTV Music Meter is a platform that ranks artists by social popularity and helps people discover new music. Mashables Brenna Ehlrich explains how it works: MTV worked with music intelligence company The Echo Nest which recently partnered with Island Def Jam to develop an algorithm that combs through blogs, social media, video and more traditional metrics (like radio plays and sales) to determine which bands are getting the most attention each day.
Source: mtvmusicmeter.com
The algorithm also segregates artists by type, by analyzing where people are talking about them. As Billboard contributor Glenn Peoples noted: Where an artist is being talked about influences the Music Meter list where that artist appears. For example, indie rock artist Bon Iver showed up on Music Meters mainstream list after winning a Grammy for best new artist. Then, MTV Music Meter provides curated content about the artists with 30-second song previews from music partner Rhapsody; articles, bios and photos from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and the MTV archive; and tour dates from Songkick.
Click to watch: MTV Music Meter
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The platform is accessible via the web, iPad, iPhone and Android. In its first year, MTV Music Meter generated 1 million downloads. Collective Intelligence program: CNN Im Voting Read the full case study on our blog or on Slideshare
Analysts acknowledge the potential of the Im Voting app to use metrics gathered from surveys and insights gleaned from conversations, both to predict trends and to better understand the views of the masses. Online radio host Tim Berge noted: Currently, about 25-hundred Facebook users have pledged to vote in November. Of the participating users, 53 percent said they are Democrat, while 25 percent are Republican, and 22 percent said they are Independent. And, despite what the candidates may be saying recently in their campaign attacks most Facebook users are listing the economy as the most critical issue. Several people have criticized the data collected from the app, pointing out that it does not truly represent the view of Americans but of Facebook and CNN users, the majority of whom are democratic. Branded program: Vicks Mobile Ad Campaign Read the full case study on our blog or on Slideshare
Source: facebook.com
CNN partnered with Facebook to create the Im Voting app to encourage people to discuss political issues and pledge to vote, and to share insights from these conversations in their coverage of the 2012 presidential elections. In a press release, CNN shared: The app will enable people who use Facebook to commit to voting and endorse specific candidates and issues. Commitments to vote will be displayed on peoples Facebook timeline, news feed, and real-time ticker" Govind, member of the MSLGROUP Insights Network commented: I love the fact that this initiative gets media to partner people in recognizing and thinking of real issues, and lets people see that they are not alone. Also, as this movement grows, political parties get to see that they need to deliver. Meghan McCain, daughter of 2008 presidential candidate John McCain, blogged: In my opinion, It will be really interesting to see how this Facebook integration influences conversations surrounding the election among young voters, and if it will become a platform for bipartisanship.
Source: nytimes.com
In early 2012, Vicks combined three layers of data to reach moms in high flu zones with mobile ads for their premium Behind Ear Thermometer. Moms only received ads if they were within three
miles of a retailer selling the thermometer. On clicking the ads, moms were shown a video on the benefits of the thermometer and directed to the nearest retailer selling the thermometer. First, Vicks used Google Flu trends to find out which areas were experiencing high incidences of flu. Dr. Robert Brecht, a specialist in healthcare marketing, explained how the raw data was validated and made accessible: Googles [Flu] Trends is based on a formula to estimated flu activity based solely on searches. Google was able to do that by correlating flurelated Web searches with actual data from the Center for Disease Control (DCD) (sic). By combining the search keywords with the IP address of searchers which provides searchers locations, Google is able to estimate regional flu activity within a day of outbreaks compared to a week or two lag with CDC reports. Second, Vicks reached moms and expecting moms through mobile apps such as Pandora, which collect user data including age, gender, marital status and whether they are parents. Andrew Adam Newman, a journalist at New York Times, noted: A mobile campaign by Blue Chip Marketing Worldwide, which is based in Chicago, places the ads for the thermometer within popular apps like Pandora that collect basic details about users, including their sex and whether they are parents, and can pinpoint specific demographics to receive ads. Third, Vicks used real-time data from location based mobile advertising network Where to target moms when they were within 3 miles of a closest retail store that stocks the Behind Ear Thermometers. Michael Johnsen, who covers medical marketing news, wrote: The ad targets users who arguably have a higher need for the product a factor that would presumably increase the purchase intent with that branded call to action.
Branded program: Nike FuelBand Read the full case study on our blog or on Slideshare
Source: nike.com
In 2012, Nike introduced the Nike FuelBand a wearable product that measures peoples daily activities and workouts in a virtual metric called NikeFuel. People can view their performance data on their smart phones and the Nike+ website and can compare results and NikeFuel earned with friends and members of the 7 million strong Nike+ community. Nike targets the everyday athlete with the FuelBand. As journalist Jessica Stanley observed Just Do It is one of the best positioning statements in the world, but customers started to change. Dont just say it, help us. The FuelBand does this by re-positioning everyday activities and chores as a sport, measuring peoples daily activities on web and mobile dashboard, and rewarding them for doing more. The concept of instant feedback immediately appealed to self-trackers, like Jenna Wortham, who commented From the moment I wrapped the band around my wrist, I was enamored with the idea of a device that could help me collect data about my habits and behavior, so that I could try to improve them. Ever present on the wrists of the owner, the FuelBand displays the amount of NikeFuel earned for the day, and motivates people to meet their daily goal. MSLGROUPs Gaurav Mishra talks about how the NikeFuel band has helped him become more active:
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I am a big believer in breaking down a large challenge into small challenges and ticking them off in public. I remember that the year I first bought a Nike+ shoe was the year I ran most regularly. The instant feedback and the sense of progress were almost addictive. Then, I lost the sensor, and lost my stride. I bought a NIkeFuel band a few weeks back and I have seen my activity levels go up significantly since then. Instead of taking a taxi, I walk 3+ km to work, both ways, and I am planning to buy a bike for the weekends. I even created a goal on Nike Plus to finish 2012 active. As Alyson Shontell reflected Realizing how inactive I was during certain hours has made me more active in my spare time. The Nike FuelBand is the latest addition to Nikes suite of fitness tracking products, all of which incorporate some elements of games, networks and data to help people achieve their fitness goals.
We expect that big corporations will acquire many of these social data startups. For instance, Twitter acquired TV social data startup BlueFin, Intuit acquired personal finance startup Mint, eBay acquired personal recommendation startup Hunch, and Walmart acquired social commerce startup Kosmix (now @WalmartLabs). Other organizations will partner with platforms like Kaggle or DataKind to run crowdsourced data challenges. We also expect that organizations will shift their focus from collecting and analyzing data to creating applications that use the data to help their users get better understanding and make better decisions. As a result, social curation tools like MassRelevance, insight community tools like CommuniSpace and crowdsourcing tools like BrightIdea will all strengthen their features around visualizing and showcasing data back to the users to guide action. Finally, we expect that fast data will be the next big thing after big data, as organizations seek to analyze data streams from social conversations, search queries, sensors, and transactions, find patterns and actionable insights, and share it back with users to help them make better decisions, all in real time.
Future of Collective Intelligence

In the near future, we expect more social platforms like Google, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to synthesize user data to share insights that help users get a new understanding of their own behaviors (how families interact on Facebook). We also expect social platforms to create more data-driven applications that help users make meaningful decisions and change their behaviors (LinkedIn Career Explorer, Google Flu Trends). We also expect the social data space to explode with new, specialized players. Gnip, Topsy and DataSift (video) aggregate data from multiple social platforms, provide applications to recombine and analyze them, and APIs for third party developers to build applications on them. Other data players are focusing on building social data applications for a specific industry: Dataminr for financial services, BlueFinLabs (video) and Second Sync (video) for Television, Next Big Sound video and The Echo Nest for music, and ReviewPro for hotels. We also expect other data startups to focus on sensor data (SensorCloud (video)) and transaction data (Swipely (video)).
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9.
SOCIAL LIVE EXPERIENCES
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Organizations blend technology, community and location to create immersive experiences that blur the boundaries between online and offline.
What are Social Live Experiences?
Source: pochacco20 on Flickr
Social live experiences blend technology, community and location to create immersive experiences that blur the boundaries between online and offline. The rise of social live experiences can be attributed to three broad trends. First, people are constantly live-streaming their experiences by posting updates, photos, videos and checkins through location-aware smart phones and tablets, creating a dynamic stream of locationbased content. Second, social networks are integrating online and offline experiences through features like single-click check-in and location-tagged content sharing on multiple networks (for instance: Instagram to Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Foursquare). Third, social networks are opening up their APIs, including social graph and location data, so that others can build applications that connect people around locations.
Annual Report Social Live Experiences
As a result, people are seamlessly transitioning between online and offline events and connections, and organizations are creating realtime experiences that merge, even transcend, the physical and the virtual. Consider the proliferation of location based social networks beyond Foursquare (video). Some entrepreneurs are using social network APIs to build location-based mashups (Sonar, Banjo (video), Highlight) and augmented reality apps (Google Glass (video), Across Air (video), Nokia City Lens (video)) that connect people and experiences around locations, often by highlighting people and experiences near you. Others are creating niche location-based realtime social networks around sharing rides (Waze (video)), public transport (Moovit (video)), runs (MapMyRun (video)), and dishes (FoodSpotting (video)), or completing challenges (SCVNGR (video)). These location-based social networks,
along with the ubiquity of location data in popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter, have made it possible for organizations to create seamless social live experiences at scale.
Click to watch: SXSW Go
Click to watch: Google Glass
The most visible examples of such experiences are large political, entertainment or sports events. Even as journalists and spectators at the venue share first-hand experiences with their networks through location-tagged status updates, check-ins, blog posts, photos, videos, and live-streams (UStream, Live Stream, Vyclone, Google Hangouts), a larger group of people join the conversations by sharing, commenting on, remixing and curating this content (Storify (video)), checking in to live television broadcasts (GetGlue, GoMiso, Viggle), and contributing original analysis and opinions on blogs and video blogs. While all major public events, all over the world, are becoming live social experiences on their own, event organizers, social networks and media organizations are increasingly creating social curation platforms to act as hubs that connect people and content around such events (IHeartRadios Twitter Tracker, Grammy Live, CNN/ Facebook U.S. Presidential Inauguration, OccupyStreams). Conference and expo organizers are also using social media to transform events into live social experiences, amplify their impact beyond the venue, and connect attendees to create a community. Some organizers are even creating custom mobile apps to help event attendees network, share content and stay in touch (SXSW Social / SXSW Go (video), Mobile World Conference, BlogWorld & New Media Expo, Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum, Amazon re:invent, Guardian Changing Media Summit, NY Craft Beer Week). Other organizers are creating private networks to live-stream the event to extend their reach to a wider community of subscribers (TED Live).
Finally, public spaces are using technology, including QR codes, to enhance the experience for visitors by adding a virtual layer. New Yorks Central Park transformed the park into an interactive game board for its World Park campaign with QR code clues and content all over the park. Swedens Gothenburg city created a Tram Sightseeing App (video) to help visitors get a geo-tagged guided tour at the price of a tram ticket. Several museums and institutions in Amsterdam use the Museum App to create QR code enabled interactive guided tours of cultural locations in the city. New Delhis Turquoise Cottage bar used QR code admittance stamps to share time-sensitive updates with patrons throughout their Christmas Eve celebrations. The Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra created a unique concert with musicians spread all over the city, and the music being synced in real time online. However, many of these initiatives havent fully integrated social sharing and community building into the experience yet.
Click to watch: Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra
Some of these initiatives have had significant scale. For instance, 2 million Facebook status updates were published onCNN.com/live during the U.S. Presidential Inauguration in 2009 and 3 million photos have been uploaded to Foodspotting. The scale and success of these initiatives show that the boundaries between online and offline experiences have blurred beyond recognition and all experiences are likely to become both social and live.
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How do Social Live Experiences work?

Social live experiences are spread over a vast and varied territory which has overlaps with other frontiers of engagement we have covered before, including social curation, collective intelligence and transmedia storytelling. However, all social live experience platforms and programs have three common characteristics: a hybrid physical-virtual experience, real-time tracking plus social sharing, and value creation through the physical-virtual interplay. Social live experiences are often set in a specific physical space, like a park, museum, stadium, hotel, restaurant, or store, but they can also take place out in the streets. Sometimes, the primary aim is to engage the people present at the venue, or in a specific city (SXSW Go); sometimes, a secondary aim is to use social media amplification to attract more people at the venue (Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra); sometimes, especially with large broadcast events, the aim is primarily to use social media to amplify the onsite experience to engage audiences who are not physically present (Grammy Live). Real-time tracking and social sharing are integral elements in social live experiences. People can do real-time tracking automatically through location-aware smart phones (Waze) and sensorenabled devices (Nike Fuel Band), or manually through social media updates and check-ins (FoodSpotting). These data streams and updates are then aggregated and displayed on maps (IHeartRadios Twitter Tracker) and, sometimes, streams (Storify) to enable social sharing. Social sharing is usually manual, enabled by social sign-ins, one-click sharing and linked social accounts, but it can also happen automatically, by automatic posting of runs or rides on social networks (Nike Fuel Band), or automatic alerts on people and experiences near you (Highlight). Finally, social live experiences are so compelling because they create unique value through the interplay between the physical and the virtual. Sometimes, this value lies in increased intelligence about our own behavior (Nike Fuel Band), our own network, our city (Waze) or country (CNN/ Facebook U.S. Presidential Inauguration), or the entire world (FoodSpotting). Sometimes, this value lies in serendipitous discovery of people (Highlight) and experiences (SXSW Go) near us. Sometimes, this value lies in more meaningful connections with friends in our network (Google Glass), or strangers who share similar interests (OccupyStreams).
Annual Report Social Live Experiences
Social Live Experiences for Brands

The easiest way for brands to create live social experiences is to make it easy for people who are already participating in offline brand events to share their experiences on social media. Many brands are already using sophisticated social, mobile and geo-local technologies to create memorable experiences, then creating viral videos based on these experiences (T-Mobile Angry Birds Live; Mercedes Key To Viano). Some brands are designing these experiences so that sharing the experience with friends is intrinsic to enjoying the experience itself. For instance, Unilever created the Share Happy interactive vending machines that uses facial recognition technology to measure smiles, rewards big smiles with free ice cream, and encourages users to share their smiles on Facebook. Goertz created an interactive virtual shoe fitting display that enabled users to try out any shoe from the catalog and share photos with their Facebook friends to ask for their opinions. Coca-Cola used RFID enabled wristbands to encourage teenage visitors at a Coca Cola theme park to seamlessly tag and share photos on Facebook. Anthon Berg used iPads in store to give away free chocolate to people who committed to do small acts of generosity for friends and family members.
Click to watch: Coca-Cola Village
Some live social experiences go from online to offline back to online. Some brands are tracking online conversations to find opportunities to engage in real-time, real-life random acts of kindness, which encourage the delighted recipients to talk about the experience online, creating valuable word of mouth. For instance, Orbit White in Israel gifted chewing gum hampers to people who checked in at cafes. KLM in Amsterdam surprised travelers who shared an update or check-in about their KLM flight with relevant gifts, based on their previous updates. Kleenex in Israel gifted a Kleenex Kit to people who shared a status update on Facebook about being sick. Kotex in Israel gifted a craft item to
women influencers based on the items they had previously pinned on their own Pinterest boards.
Click to watch: KLM Surprise
app to invite Stockholm residents to catch and keep a virtual Mini, to win a real Mini Gateway. Jimmy Choo asked fans in New York to track its Foursquare check-ins to be the first to claim a pair of trainers at the check-in locations. Levis asked fans in Australia and New Zealand to track Twitter updates to be the first to claim a pair of Levis at the checked in locations. Nike invited London Nike+ users to claim a street by unlocking codes at phone booths and winning points by running through specific routes. Samsung rewarded fans for recording their walks, runs or rides during the London Olympics on the Samsung Hope Relay app by contributing to charities.
Other brands have created activations that people kick start through online actions or submissions, but result in a compelling experience in a physical space. Coca-Cola reimagined their iconic Hilltop ad for the networked age by enabling people to share a coke with a stranger through their mobile phones, then capturing the receivers surprise as they received the Coke at specially designed vending machines all over the world. Ariel created a game where online influencers used a Facebook app to shoot paint at white designer clothes in a physical exhibit at Stockholm airport, then cleaned the clothes and gifted them to the influencers. Nike and Livestrong created a chalkbot that printed messages received from supporters on social media on streets all along the Tour de France route. C&A in Brazil asked fans to like clothes on their Facebook page, then displayed the like count on hangers inside the stores to help female shoppers make better shopping decisions.
Click to watch: Nike Grid
Finally, the most progressive brands are creating devices and smart phone applications that enable consumers to use their products in a more meaningful way, by enhancing the product experience through sensor-enabled virtual self-tracking and community-sharing. For instance, Nike FuelBand (video) enables people to track their activities and workouts on the Nike+ community to analyze their own progress and compare or share their activity levels with their network. Volkswagen Smileage (video) enabled Volkswagen owners to track their drives, record memorable moments and share them with their networks. Stella Artois created an augmented reality bar guide to help people find and share bars that serve the brand.
Click to watch: Ariel Fashion Shoot
Many brands are also creating elaborate technology-enabled games, reality shows and treasure hunts that engage people both online and offline. Playground in Sweden asked shoppers at the hiking equipment store to support one of three fitness enthusiasts in a competition to stay awake for the longest time, and returned the money to the winners supporters. Mini Gateway created an iPhone
Click to watch: Volkswagen Smileage
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Social Live Experiences case studies

Throughout the year, we have tracked the conversations around a number of social live experiences and branded programs in our weekly insights reports and quarterly magazines; here are a few highlights. Branded program: Anthon Berg Generous Store Read the full case study on our blog or on Slideshare
Source: Facebook.com/AnthonBerg
In February 2012, chocolatier Anthon Berg set up a one-day pop up store in downtown Copenhagen, Denmark and invited people to pay for chocolate with good deeds, like "Serve breakfast in bed to your loved one, and Help clean your friends house. To hold people to their promises, Anthon Berg staff provided iPads at check out and asked people to log on to Facebook and pledge the good deed on a friends Facebook wall. Within 24 hours of the pop-up store event, 150,000 feeds were posted on the Anthon Berg Facebook page. This included the pledges people made while purchasing the chocolates at the store, and follow up posts after they had carried out the good deeds, like this one:
With the Generous Store, Anthon Berg was able to increase its social reach and reinforce its brand promise - You can never be too generous. As Lana Markovic, a blogger at Branding Magazine, noted: Is there a better way of getting customers attention than by giving them free chocolates and at the same time getting them to make someone else happy? With this campaign, the Danish chocolatier managed to reinforce its leading statement by inspiring people to be more generous the company has created a happier society, and the brands popularity has been reestablished. A video that documents the activation has received 118,000 views on YouTube.
Source: youtu.be Annual Report Social Live Experiences
Click to watch: Generous Store
Branded program: Hilltop Re-imagined for Coca-Cola Read the full case study on our blog or on Slideshare
Source: projectrebrief.com/coke
In 2011, Google partnered with Coca-Cola to recreate the iconic 1971 Hilltop TV commercial for a digital era, enabling people to buy the world a Coke in real time, using their mobile phones and Google technologies. Mashables Todd Wasserman explains the process: Using the mobile app, a consumer in New York could buy a Coke for someone in Buenos Aires. In addition, that consumer could watch a video using Google Maps and Street View to see the can traveling across the globe. After the recipient gets the Coke from one of the custom vending machines, the sender can watch a video of the persons surprised reaction and perhaps get a thank-you note, if the recipient chooses to do so. Later, the sender can pass on the video to friends on Facebook, Twitter or Google+. People could initiate the activation via a mobile app and interactive display ads on YouTube.
Click to watch: Project Re: Brief Coca-Cola
Marketer Amanda Jennison commented that the campaign delivers on Coca-Colas brand promise of Open Happiness and inspires people to become brand advocates: Not only does this get fans involved through a mobile app, it also creates the mindset of wanting to share the happiness that a Coke evokes to a complete stranger. At Bates Creative, thats why we think Coca-Cola is a brand that gets It. Its all about inspiring your audience to become an active member for your brand. Googles Jim Lecinski believes: the campaign demonstrates the creative potential of the digital medium for marketers:
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We started to think about how Web ads can move from being informative and transactional to delighting and engaging, stirring the soul and building a brand. Project Re:Brief Coca-Cola has received widespread coverage and was awarded the inaugural Mobile Lions Grand Prix at Cannes in 2012.
The Future of Social Live Experiences

We believe that both location-aware smartphones and sensor-enabled devices will become ubiquitous in the near future, and almost all physical events, experiences and spaces will become social live experiences. We expect that many location-based social networks will add augmented reality features and many augmented reality apps will add social networking features, so the boundaries between the two will blur. We expect more niche location-based social networks and augmented reality apps to emerge around niche interests and activities like live music, street art, hiking, swimming, driving and cycling. We also expect branded versions of these networks and apps, primarily by product brands that want to extend their experience (Volkswagen Smileage, Nike+), but also by brands who wish to be seen as curators of popular culture (Stella Artois Le Bar Guide).
We expect all public or semi-public spaces like parks, stadiums, museums, and event venues to build the infrastructure including Wi-Fi connectivity, NFC or QR code stations, livestreaming equipment and sensor networks to enable social live experiences. Event app platforms like QuickMobile (video), EventMobi (video), CrowdCompass(video), Guidebook (video), DoubleDutch (video), Grupio, Conference Compass (video) and MuseumApp already enable event organizers to create custom smart phone apps. We expect them to increasingly become specialized around niches like conferences, music festivals, and public spaces. We expect organizations and brands to use these tools to design delightful experiences that encourage attendees to share updates and photos across their social networks, creating word of mouth and increasing the reach of the programs and events. Finally, many brands have already integrated digital elements like QR codes and touch screens into their retail experiences. We expect more brands to transform their retail experiences into social live experiences, by encouraging shoppers to share messages or photos on their friends social networks to avail of discounts or shopping advice, bringing online reviews into the store to help shoppers make better shopping decisions, and creating in-store activations that people can participate in online.
Annual Report
Social Live Experiences
10.
COLLABORATIVE CONSUMPTION
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People use technology and community to choose access over ownership and create a new sharing economy.
What is Collaborative Consumption ?
Source: seyyed_mostafa_zamani on Flickr
Collaborative consumption is an important groundswell which is changing the very nature of ownership and consumption. People are sharing the ownership and use of products, services and spaces with others in their communities, or around the world, using community-driven marketplaces that facilitate sharing, renting, swapping, bartering and gifting. The rise of collaborative consumption can be attributed to three broad trends. First, the widespread adoption of online social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Weibo has deepened connection between people and communities and created new types of trust mechanisms based on friend-of-friend relationships. Second, the increasing density of
cities has made it both possible and necessary for people to save space and money by sharing instead of owning. Third, the combination of the continuing recession and the climate crisis has made people more mindful of what they buy and how they use what they own, prompting them to save money and reduce their environmental impact by sharing instead of owning. As a result, people, especially millennials, are becoming more value-conscious and using online, mobile and social platforms to choose products based on peer reviews, search for the best deals, and win discounts and freebies. More radically, they are prioritizing access over ownership, and choosing sharing, renting, swapping, bartering and gifting over buying.
Annual Report
Collaborative Consumption
In response, we have seen the emergence of a wide range of platforms to enable collaborative consumption, including renting services, peerto-peer marketplaces and sharing communities. Some of the most popular categories for collaborative consumption are mobility, spaces, products and services. Within mobility, the most popular sub-categories are car sharing (Zipcar (video), BlaBlaCar (video), GetAround (video),RelayRides (video)), bike sharing (Velib, Bixi (video), B-cycle (video), SpinLister), ride-sharing (Sidecar (video), Lyft (video),Zimride (video)), and parking services (ParkatmyHouse (video), ParkingPanda (video)).
Click to watch: Rent the Runway
Within services, the most popular sub-categories are errands (TaskRabbit (video), dogsitting (DogVacay (video), Rover (video), education (Skillshare (video), WeTeachMe (video), italki (video)), lending (Prosper, Zopa, Lending Club) and crowdfunding (Kickstarter (video), Indiegogo, Crowdrise, Razoo (video)).
Click to watch: Zipcar
Within spaces, the most popular sub-categories are vacation homes (Couchsurfing (video), Airbnb (video), Wimdu (video)), office spaces (DeskWanted (video), OpenDesks), and gardens (SharedEarth, Landshare (video)).
Click to watch: TaskRabbit
In addition, several multi-purpose collaborative consumption platforms enable people to sell (Facebook Marketplace, eBay,Craigslist, Zaarly (video)), rent (Zilok, Rentoid (video), Uniiverse (video)) and donate (freegle (video), Zealous Good (video), FreeCycle) all types of products, services and experiences.
Click to watch: Airbnb
Within products, the most popular subcategories are clothes and accessories (thredUP (video), Rent the Runway (video), Bag Borrow or Steal (video), PoshMark), books (Kindle Owners Lending Library, Lendle, BookCrossing, PaperbackSwap), and movies (Netflix).
Click to watch: Uniiverse
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Some of these collaborative consumption platforms have achieved significant scale and success. Airbnb has 4 million people who have shared 300,000 listings in 39,000 cities and rented 10 million nights. Rent the Runway has 3 million members who have rented dresses from 170 designer brands. The scale and success of these collaborative consumption platforms demonstrates the shift in consumption from ownership to access, and signals the resurgence of trust-based peer-topeer marketplaces. Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers, authors of Whats Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption, said: Collaborative consumption is not a niche trend, and its not a reactionary blip to the recession. Its a socioeconomic groundswell that will transform the way companies think about their value propositionsand the way people fulfill their needs.
renting experience more user-friendly, and add a community layer to drive viral growth (Rent the Runway: Our Runway). In the peer-to-peer marketplace model, an organization creates a platform to enable people to sell or rent spaces, products, services or experiences to each other (eBay, Airbnb, TaskRabbit, Skillshare). These platforms can be particularly disruptive because they use technology to directly connect people and eliminate the need for service organizations like hotels and universities. The platforms invest in creating a community and build trust between users through social connections (Airbnb Social Connections), meetups (Airbnb meetups), verified profiles and peer reviews, and typically make a margin on the transactions between users. Finally, in the sharing community model, an organization or changemaker creates a community to connect people and enable them to barter, swap or gift spaces, products, services or experiences to each other (FreeCycle, CouchSurfing, BookCrossing). These older communities tap into peoples desire to do good and connect with likeminded others, and build trust through the same mechanisms as the peerto-peer marketplaces.
Collaborative Consumption for Brands

Click to watch: TEDx Talk: Rachel Botsman: The case for collaborative consumption
How does Collaborative Consumption work?

Collaborative consumption platforms can be classified into renting services, peer-to-peer marketplaces and sharing communities. Each of these three models has distinctive characteristics across four dimensions: the nature of ownership, the type of transaction, the role of the platform and the possibilities for community-building. In the renting service model, an organization owns the products and creates a platform to rent them to people, instead of selling them (Zipcar, Rent the Runway). This model is a direct extension of the business model that hotel rooms, vacation time shares, airplanes and taxis have been built on, and sets a precedent for all products to be converted into services over time. These platforms use technology to make the
Annual Report Collaborative Consumption
Branded programs can be classified into three models: collaborative consumption platforms that connect people with products, social commerce tools that empower people to create their own catalogs or store fronts, and programs that mobilize people to re-use & recycle their products. Auto companies have taken the lead in creating their own car-sharing platforms, enabling people to rent available vehicles online, via mobile apps, or through local dealers. Daimler Car2Go (video), BMW Drive Now (video), Volkswagen Quicar (video) and Peugeot Mu (video) have all created their own car-sharing service. Avis has bought car-sharing services Zipcar, Ford has partnered with German car-sharing service Flinkster to launch its own service Ford2Go, while Toyota Rent a Car has created a more traditional car rental service. Dodge Dart Registry (video) has taken a different approach to collaborative consumption and has created a crowdfunding platform to help customers request friends and family to sponsor parts of the new car for
them. Auto companies are also partnering with collaborative consumption platforms to promote their own technology, provide additional services to their customers, or create possibilities for the future. For instance, GM partnered with RelayRides (video) to enable customers to rent out OnStar equipped cars easily, and BMW i has partnered with collaborative consumption platform Park at My House (video) to enable users to rent their vacant parking spots. This is an extension of a wider trend in which auto companies are creating mobility services, which go beyond selling, or even renting, cars. BMW i, for instance, has entered into several partnerships to provide mobility services to its customers, inside and outside the car, including electric vehicle charging network ChargePoint (video), parking spot finding service Park Now (video), urban experience discovery service My City Way, location-based family network Life360 and mass transit app Embark. Daimler has created transit planning service Moovel (video) to help users plan their travel across shared cars, taxis, shared bikes, buses and trains. Volkswagen has partnered with Google to create Smileage (video) to help VW customers record and share their riding experiences with their social networks. Riding on the popularity of car-sharing and bike-sharing services, other companies are also beginning to create or sponsor such services, to strengthen their brand (Barclays Cycle Hire (video)). Going beyond mobility, apparel brands have created a number of collaborative consumption tools and platforms. Some tools enable customers to customize products, create their own storefronts, and sell products to their own networks. NIKEiD (video) and Converse Design your own enable customers to customize and sell their own shoes. Vancl Star in China created a Pintereststyle network to enable customers to showcase and sell their own styles to their social networks and earn a commission. Magazine Voce (video) in Brazil created a similar platform to enable people to create social storefronts on Facebook and Orkut to share tips and sell products to their friends. Other platforms enable customers to resell, reuse or recycle their used products to reduce their environmental impact. Marks and Spencer Shwopping (video) encourages customer to donate their used clothes to Oxfam, so that they
can be resold, reused, or recycled, and rewards them with discounts. Aeropostale partnered with Do Something to create the Teens for Jeans (video) campaign and asked teens to donate their old jeans for charity. Nike Reuse-A-Shoe encourages people to donate their old athletic shoes so that they can be recycled in the production of athletic equipment or athletic facilities. Patagonia and eBay Common Threads (video) combined these two models by enabling customers to sell their used Patagonia clothes and gear to others on eBay. Finally, other types of businesses are also experimenting with collaborative consumption. Google started renting out Chrome notebooks to businesses, and Walmart is considering incentivizing customers at its stores to deliver online orders to other customers.
Collaborative Consumption Case Studies

Branded program: Vancl Star
Source: star.vancl.com
In 2011, Chinese e-tailer Vancl launched the Vancl Star platform, which enables people to create their own personal stores online, featuring their favorite Vancl styles and photos of themselves wearing Vancl products. Blogger Alia wrote: Star.vancl.com is a photo blog + brand advocate community site for VANCL fans. Fans of the brand can register to open a store, which is more like a photo blog, and then they can showcase their VANCL purchases and upload photos of how they mix and match.
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According to AdAdge: Visitors can buy featured items by clicking on the photos; Vancl handles the sale and shipping. Account holders get a 10% commission, with some Stars reportedly earning thousands of dollars. trendwatching points out the convergence of curation and co-creation in this model of social commerce, which it calls (M)etailing: Driving the (M)ETAIL trend is a shift towards more personal recommendations (from real people if not other consumers), along with ever more personalized products and services. Branded program: Magazine Voc
Voce, which enables people to create their own store fronts on Facebook and Orkut. People feature their favorite products from the Magazine Luiza catalog along with personal opinions and recommendations. Then they promote their store within their networks and earn a commission on each sale.
Click to watch: Magazine Voc
Marketer Eric Smith points out the power of social influencers in the world of collaborative marketing: Social influencers are generally powerhouses online. Theyve successfully built a core group of dedicated followers of their posts, updates, stories, etc. By partnering with these influencers, brands gain access to the influencers avid followers. This access allows brands to reach a larger audience while developing deeper relationships. Fostering the relationship between brands and social influencers enables brands to gain advocates with enormous social reach and stay connected to their target consumers.
Source: apps.facebook.com/magazinevoce
In 2012, Brazilian retailer Magazine Luiza launched social commerce platform Magazine Branded program: Dodge Dart Registry
Source: dodgedartregistry.com Annual Report Collaborative Consumption
In January 2013, Dodge launched the Dart Registry, a platform which enables people to request friends and family members to help fund their new car. The process is similar to crowdfunding people share their story, set funding tiers and recruit support from their social networks while generating word of mouth around the Dodge Dart and drawing attention to the cars parts. Adweeks Tim Nudd explains the process: You sign up for the program, configure and customize a Dodge Dart (choosing from 12 exterior colors, 14 interior color and trim options, three fuel-efficient engines, three transmission choices, safety features, aerodynamics, etc.), and set a goal for the amount of money you want to raise to fund it. The site then itemizes components of the carlike a steering wheel, shifter, seat or engineand allows friends, family or anyone to sponsor the parts.
Forbes contributor Matthew de Paula notes that the program should help get the Dodge Dart on the radar of potential buyers: The way the Dodge Dart Registry ties in social media could prove helpful in that regard. As would-be car buyers post updates on their fundraising, theyll be helping to boost awareness of the compact sedan.
Click to watch: Dodge: How to change buying cars forever
Branded program: Patagonia and eBay Common Threads
Source: campaigns.ebay.com/patagonia
In 2011, Patagonia and eBay partnered to launch the Common Threads store on eBay, encouraging Patagonia customers to use the eBay platform to buy and sell used products, and thereby maximize the value of their goods while helping reduce their environmental impact. Heres how it works: A customer who lists a used Patagonia product on eBay will be asked to take the Common Threads Initiative pledge and become a partner. Membership will make the customer's listing eligible for inclusion in the Common Threads Initiative store on eBay and on Patagonia.com. Patagonia will not receive any of the profits associated with the Common Threads Initiative storefront.
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We believe that all companies will need to respond to the collaborative consumption groundswell, by converting their product-focused selling-oriented business models into servicefocused renting-oriented business models, building peer-to-peer secondhand marketplaces for their products, and providing additional services to their customers through peer-to-peer service marketplaces. After mobility and spaces, we expect many product brands to create renting services and peer-to-peer secondhand product marketplaces, or see third-party platforms disrupt their industries. Luxury fashion and home electronics brands, which have high price tags, high idle times and short planned obsolescence cycles will be the most impacted, but we expect this trend to cut across product categories. Similarly, we expect many service brands to create peer-to-peer service marketplaces, or see third-party platforms disrupt their industries. We expect consumer-focused industries like hospitality, education, professional services and financial services to be most impacted (platforms like Skillshare (video) have already begun disrupting the education industry), but also expect to see more B2B oriented service marketplaces. Therefore, we expect that many large product or service companies across will partner with, invest in, or create their own collaborative consumption platforms, and use these to provide unique value to their customers and differentiate themselves from smaller players.
Click to watch: Patagonia + eBay Green - Common Threads Initiative
The Common Threads initiative has achieved quite some scale, and has expanded to the UK in 2013. Fast Companys Christina Chaey shares: Patagonia got 24,000 people to pledge to buy less and buy used; it also partnered with eBay to make it easy for people to take the pledge and then buy and sell gear from one another. Customers have resold 15,000 Patagonia pieces for $500,000 so far.
Future of Collaborative Consumption

We believe that collaborative consumption is a social movement that will become even stronger in the coming years. We expect renting services, peer-to-peer marketplaces and sharing communities to proliferate as smaller niches attain critical mass. At the same time, we expect to see consolidation in the larger niches, with cityfocused players being acquired by other players or product companies. We expect that new services like TrustCloud will aggregate users trust scores across collaborative consumption platforms, just like PeerIndex, Klout and Kred aggregate social influence across social networking and content sharing platforms. These trust networks will be context-specific and enable users to quickly establish trust for specific verticals and tasks. We expect that sensor-enabled products and spaces will dramatically improve the collaborative consumption experience, by making the service experience more seamless, making social sharing more easy, and making trust mechanisms more robust, driving the growth of platforms which first adopt them. We expect players like Social Bicycles (video) to create such sensor-based solutions for each collaborative consumption vertical.
Annual Report
Collaborative Consumption
Peoples Lab: Crowdsourcing Innovation & Insights

Peoples Lab is MSLGROUPs proprietary crowdsourcing platform and approach that helps organizations tap into peoples insights for innovation, storytelling and change. The Peoples Lab crowdsourcing platform helps organizations build and nurture public or private, web or mobile, hosted or white label communities around four pre-configured application areas: Expertise Request Network, Innovation Challenge Network, Research & Insights Network and Contest & Activation Network. Our community and gaming features encourage people to share rich content, vote/ comment on other peoples content and collaborate to find innovative solutions. The Peoples Lab crowdsourcing platform and approach forms the core of our distinctive insights and foresight approach, which consists of four elements: organic conversation analysis, MSLGROUPs own insight communities, clientspecific insights communities, and ethnographic deep dives into these communities. The Peoples Insights Quarterly Magazines showcase our capability in crowdsourcing and analyzing insights from conversations and communities.
Innovation Challenge Network: Chicco Artsana - Nataieri In 2012, Chicco Artsana & MSLITALIA used the Peoples Lab platform to create a Nataieri.it, an open digital community with moderated access where 100+ parents discuss issues in bringing up children and sharing their experiences.
Research & Insights Network: P&G Asia Thank You Mom In 2012, P&G Asia and MSL Singapore used the Peoples Lab platform to create a Social Media Regional Center, a secure, private community where 100+ P&G stakeholders and agency partners shared content and best practices for the Thank You, Mom campaign at the London 2012 Olympics.
Learn more about us at: peopleslab.mslgroup.com | twitter.com/peopleslab

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mslgroup.com | twitter.com/msl_group
MSLGROUP is Publicis Groupe's strategic communications and engagement group, advisors in all aspects of communication strategy: from consumer PR to financial communications, from public affairs to reputation management and from crisis communications to event management. With more than 3,700 people, its offices span
22 countries. Adding affiliates and partners into the equation, MSLGROUP's reach increases to 4,000 employees in 83 countries. Today the largest 'PR and Engagement' network in Europe, Greater China and India, the group offers strategic planning and counsel, insight-guided thinking and big, compelling ideas followed by thorough execution.
Write to us to start a conversation on the future of engagement.: Pascal Beucler, SVP & Chief Strategy Officer (pascal.beucler@mslgroup.com) Janelle Dixon, North America Head of Insights (janelle.dixon@mslgroup.com) Dominic Payling, Europe Head of Insights (dominic.payling@mslgroup.com) Gaurav Mishra, Asia Head of Insights (gaurav.mishra@mslgroup.com)

Now &amp; Next: Future of Engagement

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Now &amp; Next: Future of Engagement

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Peoples Insights

Peoples Insights weekly report

Peoples Insights quarterly magazines

Peoples Insights Annual Report

Ten Frontiers for the Future of Engagement

#6. Social Curation

#2. Behavior Change Games

#7. Transmedia Storytelling

#3. Collaborative Social Innovation

#8. Collective Intelligence

#4. Grassroots Change Movements

#9. Social Live Experiences

#5. Co-creation Communities

#10. Collaborative Consumption

The future doesnt fit in the containers or mindset of the past.

Synthesizing Insights into Foresights

Synthesizing Insights into Foresights

Source: camdiluv on Flickr

Source: triplefivedrew on Flickr

Source: werkunz on Flickr

Source: p22earl on Flickr

businesses, and Crowdfunder (video) and CrowdCube (video) on startups.

Crowdfunding for Brands

View the full infographic at intuit.com

Crowdfunding case studies

Crowdfunding platform: Kickstarter

Crowdfunding platform: LoudSauce

Branded crowdfunding program: Chase Community Giving

Branded crowdfunding program: Benetton Unemployee of the Year

Branded crowdfunding program: Starbucks Vote.Give.Grow

Branded crowdfunding program: Mahindra Spark the Rise

The Future of Crowdfunding

BEHAVIOR CHANGE GAMES

Source: nanpalmero on flickr

How do Behavior Change Games work?

Source: latddotcom on flickr

Source: hyerdashery on flickr

Click to watch: Jane McGonigal at TED 2010

Behavior Change Games for Brands

Behavior Change Games case studies

Web platform: SuperBetter

Branded program: MTV Fantasy Election

Branded product Nike FuelBand

Source: nike.com Annual Report Behaviour Change Games

The Future of Behavior Change Games

Click to watch: OpenIDEO by IDEO

How does Collaborative Social Innovation work?

Source: grafixer on Flickr

Click to watch: Ashoka Change makers

Click to watch: GE Ecomagination Challenge

Collaborative Social Innovation for Brands

Collaborative Social Innovation Case Studies

Web platform: Open Ministry

Collaborative Social Innovation

Branded program: Intel Innovators

Click to watch: Intel Innovators

Branded program: Dell Social Innovation Challenge

Click to watch: Dell Social Innovation Challenge

Branded program: Mahindra Spark the Rise

Collaborative Social Innovation

Click to watch: Mahindra Spark the Rise

The Future of Collaborative Social Innovation

Source: untitlism on Flickr

How Do Grassroots Change Movements Work?

Now & Next: Future of Engagement

Now & Next: Future of Engagement