Many examples of such initiatives are already known to those who follow what happens in the Social Media space. Most applications ( RedisignMe, Dell, Nokia, Samsung, TomTom, HP, Talpa, Google Android KLM, Starbucks, P&G, Robeco, threadless, LEGO, SAP, Kodak and many others) are focused on utilizing the customer wisdom in order to innovate. Another way to utilize the customer creativity is to ask customers to design advertisements for you or even commercials. A pioneer in this area is Current where amateur videos that appear on TV win money. Here in Holland we have also some interesting examples. A few months ago Nespresso tested two commercials as to the viewers' opinions before one of them appeared on TV (Source: MarketingFacts.nl)
Another nice example of using customer creativity is the Battle of Concepts , a Dutch (at least till this moment) platform allowing companies to organize competitions (mostly among creative business students) for solving real business problems. The site is getting very popular among students who can win up to 5.000 Euro but also among lecturers who can find there real case studies for their students! (I think to try this next year). Last but not least a new site called Creatad offers creative amateurs the possibility to make money by designing advertisements (printed or videos). I wonder if the American Marketing Association will be obliged to come soon with a new Marketing Definition taking into consideration the interactive nature of Marketing today as well as the way the New Marketing is creating value for the customer who becomes slowly marketer himself!
