Zooppa

We advertise ourselves as “crowdsourced video advertising.” But what exactly does “crowdsourcing” mean? It’s not even recognized by Microsoft Word, which means while typing this blog post I have to actually re-read the words to make sure they’re spelled correctly.

According to the most reliable of Internet sources, Wikipedia, “Crowdsourcing is the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to a group of people or community (i.e. crowd) through an open call.” Now that we’re all wired 24/7, crowdsourcing makes sense as the next generation of idea creation.

And although “crowdsourcing” itself might sound exotic, you’re probably already enjoying its benefits.

• For example, American Idol is in some sense a crowdsourcing show: instead of paying performers, tons of people volunteer to be on the show. The producers get to pull the best talent. Voila-ratings through the roof.
• Or consider Facebook, which gives you hours of entertainment through videos, pictures and articles. Their employees don’t have to spend time aggregating this content, because you and your friends share it free of charge.
• A great example of crowdsourcing for good is Kickstarter, which provides funding for new creative ideas. Basically, someone will list a proposal for a documentary, non-profit, book, manga, you name it. Then they set a fundraising goal. Out of the goodness of their heart people who support the idea will pledge money for the project to get it done. The cool part is they do this just because they’re super cool people. Backers don’t get any money out of the process so successful projects don’t have to give away huge chunks of their profits.

Zooppa uses the same model. Companies love crowdsourcing because, instead of paying millions of dollars for just one commercial, they get tons of awesome, unique ideas in just a few weeks. And they know you guys are real people with real opinions-so each idea they get is genuine.

Several great sites have more examples of what makes crowdsourcing so great: Pinterest, PostSecret, and YouTube are just a few.

And of course, it also can also make for a fun time with dancing flashmobs:

Or with this stunt by Improv Everywhere:

Happy videomaking!