11/02/2009 10:32:48 AM 
(1) 
(1) The reality that logos can be purchased for $5 and ads can be sourced from the crowd, should be sending a giant reality check through the halls of branding and communication agencies worldwide.
Of course, it's easy to sit in the ivory tower and talk about how the logos and ads we design and make are so much better than the ones created by the crowd and stock illustrators, but no one maybe listening.
The industry can no longer take it for granted that it's the only game in town and that there a legions of willing clients eager to pay top dollar for its services.
There are probably way more, but here are 4 implications for this to start the conversation rolling.
1. Competition is Everywhere- we need to get over this. We need to be able to communicate what makes us different and why we are better than everyone else. Proof, proof and more proof.
2. Effectiveness Awards Need to Be Visible- While everyone in the industry may be aware of The Effies, not all of corporate America is. More could be done here and the same for the design awards.
3. What's Your Value Add?- You make ads and your help companies with their identity, but what else do you do? Is there anything about how you get to ads or design that makes the results better and can you prove this?
4. What Do You Make?- Being typecast as the guys and girls who makes ads and logos is a very dangerous place to be, it places you right in the competitive firing line. The world is going to belong to make things, those who make powerful intellectual leaps and bring new ideas to the world. The communication industry needs to be here, creating powerful ideas that make meaning. Instead of ads and logos, think cultures, products, applications, ideas and intellectual property.
Posted by Ed Cotton
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As an industry we focus so much on the tangible output. Say a logo, which isn't branding, that's graphic design. We often overlook or neglect to articulate that the real value of branding isn't the logo output but the thinking and thought to the hierarchy of a brand and how it works with its audience. Graphic design is now a commodity, but to your point the intellectual property and rigour that gets to the end logo is the value add. Though it's tough to articulate this value and most agencies get paid primarily for the tangibles they deliver - a logo, a poster, a website or art work for a DM piece. Fact is a smart company doesn't need someone (ie. an agency) to work the intellectual stuff out as they have a good handle on it themselves, so absolutely crowdsource is a natural step for the commoditized final step of marketing. The real creativity and innovation is in the product these days. For some brands, with horrifically restrictive research methodologies that agencies must abide by the crowd sourcing route may be the only way to actually do something interesting and good as they can work outside the restrictions. But if you are that agency hopefully you are pushing upstream to get out of the logo or ad manking business and into business strategy and returinging marketing thinking ot a core asset of the product development function, not a submissive supporter. Even if you crowdsource somebody needs to put together the brief, and therefore deliver some strategic thinking, in order to get good output from the crowd.