There is an interesting video of Chris Anderson talking at TED where he coins the term Crowd Accelerated Innovation, (you’ve probably read about this – his first talk at TED), where he predicts that video will dominate the internet in the future and change the way content is spread in the same way the printing press revolutionised the printed word.
Anderson’s basic point is that online video, because of both its dissemination advantages (rich content, universal reach, yet narrowcast appeal to tiny passionate segments) and its far stronger impact (than print or images alone) on its human viewer, can terrifically — and quickly — raise the bar in all sorts of pursuits, from break dancing to cell biology research – hence Crowd Accelerated Innovation.
So this got me thinking and stealing…what separates out great digital campaigns from the ones that don’t work as well is ‘Crowd Accelerated Content’.
You can have the best looking digital property in the world but if the content is not relevant, not promoted through the right network, not of the moment or not targeted at the issues of the audience then the results won’t be as good.
When I was looking at examples of Crowd Accelerated Content and investigating what was trending on YouTube, up popped an iJustine video near the top with 336,492 views (in four days). The video is just a simple ipod touch give away which you can win if you sign up to her Facebook page!
I doubt that many YouTube videos for established brands will pull in a many views with one ipod give away, drive followers onto Facebook or if the competition was in a printed magazine, have nearly as many entries. And this just has cost her time and the price of an ipod touch…her content has an impact on the viewer, makes use of a free distribution platform and is accelerated by her passionate audience.
So for the ingredients of Crowd Accelerated Content; the mix has to be, visually impactful content which captures current trends; that appeals to and is linked/viewed by a passionate segment of your audience; which can then be distributed more universally through free platforms.