Don't Look Now, but the Crowd Might Just Steal Your Ad Account

Unilever Takes Practice Further Than Most, Sacks Lowe on Peperami Biz. LONDON (AdAge.com) -- For some time, marketers have been using ad contests as one-off PR ploys for their brands. Now, Unilever is testing whether crowdsourcing can be a long-term strategy for one of its British brands -- and the result could have far-reaching consequences for any number of agencies on the consumer-goods giant's roster. Unilever said it believes mainly creatives will crowdsource ideas for Peperami, not the general public. Unilever said it believes mainly creatives will crowdsource ideas for Peperami, not the general public. Just ask Lowe, London, which was recently sacked by Unilever on its Peperami snack brand so that the marketer can run a contest to find ad ideas. Unilever is offering a $10,000 bounty to the winner of a competition to find TV and print ideas for the meat snack popular with schoolchildren. Matt Burgess, managing director of the Unilever division that owns Peperami, said, "Lowe has done great work on the account over the years. They've created a strong creative vehicle that's extremely well-defined and very portable. But their great work has created a problem for them, because it makes Peperami the obvious candidate for crowdsourcing." What's more, Unilever isn't holding this up as a publicity stunt designed to appeal to average consumers. It actually expects that professionals in creative businesses will respond, and that's precisely who the pitch is marketed to. Oh, and if you think you're safe on some other Unilever account, beware.
To Learn More Click Here