crowdcasting

Crowdcasting is a problem-solving and idea-generating tactic in which a corporation disseminates details of a specific problem or situation to a carefully chosen group of people for possible solutions. The process is often conducted as a contest. The results may be used to resolve difficult or complex development and marketing issues.

Typically, the selected target group in a crowdcast is well-educated but not part of the culture of the corporation seeking the solution. Such a group may consist of consumers who buy the company's products or services but who have no other connection with the company or its affiliates. When the event is a competition, these people are treated as contestants. The most creative or promising solutions, as determined by a set of judges, win the contest. Cash prizes generate an incentive for participants to take the contest seriously.

Crowdcasting has been proven to stimulate the evolution of products, processes, technologies, services or trademarks that executives within a corporation believe they might never have otherwise conceived. Some enterprises hire outside experts to organize and conduct crowdcasting events. Other companies do it themselves.