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Crowd Funding

Mar 15 2023

Crowdsourcing Benefits for Grocery and FMCG Brand Owners

The various ways that crowdsourcing can be used for the benefit of organisations in an ever wider range of industries and service sectors continues to grow. The number of platforms that can provide guidance, the number of organisations that have used crowdsourcing, and the number of individuals who have contributed to crowdsourced tasks and projects, all continue to rise. In this article we take a look at the range of benefits crowdsourcing provides for grocery and FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) brand owners. 

The FMCG sector includes products like food and drink, health and nutrition, personal care and grooming, and everything in between. They have a weekly or monthly purchase cycle and are quickly-retailed products that sell at a relatively low cost.

Idea generation

Crowdsourcing FMCG data and insights can be used to gather ideas for new product development (NPD), packaging designs, marketing campaigns, plus improved sustainability, from a large and diverse group of people. Here are examples.

NPD

In 2022, Nestle increased the annual number of new products launched, and reduced the time taken to bring new products to market from an average of 33 months to 12. Crowdsourcing was a key element of these improvements, accelerating idea generation internally, externally and digitally.

  • Nestle established an internal Shark Tank and encouraged employees of any discipline to suggest product ideas. As an example, an employee in the pet food division had a child who was teething, and didn’t want them chewing on plastic: a teething ring made of food was developed.
  • Externally, Nestle collaborated with 60 startups. This brought together creative innovation with corporate ability to scale quickly. The company also closed a third of its own R&D sites, and invested the money in accelerators and startup innovation hubs.
  • Digitally, Nestle developed AI and data processing tools to automate to crowdsourcing among vast amounts of clinical data on food research, plant-based developments and new recipes.

In 2020, Lay’s crowdsourced new potato chip flavours inspired by iconic dishes from various regions of the United States. Fans could vote for their favourite flavours and the winning flavours were added to the Lay’s line-up.

Also in 2020, Oreo crowdsourced ideas for new cookie flavours and cream fillings through a social media campaign. Fans could suggest new flavour combinations and vote on their favourites, and the winning flavour was released as a limited edition product.

In Denmark,  during Covid, the Coop supermarket launched a temporary webshop to help small, pandemic-affected producers to sell goods directly via their Coop Crowdfunding platform. Over a hundred companies sold goods on the temporary webshop that were bought by more than 4,000 customers. This initiative is now a permanent online marketplace, and crowds of selected customers have the opportunity to decide which products to support, and potentially help them gain a store listing. The Head of Coop Crowdfunding, Nicolai Jæpelt, hopes manufacturers grow so large that they can be stocked on-shelf by the nationwide chain.

Image source: Unilever

In 2022, Unilever invited startups, scaleups and academic spinouts to partner with its teams, through The Positive Beauty Growth Platform. They want new products that incorporate brilliant functional ingredients that work with nature in their Beauty & Personal Care products – and in their packaging. Baz Saidieh, Global Head of the Unilever Foundry, Unilever’s collaborative innovation network, said: “Startup-led partnerships are an important pillar to drive growth and innovation. The Positive Beauty Growth Platform is proving a catalyst of finding the greatest startup innovations and powering experimentation at scale.”

Packaging

In 2019, Nestle launched an open innovation challenge in China, calling on people to submit solutions in areas of sustainable packaging.

Crowdsourcing fmcg marketing

In 2021, Doritos crowdsourced their Super Bowl ad campaign by inviting fans to submit their own 30-second spots for the chance to air during the big game. The winning ad was chosen through online voting.

Pepsi Max’s “The Sound of Max” campaign launched in Europe in 2021. It invited music producers and fans to submit their own music tracks to be featured in a new Pepsi Max commercial. The campaign aimed to highlight the connection between music and the Pepsi Max brand and it received hundreds of submissions from around the world.

Today, many businesses want to take advantage of the expanding Content Creator and Influencer economies. Crowdsourcing can be used to gather user-generated content, such as social media posts, product reviews and customer stories. Content creators and influencers provide the perfect option for brands looking to direct their audience to their online landing pages. With swipe-up links, affiliate ads and product placement as viable options for FMCG products, many brands in this sector recognise the benefits of working with content creators. They can help build brand awareness and credibility in a manner regarded as more authentic than centralised creative work produced by a marketing or advertising agency.

An fmcg brand that works with content creators

Tails.com, a pet food home delivery service, wanted to deliver a selection of authentic and engaging content to drive brand awareness, raise brand consideration and drive customer acquisition and sales. The creators the brand worked with produced genuine and informative content to showcase the benefits of feeding dogs this type of food, made with high quality ingredients. Tails.com’s paid-for advertising media concentrated on a “reduce waste” message, which enabled the brand to prove the success of their influencer marketing strategy which used different messages.

Sustainability

In 2021, Unilever launched a global startup collaboration program, calling on innovators to submit sustainable food solutions that can help reduce the environmental impact of the food industry. The program received over 300 applications from 40 countries.

Consumer insights

It is critical for FMCG brands to inform their marketing activities with a regularly updated understanding of their target audience. Crowdsourcing can help FMCG brands gather feedback and insights from their target consumers, not only about product preferences but also ESG expectations and media behaviour, which can aid product development, marketing strategies, and overall brand positioning.

Boosts brand loyalty

Crowdsourcing customer involvement in such activities can help FMCG brands build brand loyalty by involving consumers in the brand’s decision-making and product selection processes, and making them feel like they are part of the brand community.

Crowdsourcing FMCG store checks

Store checks can be carried out by crowds of shoppers. They can check products are stocked and well presented on the shelves, and at what height. They can check that bin-end installations and marketing materials are in place, and the relative presence of competitors. Phone images can be sent immediately to a central point for collation and assessment.

Roamler is one of the mobile crowdsourcing platforms that allow companies to outsource tasks to a community of smartphone users. The Roamler app enables them to earn money by completing tasks while they are out shopping, such as taking photos of products on store shelves, conducting surveys, or performing mystery shopping activities.

In 2020, Nestle partnered with Roamler to launch a campaign that aimed to increase sales of Nescafe coffee in the Netherlands. The campaign involved Roamler users visiting grocery stores to conduct in-store promotions and provide feedback on Nescafe displays and pricing. Roamler has also been used by other fmcg brands including Heineken, Coca-Cola, Unilever and PepsiCo for various tasks such as store audits, promotional execution, product demonstrations, and more.

After a successful pilot in January 2023, Roamler launched its newest monitor, the Monday Morning Price Tracker (MMPT), in Germany in March 2023. Every Monday morning before 10.30 am, 36 to 58 stores across Germany will be visited to get the latest data on real-time prices, as well as observations on sub-category seasonality to provide feedback for production teams. The data will be analysed immediately with results reported before 11.15 am the same day. There are plans to extend MMPT to France and the UK.

Crowdsourcing can help FMCG and grocery brand owners create more consumer-centric products, improve brand perception, and drive engagement and loyalty among their target audiences.

Written by Clive Reffell · Categorized: Crowd Funding · Tagged: Crowd Funding

Mar 15 2023

Startup Insider: Incisive Insights From Warren Buffett’s Letter to Shareholders

Warren Buffett is not just a prolific investor. He’s also a great writer. The day he sends his annual letter to shareholders is one of investors’ favorite days on the calendar. The letters are sharp, incisive and even entertaining.

The 2022 letter to shareholders, which was just released this year, contains some particularly fiery insights. And even more entertaining is the fact that he and Vin Narayanan agree on something!

In this episode of Startup Insider, Vin and Allison Brickell discuss the highlight of the letter, Buffett’s missed opportunities, the faulty benchmarks analysts use to measure company performance, and more.

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Written by Early Investing · Categorized: Crowd Funding · Tagged: Crowd Funding

Mar 09 2023

Top Crowdsourced Inventions In Recent Times

It was an article published by the Harvard Business Review that stated: “In practice, most crowdsourcing initiatives end up with an overwhelming amount of useless ideas.” Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, though we thought we’d outline some of the top crowdsourced inventions in recent times.

In a variation of crowdsourcing initial ideas, there are also numerous products that only made it to market through crowdsourcing early pre-orders by using reward-based crowdfunding. Without that support, many products that many people use and enjoy may never have left the drawing board. This selection covers both interpretations.

  • The Foldscope is a low-cost, portable microscope that can be assembled from a flat sheet of paper.
  • The LIFESAVER water bottle uses a filtration system to turn dirty water into clean, drinkable water.
  • The OpenROV underwater drone is designed for exploring and mapping underwater environments.
  • The SunSaluter, a low-cost solar panel rotation device, increases the efficiency of solar panels by 30%. Its non-electric method of tracking the sun’s movement during the day was invented by a 19-year-old mechanical engineering student at Princeton University.
  • WikiHouse is an open-source project for designing and building houses that was initiated in the summer of 2011. The end result allows anyone to design and build their own houses using CNC-cut plywood panels.
  • The Oru Kayak is a foldable kayak that can be easily transported and stored. A successful Kickstarter campaign in 2012 enabled the inventor’s company to hit the ground running.
  • The Square Foot Gardening Method allows people to grow a large amount of produce in a small space through the use of raised beds and intensive planting techniques.
  • The LifeStraw is a portable water filter that was first designed in 1994 to remove harmful bacteria and parasites from water, making it safe to drink. Through its Give Back Program, LifeStraw donates equipment for schools in emerging and developing economies to provide parasite-free water to their students.
  • Open Source Ecology is a network of farmers, engineers, and supporters that build open-source industrial machines that can be made for a fraction of commercial cost. It increases innovation through open collaboration.
  • The Raspberry Pi is a tiny, low-cost computer that has been used in a wide variety of projects, including robotics, home automation, and educational programming. The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a UK-based charity with the mission to enable young people to realise their full potential through the power of computing and digital technologies. The Foundation invites young digital tech creators worldwide to submit creative ideas.

These are just a few examples of many crowdsourced inventions that have been developed over the years. The concept of crowdsourcing has been applied to many different fields and industries, from technology and engineering to design and art, and it has proven to be a powerful tool for fostering innovation and collaboration among people from all over the world.

Written by Clive Reffell · Categorized: Crowd Funding · Tagged: Crowd Funding

Mar 08 2023

Crypto Insider: Tune Out Extreme Crypto Predictions

Since its inception, cryptocurrency has been a divisive concept. There have always been believers and critics, and some of them have expressed extreme opinions and predictions. Like Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz, a bitcoin bull who said he would get a crypto tattoo once bitcoin hit $500,000 in 2024. (He’s since walked that back.) Or the 400-plus articles that have claimed bitcoin is worthless.

It’s important for crypto investors to know when to tune out the noise. And most extreme crypto predictions are just that — noise.

In this episode of Crypto Insider, Vin Narayanan and Allison Brickell explain why investors should ignore these extreme crypto predictions — and what signals investors should pay attention to.

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Become a smarter investor in startups, crypto and cannabis by subscribing to our FREE newsletter filled with market research, trends and expert analysis.

Thanks for watching!

Written by Early Investing · Categorized: Crowd Funding · Tagged: Crowd Funding

Mar 03 2023

Crypto Investors Are in Uncharted Territory

Crypto Market Musings

We’re in uncharted territory. There have been other crypto bear markets. But this is the first time that crypto has navigated an economic down cycle. And we’re discovering that crypto — including bitcoin — can’t escape the gravitational pull of macroeconomic headwinds.

The crypto markets fell when we found out that the personal consumption expenditures price index (excluding food and energy) increased 0.6% in January. That increase was higher than what “the experts” were expecting and an indicator that inflation isn’t under control yet. (Editor’s note: Vin will be going off on “experts” and analysts in an upcoming podcast. You have to see this. Also, Warren Buffett agrees with him.)

The crypto markets (and stock markets overseas) rallied when data showed manufacturing in China was rebounding.

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This up and down behavior is becoming the norm for crypto in this economic down cycle. And what it appears to show — for now — is that short-term investors are treating crypto like a risk asset while long-term investors have moved into an accumulation phase.

As of this writing, bitcoin is down around 2.6% over the last seven days. Ethereum is down about 1.6% over the same period of time. And Monero is down about 1.1%.

I fully expect this market yo-yo to continue as long as inflation continues to be a problem. And right now, there’s little evidence to suggest that inflation will show a significant downward trend anytime soon.

What Vin Is Thinking About

Crypto is a volatile asset class. A 10% swing in the stock markets is a cause for panic. A 10% swing in crypto prices feels like a normal day at the office. But as volatile as crypto is, bitcoin had an interesting February. It closed the month up just 0.03%. There was plenty of movement in the 28 days of February, but it remained essentially flat. That’s not what people expect from crypto.

Combine February’s essentially flat month with what appears to be low bitcoin liquidity levels in the market (basically, there isn’t much bitcoin available to trade because long-term holders are at an all-time high), and you get very interesting market dynamics.

Any significant trading activity in a low-liquidity market can have an outsized influence on the market. Prices can rise and fall dramatically because of a few transactions rather than general market belief or movement. And it’s difficult for institutional traders to trade without directly influencing the market. This sort of environment is ripe for big daily swings — and possibly some market manipulation. So while I believe bitcoin and ethereum will likely trade either sideways or a little lower over the near term, the trading environment is ripe for a few days of fireworks.

And Finally…

Bitcoin NFTs took off in January. But like all NFTs, they were incredibly popular — until they weren’t. Decrypt has a good story on the two-month roller coaster and Bored Ape creators Yuga Labs deciding to move into this space. But what I find more interesting is how NFTs on the bitcoin blockchain have caused a rift in the normally “conservative” bitcoin community that mostly believes bitcoin should only be about decentralized money. This Forbes piece does a great job of explaining the rift and is definitely worth the read.

Written by Vin Narayanan · Categorized: Crowd Funding · Tagged: Crowd Funding

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