Needless to say that crowdsourcing with customers is getting big and that many companies are attempting to emulate lighthouse examples as MyStarbucksIdea and Dell Ideastorm. Obviously this is easier said than done. Many initiatives founder after the initial excitement. What makes MyStarbucksIdea work? Upon visiting the MyStarbucksIdea site you will see many ideas that have [...]

In this era of Word of Mouth, having brand ambassadors proclaiming the virtues of your new & improved product is absolutely essential. But suppose you do not have a pool of ambassadors, what then? Well, you can simply buy them, can’t you? There are numerous intermediaries that offer a database of ‘pioneers’, ‘community leaders’ or [...]