Does crowdsourcing help brands to enhance their customer relationships?

Abstract

Jeff Howe first mentioned the term ‘crowdsourcing’ in an article published in Wired Magazine in 2006 as a combination of “outsourcing to the crowd”. Put in simple words, this concept means getting services, ideas, funds or any other contents from a large number of people. As the old saying goes, “two heads are better than one”. So imagine thousands of people sharing ideas or skills for a company’s. Through the last decade, an increasing number of firms have perceived the potential of such a practice and tend to use it for any field of business. Crowdsourcing platforms have flourished on the Web proving this practice is getting more and more popular and even common. This dissertation is focusing on this recent way of externalization from its channels of distribution to the effects on consumers. For the purpose of this paper, the emphasis is on the application of crowdsourcing in the marketing field and on its impacts on brand customer relationships. Consumers are often facing crowdsourcing campaign made by brands to get them involve. Indeed, the globally harsh competition incites companies to find new ways to attract and win the long-term loyalty of customers. In the first part of this dissertation, literature about this specific topic and related ones are reviewed. Theories will be then compared with data collected during the qualitative market research in order to understand how crowdsourcing can help brands to enhance their customer relationships.