Crowdsourcing is the new word on the advertising street. Already a hit in the U.S, Crowdsourcing has increasingly gained currency in the vocabulary of British advertisers and marketers this year, thanks to influences from politics, business and the rise of social media. Very soon it will be the turn of continental Europe to get to grips with the model- and the rest of the world will not be too far behind either.

But why?

Essentially, the future of agency work is changing- and at a frightening pace. The reasons are largely economical- a global recession filled with job cuts and unemployment has ended the days of profligate spending and heralded a dawn of advertising agency prudence.

However, the evolution of technology has had an equally powerful effect. The way we interact, travel and ultimately conduct business has had powerful implications for the advertising industry as a whole.

To be truly global, agency offices spaces need to expand outside of their physical location and fragment across the world.  We are better connected and our methods of communication have vastly improved, even within the past five years. A meeting in Stockholm can encompass input from Sydney, Hong Kong, New York and Manchester. Even methods for conducting the humble conference call have evolved.

The best ideas will not necessarily be formulated within the four walls of the office building- and clients do not want to pay top dollar for work that can be completed at a level standard for a fraction of the price by exploring a wider market.

As Maurice Levy, the Chief Executive of Publicis, noted as far back as 2008: “Agencies are struggling to evolve as marketing and traditional media go digital in all areas of campaign execution and audience activation.

“There is a power shift from master agency control of accounts to a more digitally empowered client wielding new partner and provider connections.”

Alice Louw, of TNS Global Brand Equity Centre, believes that the most successful advertising agencies and market research companies of the future will start adopting Crowdsourcing principles, as the model has distinct advantages over old traditional methods.

She said: “Forward-looking agencies and companies of all types need to adopt the role of expert consultants capable of guiding clients in their Crowdsourcing endeavours: helping them to achieve optimal community engagement; to build and sustain a level of trust and authenticity with the community; to implement appropriate incentive schemes; and to make appropriate tactical decisions.

“This will mean stepping outside of engrained ways of thinking; adopting new philosophies; and re-evaluating traditional cost models.”

Focused Crowdsourcing may well be the key. For Crowdsourcing to work as a concept, the ideas that emerge need to be creative, innovative and literally stand out in the crowd. With focused Crowdsourcing, the crowd is filtered and developed into specialist communities, where they can be cherry-picked for individual tasks on projects that encompass far more.

Whether your designer is based in South Korea or your PR strategist’s in Cape Town, the best-suited (and probably most cost-effective) individuals for the tasks will be selected to meet the brief. Each member of the crowd has a proven level of expertise in each particular field, which in turn, offers the client a guarantee of quality assurance.

One further and crucial factor which advertising agencies must grasp before fully embracing Crowdsourcing is engagement. Good project management is a pre-requisite whether you’re working in a small office space in London, or have your workers spread across five different continents. Regular contact, progress reports and control over your team are imperative to project success. Advertising agencies must continue to create their own ideas and continue to meet their objectives by reining in the various talents of the Crowdsourced team.

The number of talented freelancers continues to multiply. Individuals are driving into the space that the creative agencies onced owned almost by default. Complacency is the greatest challenge facing the advertising agency at present. Change is inevitable- just how quickly will be dependent on the ambition of the industry as a whole.