The Creative Services Exchange™ (CSX) concept is built on the trading of briefs. And Crowdsourcing is a technique used to meet the creative demands of these briefs.

This is what blur Group is about – facilitating the trading of these briefs is our raison d’être. It’s a new approach to the sourcing and delivering of creative projects and one we envisage becoming the future ‘agency’ model, giving businesses greater flexibility and more creative options.

As with any new way of working, we expect there will be a few questions regarding the finer details of this new creative order.

To help understand how the CSX model works, here’s a look at how it compares with the traditional ‘Madison Avenue’ way of doing things. And the CSX isn’t simply Crowdsourcing – it’s much, much more than that.

Madison Avenue Model vs. The Creative Services Exchange

Okay, this is a fairly straight-forward comparison. Under the traditional ‘Madison Avenue’ agency model, the first step a company takes is to select a creative agency – either based on its track record, word-of-mouth or following a selection process and a series of meetings.

The selected agency then mobilises its in-house team of Copywriters, Designers, Project Managers, Account Managers…and anyone else needed. A staged process is then followed, with timelines and deliverables agreed.

The time between the initial agency-selection process and the production of any tangible creative pieces can be a few weeks or more. And a lot of commitment of resources is normally required under the ‘Madison Avenue’ model, too.

Conversely, under the CSX model, a company submits a project brief as a first step. The Brief Brokers at the CSX ensure that the brief is extensive in its remit and then submit the brief to the pre-vetted Crowd. The top three proposals from the Crowd of creatives are selected by the Brief Brokers and offered to the client who selects their preferred proposal.

The time between submitting the brief (the first step) and the production of any tangible creative piece is often a week or less. Crucially, very little commitment or resources are required from anyone up front.

Crowdsourcing vs. The Creative Services Exchange

Crowdsourcing is used across many industries to achieve speedy turnarounds of high-volume workloads. Facebook has used Crowdsourcing to translate its content into countless languages, and Wikipedia Crowdsources its content to build and maintain its online encyclopaedia. Both platforms have been criticised for compromising quality for quantity.

From a creative perspective, many platforms offer everything from Crowdsourced logos and websites, to brochures and banner ads. There’s no question they’re cheap and fast, but as a standalone service, it’s not really a suitable model for a quality corporate brand.

And this is where the CSX model comes in. It offers the services of a traditional Madison Avenue agency, without the associated overheads – it cuts straight to the core of the creativity. And the CSX model doesn’t encourage amateur design competitions that have become synonymous with many Crowdsourcing initiatives. Only professional creatives are used.

It’s probably worth looking at a third model too, one that’s a little closer to home…

DIY vs. The Creative Services Exchange

It can be very tempting to take creative matters into your hands. This could either be through using those in the company with rudimentary design and DTP skills. Or, it could mean reaching into the crowd across a multitude of online forums for a ‘professional’ designer/developer/copywriter. You might strike gold, but there’s every chance you won’t.

The Creative Services Exchange is a direct artery into the global creative workforce – people who have proven and demonstrable experience across many creative disciplines. You get quality without paying silly money. The only caveat is you won’t get a free lunch.

In the simplest terms, the CSX is about matching briefs with creative talent, without ignoring the necessary facilitative process in the middle. The technology, processes and Crowd of creatives are ready and waiting – all they need to kick into action is briefs.