Challenge: Intel seeks to harness consumer innovation – and create buzz – around upcoming telephone product.
When most people think Intel, they think innovation. In summer 2010, Intel reinforced its position as an innovation leader by asking everyday consumers for new product ideas on Facebook.
The Intel media phone project – with which Intel sought to re-invent the home phone – presented the company with a unique opportunity to drive consumer innovation. The media phone team determined it could brainstorm internally for days and not generate the sheer volume of ideas available outside its walls.
So, the team turned to Bulbstorm's Idea Challenges platform for Facebook promotions.
Bulbstorm and Intel defined achievable goals for the 10-week Facebook idea contest as 10,000 active participants and 400 idea submissions.
Solution: Bulbstorm facilitates collection and improvement of consumers' product ideas on Facebook.
Facebook fans engaged in the consumer innovation campaign in a number of ways. They added their own product ideas or rated or commented on others' ideas. Engagements were rewarded with points redeemable for real and virtual goods.
As a result, tech-savvy fans could meaningfully impact product development and typical consumers could enjoy engaging with user-generated content.
Plus, the contest's winner would be named "VP of R&D" for a day and be invited to co-innovate face-to-face with Intel engineers at Intel's product development facilities.
The contest aimed to deliver ideas and engagement around three topics:
- Product name. As the media phone represented both a new product and new product category, a strong name was imperative. Consumer ideas ranged from the AIO (All In One) to the HomeTouch. In addition to text, fans also submitted images and video.
- Desired functionality. Fans learned upon entry that the product offered predefined specifications (such as an Intel® Atom™ processor, six USB ports and an 8.9-inch LCD). This enabled fans to ideate exciting features and apps without exceeding the platform's capabilities.
- Expected use cases. Fans categorized their ideas by the room in which they'd use the product. The app's flexibility allowed for the addition of a "dorm" category one day before launch. The category received only 4 percent of ideas, indicating that marketing to college students may be ineffective.
Unlike in a survey, consumer innovation occurred in real time on a social network. Thus, Intel was able to observe how product ideas held up to peer scrutiny. Ultimately, the community ensured that the best product ideas rose to the top and the worst filtered to the bottom.
The end result was valuable market research that protected Intel from potentially unproductive marketing investments.
Results: Consumer innovation delivers over 420,000 brand engagements, 5,000 product ideas, and key media coverage.
The use of Facebook for consumer innovation piqued the interest of media outlets like Mashable, Social Times and more. Additional media coverage was expected for the final stage of the campaign, when the contest winner would co-innovate with Intel engineers.
More importantly, Intel received over 53,000 active participants and 5,000 unique ideas! This exceeded expectations by more than 10 times!
These ideas provided insights into how the product should be developed and marketed. For example, over 10 percent of ideas were submitted in the home office category, highlighting the opportunity to offer productivity apps and market to home-based professionals.
And, when the product is released, it will find an audience of consumers engaged around the idea that they helped build the home phone of tomorrow.
As Ryan Zuk of PR Tactics observed, "A 'made for the people by the people' message can certainly resonate for companies that develop consumer-specific products. Likewise, the likelihood of a brand activating legions of evangelists to communicate its value proposition is greatest when the community's own ideas are baked in."
