Crowd Marketing: Lessons from GoPro, LEGO, and Mountain Dew
Crowd marketing is a strategy that actively involves a brand's community in marketing, primarily by encouraging and showcasing user-generated content (UGC).
Iconic examples include GoPro, which built its brand on customer footage; LEGO, with its co-creation platform LEGO Ideas; and Mountain Dew, which let fans vote on new flavours.
These brands succeed not by asking for free work, but by creating a compelling product and culture that customers are eager to participate in and amplify the brand's story.
- Crowd marketing engages communities in brand storytelling through user-generated content, fostering authenticity and connection.
- Successful examples include GoPro's customer footage, LEGO's co-creation platform, and Mountain Dew's fan-voted flavours.
- Effective crowd marketing requires a clear objective, understanding your audience, and maintaining a strong brand identity.
What Is Crowd Marketing, Really?
Strip away the jargon; crowd marketing is simply the process of intentionally encouraging your target audience to participate directly in your marketing activities.
Instead of your brand shouting a message at people, you create a system where people create, share, and discuss the message themselves. It's about relinquishing a bit of control to gain a massive amount of authenticity and reach.
But before we go any further, we must address a critical distinction.
A ‘crowd' is not a ‘community'. A crowd is a collection of individuals. Shared values, identity, and purpose connect a community. You can market to a crowd and get a few bites. However, genuine, sustainable crowd marketing is born from a community. Your goal is to build the community first; the crowd will follow.
The Psychology Behind It: Why People Actually Participate
People don't share your content or enter your contest just because you asked. Deep-seated psychological needs drive their participation. Understanding these is non-negotiable.
The Power of Social Proof
Humans are herd animals. When we see others doing something, we assume it's right. Every piece of user-generated content, every shared review, every photo of a customer using your product is a vote of confidence that tells new prospects, “It's safe. It's good. You belong here.”
The Need for Belonging and Identity
People want to be part of something bigger than themselves. When customers wear a brand's t-shirt or use its hashtag, they aren't just advertising a product; they sign their identity. “I am the kind of person who uses this.” A strong brand gives people a flag to wave.
The Desire for Recognition and Rewards
This is the most straightforward driver. People like to win things, get discounts, and see their name in lights. A simple “Photo of the Week” feature can generate more engagement than a £5,000 ad spend, all because it taps into the basic human desire for recognition.
The Four Core Flavours of Crowd Marketing (With Real Examples)
Crowd marketing isn't a single tactic; it's a category of strategies. Most successful campaigns are a blend of these four core approaches.
1. User-Generated Content (UGC): The GoPro Method
User-generated content is any form of content—videos, photos, reviews, testimonials—created by customers rather than the brand itself. It's the bedrock of modern crowd marketing.
GoPro didn't become a £1 billion company by filming slick ads of professionals. They built their empire by turning their customers into heroes. They created a durable, easy-to-use camera and said, “Show us what you've got.” The resulting flood of authentic, thrilling content was more persuasive than any ad campaign they could have designed. They sell the lifestyle, and their customers provide the proof.
2. Co-Creation & Crowdsourcing: The LEGO Ideas Playbook
This is where you invite your community directly into the creative process. Instead of guessing what they want, you ask them to help you build it.
LEGO Ideas is the masterclass here. It's a platform where fans can submit designs for new LEGO sets. If a design gets 10,000 votes from the community, LEGO reviews it for potential production. The creator gets a percentage of the sales and public recognition. This is genius. LEGO gets market-validated product ideas for free, and the community feels a deep sense of ownership and involvement with the brand.
Another huge example is Lay's “Do Us a Flavour” contest, which invites the public to submit and vote on new crisp flavours. It generates millions of interactions and makes customers feel they have a direct say in the brand's future.
3. Crowd-Powered Growth & Referrals: The Dropbox Blueprint
This is the most transactional form of crowd marketing, built on a simple premise: “Refer a friend, and you both get something.”
An example of this is Dropbox's early growth strategy. In its infancy, the company skipped expensive advertising. Instead, it offered users more free storage space for every friend they referred. This turned their user base into a highly motivated sales force. It worked because the incentive was directly tied to the product's core value—more space. It was a simple, frictionless, and mutually beneficial exchange.
4. Customer Advocacy: Building Your Evangelists
This is the long game. It's less about a specific campaign and more about creating such an exceptional experience that your customers become voluntary brand ambassadors.
This doesn't happen by accident. It results from fantastic customer service, a product that solves problems, and consistent community engagement. An advocate is the person who recommends your service in a Facebook group, defends your brand against critics, and tells their friends about you without any incentive at all. You can't buy this; you can only earn it.
Before You Start: Is Crowd Marketing Right for Your Business?
This approach is powerful, but it's not for everyone. Launching a campaign before you're ready is like throwing a party without sending invitations. Ask yourself these questions with brutal honesty:
- Do you have an established audience? You can't activate a crowd that doesn't exist. You need a baseline of followers or customers to ignite the spark.
- Is your product or service genuinely shareable? A visually appealing product, a life-changing service, or a brand with a strong personality is easy to talk about. An accounting firm might struggle more than a craft brewery.
- Do you have the resources to manage it? This is not a “set it and forget it” strategy. You need time and people to monitor submissions, engage with participants, answer questions, and handle potential negativity.
- Is your brand strong enough? Your brand identity needs to be crystal clear. If you don't know who you are, you can't expect the crowd to tell your story for you. Building a strong brand is the first step in any effective marketing, crowd-based or otherwise.
The 1-Page Marketing Plan
You're doing random acts of marketing because you don't have a real plan. Why? Because you think it has to be a 50-page document. This book fixes that. It gives you a simple, one-page, nine-box framework to build a sophisticated marketing plan in minutes. Stop guessing and start growing.
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A 5-Step Framework for Launching a Crowd Marketing Campaign That Doesn't Backfire
If you've decided you're ready, don't just wing it. A structured approach separates strategic success from chaotic failure.
Step 1: Define One Clear Objective
What is the most critical thing you want to achieve? Don't say “more sales.” Be specific. Is it to generate 100 high-quality photos for your social media? To get 500 new email subscribers? To source a new product idea? A single, measurable goal will dictate every other decision.
Step 2: Identify and Understand Your Crowd
Who are you targeting? What motivates them? Where do they spend their time online? What do they value? If your audience values status and recognition, a contest with a public leaderboard might work. If they value community, a collaborative project is better.
Step 3: Design a Compelling Value Exchange
This is the core of the entire strategy. What are you offering in return for their time and effort? The value must be proportional to the ask.
- Low Effort Ask (e.g., “tag a friend “): A simple chance to win might be enough.
- High Effort Ask (e.g., “create a 1-minute video” ): The prize or recognition needs to be substantial.
Step 4: Choose the Right Platform and Make Participation Easy
Remove every possible point of friction. Don't make people fill out a five-page form to submit a photo. Use familiar platforms like Instagram with a simple hashtag. Provide clear, concise instructions. The harder it is to participate, the fewer people will.
Step 5: Promote, Manage, and Showcase the Results
Launch the campaign across all your channels. As entries come in, engage with them. Like, comment, and share submissions to build momentum. Once the campaign is over, celebrate the winner and showcase the best content. This closes the loop and validates the effort of everyone who participated, making them more likely to join in next time.
The Unspoken Dangers: When the Crowd Turns on You
When you invite the public in, you invite chaos. You are handing over the microphone and can't always control what gets said. Losing control is a feature, not a bug, but you must be prepared for it.
The Mountain Dew “Dub the Dew” Fiasco
In 2012, Mountain Dew launched a contest to name a new green-apple-flavoured drink. The “Dub the Dew” campaign was hijacked by users from 4chan. They flooded the online poll with joke names, and the top-ranking submissions included “Diabeetus,” “Gushing Grannies,” and, infamously, “Hitler did nothing wrong.” The company had to shut the contest down in a public relations nightmare.
How to Mitigate the Risks
- Have Clear Guidelines: Your terms and conditions are your first line of defence. Clearly state what is and isn't acceptable.
- Moderation is Key: Have a plan to monitor submissions. For an extensive campaign, this might mean a dedicated team. For a small one, it means checking the hashtag several times daily.
- Know Your Audience: The Mountain Dew team should have known their target demographic's online culture was prone to this kind of trolling.
- Have a Sense of Humour: Leaning into some harmless chaos can work in your favour. But you must know where to draw the line.
The right digital marketing services can help you navigate these risks by building a strategy that anticipates problems before they start.
How Do You Know If It's Working? Measuring What Matters
Likes and views are nice, but they don't pay the bills. Focus on metrics that align with your original objective.
- Engagement Rate: Comments, shares, and saves per submission. This shows the quality of the interaction.
- Sentiment Analysis: Are people talking about your brand positively, negatively, or neutrally?
- UGC Volume & Quality: How many submissions did you receive, and are they usable for future marketing?
- Referral Conversion Rate: What percentage of invited friends actually become customers for referral programs?
- Brand Mentions: Track the overall increase in conversation about your brand during the campaign period.
So, Is It Worth the Effort?
Yes, but only if you see it for what it is.
Crowd marketing is not a replacement for good, foundational brand building. It is not a cheap trick to get free advertising.
It is a powerful tool for brands that have already worked hard to create a great product and cultivate a genuine community. It's a way to partner with the people who believe in you and empower them to tell your story in their own words. When done right, it creates a cycle of authenticity, trust, and growth that no ad budget can buy.
Ready to build a brand that people want to talk about? It starts with a solid strategy. Request a quote from Inkbot Design to see how we can help.
FAQs about Crowd Marketing
What is the main difference between crowd marketing and influencer marketing?
Crowd marketing typically involves leveraging a large group of ‘ordinary' customers or fans, often in exchange for non-monetary rewards like recognition or contest entries. Influencer marketing involves paying specific individuals with a dedicated following to promote a product.
Is crowd marketing only for big B2C companies?
No. While large companies run massive campaigns, B2B businesses can use crowd marketing effectively. This often encourages client testimonials, case studies, and reviews on platforms like G2 or Capterra.
What is the single biggest mistake businesses make with crowd marketing?
The biggest mistake is having a one-sided “ask” without offering clear and compelling value in return. Businesses that demand participation without a good reason will see their campaigns fail.
How much does a crowd marketing campaign cost?
The cost varies dramatically. A simple hashtag contest on Instagram might only cost your time and the price of a prize. A larger campaign with a dedicated platform and significant prizes could cost thousands. The key mistake is thinking of it as “free.”
What is the best platform for a user-generated content campaign?
It depends on your audience and the type of content. Instagram and TikTok are ideal for visual content like photos and short videos. X is better for text-based ideas or contests. LinkedIn is the place for B2B testimonials.
How do I get legal rights to use my customers' content?
You must have explicit permission. This is usually handled in the terms and conditions of your contest or submission form. A clause should state that by submitting content, the user grants you a license to use it for marketing purposes.
Can negative feedback from a crowd marketing campaign be helpful?
Absolutely. If you ask for opinions on a new product and receive critical feedback, that is incredibly valuable market research. The key is to listen, acknowledge it publicly, and show how you're using it to improve.
What is the difference between crowdsourcing and co-creation?
They are very similar. Crowdsourcing is a broader term for outsourcing tasks to a large group (e.g., Lay's asking for flavour ideas). Co-creation is often a more collaborative and in-depth process where a brand and its community work together on a project (e.g., LEGO Ideas).
How long should a crowd marketing campaign run?
It depends on the goal and the effort required. A simple “comment to win” contest might run for 48 hours. A video submission contest needs 2-4 weeks to give people time to create and submit their content.
What if nobody participates in my campaign?
This is a common fear and usually a sign of one of three things: your audience is too small, your “ask” is too big for the reward, or you didn't promote it enough. Use it as a learning experience to better understand what motivates your audience.
