I have a regular morning ritual. Say hello to my colleagues, drink a large coffee, read my new e-mails and spend some time crowdsurfing. That is to say, every morning I look through a new wave of creative ideas that flows in from our online crowdsourcing platform, Mindfire.
Ketchum launched Mindfire with a four-month pilot phase last fall. At the outset, we wanted to involve a small number of enthusiastic university students in an open environment to share ideas and comments on real-world creative challenges.
Now, after 30 challenges and hundreds of ideas generated for our clients, the potential of Mindfire is clear. Participating universities have more than tripled, with new students looking to join the community every day. Mindfire has been used for Ketchum clients around the world, generating innovative ideas for creative challenges in as little as 24 hours. Mindfire participants have joined global Ketchum offices in internship and entry-level positions and also taken advantage of additional benefits, such as career coaching and Ketchum webinars.
Today, we are throwing fuel onto the fire. Mindfire is expanding to new clients and continents, broadening the global online community to incorporate fresh ideas and perspectives from regions like Asia, South America and the Middle East. We will continue to integrate Mindfire into our creative client offerings, and explore opening the Mindfire community to new crowds with diverse ideas and opinions.
In time, we’re sure everyone will come to find what we already know: This fire is quite cool to touch.
News + Views
