‘Elite’ crowdsourcing service taps an invitation-only crowd

We’ve seen crowdsourcing applied to graphic design, publishing and car development, to name just a few, but typically such efforts are wide open as to the crowd members who can be involved. Edge Amsterdam, on the other hand, bills itself as “elite sourcing,” whereby an invitation-only scheme determines who can be part of the contributing crowds. Now in beta, Edge is “an international offline and online platform that works with the best international young creative talent and brands to develop product and brand innovations,” in the site’s own words. To make that possible, the company recruits select young talent by invitation only via art schools and other connections to help create product and brand innovations. Experienced creative professionals in the Edge network ensure quality output through guidance and coaching; assignments can be related to marketing communications, where output is used directly, or innovation and trend concepts, where output can be used for further development. Recent assignments have come from the investment funds industry, PICNIC (Holland’s largest creative/tech conference) and surf and lifestyle brand O’Neill. If clients’ greatest risk in employing a crowdsourcing strategy is the potential lack of high-quality results, limiting the pool of contributors to those with known capabilities seems like the logical next step. What other crowdsourcing efforts might benefit from a little externally imposed quality control…?