I’ve been following an interesting contest, but realized that it has wider, Earth-shaking implications.
Here's the contest, posted by a guy named Colin. See if you can see its wider consequences:
“My new Apple MacBook is shipping .... I told my boss that this would replace my IBM desktop and I could boot Windows XP on it. I am still confident it can be done. I am giving $100 of my own money and offering anyone else who would like the instructions on how to Dual boot these two operating systems the ability to give some of their money into the pot as a prize for the person / group that can make dual-booting Mac OS X and Windows XP happen on an Intel Mac. Good Luck, Colin” (Rules and other details follow) Boot Windows XP on an Intel Duo Core Mac and Make Money
This is an example of a ‘solution contest.’ There have been several very famous ones in the past:
- The Wright Brothers’ first flight was actually part of a worldwide contest for powered flight (there were 3 rules: powered, controlled, landing the same altitude or higher). Everyone knew it was about to happen, and about when it was going to happen. It was a worldwide race.
- During WWII, there was an “inventions needed” list of over 300 crucial things that we needed. Most of them were invented.
- There was a Friday meeting at the Manhattan Project. People would get up and say what they needed. If anyone else knew how to do it, or who was likely to be able to do it, they got up and volunteered the information. If the solution was outside the project, people were flown to find the inventor and bring the “volunteer” back to Los Alamos under military escort.
Do you see the new implications of the “Windows on an Intel Mac” contest?
It’s a “Consumer Generated Contest.” CGC (You heard it here first — I’m looking for a better name). Its implications can be HUGE. A customer has stepped up and put up $100 into a PayPal account, inviting others to join in and contribute. Within a few weeks, it climbed to over $12,000, and got worldwide coverage in the blogs and technology press. Also, someone stands to make a lot of money from marketing the solution itself. As I’ve written before, it would cause sales of Macs to multiply.
But the point is: here’s a customer who has no vested interest other than a desire for the product, stepping up and starting a fund for something he wants.
I think it’s only the first and that it will start a major trend.
This got me wondering: what would you gladly contribute $100 or more to encourage the invention of? Don’t be too fast to say things like, “cure for Cancer, Diabetes, etc., solution to Global Warming, alternative to Oil, etc.” These BIG PROBLEMS would require almost impossible-to-define rules, the incentives are already up and running, a PayPal pot is unlikely to increase the motivation of people already motivated by a variety of incentives, throwing more money of any kind is not likely to increase the probability of a solution. Anyone solving these problems would get the Nobel Prize, plus plenty of others.
CGCs are for a certain type of problem:
- Middle-level
- Clearly definable
- Clearly “in the sights.” Something we know is inevitable, imminent. We can taste it. Our mouths are watering. We would pre-order it right now on Amazon (a metaphor).
- Something where the additional incentive pot is likely to motivate people to invest their resources in developing a solution
- Something for which adding to the incentive IN ADVANCE would be attractive to a large number of people
They may be hacks to existing products. I would have paid in advance for a way to defeat Verizon’s removal of Bluetooth Dial Up Networking to my Treo (already developed), how to defeat the inability to program the Prius’ navigation system while the car is moving (already posted), and many others.
They may be accessories, new products, utilities, etc.
Are there a lot of these? Is it worth building a web site to encourage them?
Think about it:
What would you eagerly contribute $100 in advance to a PayPal pot to see developed?
Just to make it real, make it something that you would actually put up the money for, right now, if I set up the contest.
George Silverman
Word-of-Mouth Marketing Speaker and
Consultant
Author, The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth
Marketing
www.mnav.com''''' wordofmouth.typepad.com
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