We have created a meta-community to understand what members of online co-creation communities love and hate about co-creation. The deck contains our key learnings with regards to participation and how consumers see the future of online co-creation. Deck written and presented by Felix Koch and Doron Meyassed of Promise Communities. Presented at the Social Media Research Conference of the MRS on the 29th September 2011 in London.

1. Drinking our own Kool-Aid: How 236 consumers
have changed the way we run communities
Doron Meyassed – Director & Founder Promise Communities
Felix Koch – Consultancy Director Promise Communities
Social Media Research Conference – MRS
29th September, London

2. What we will cover today
About Promise and the research
5 things about co-creation we didn’t know
before we created our own community
Q&A

3. We are , a consumer-centric
Insight, Innovation & Strategy
consultancy.
In the last 4 years we have run over
48 online co-creation programs with
participants from over 50 countries.
We thought it was time to create a
community for ourselves…

4. We wanted to know:
1. What consumers love & hate about
online co-creation
2. Why they take part
3. How they’d improve the experience

5. Promise
Community

6. Participants joined us from 6 established
Promise communities
Promise
Community

7. The process
1. Warm-Up 2. Status-Quo 3. Participation 4. Innovation 5. Closure
2 months, 5 phases, 20 official activities

8. 236 members …in return for 60
generated hours moderation
14,130 qualitative and one £8
contributions Amazon voucher
(that’s about 11 per participant (on
comments average).
every hour for 2
months)…
Source: Promise Research.

9. A word of caution: participants were top
contributors from co-creation communities
Community Co-creation
MROC
Panel Community

10. A word of caution: participants were top
contributors from co-creation communities
Community Co-creation
MROC
Panel Community

11. These consumers have developed more
than a dozen new products & services

12. About Promise and the research
5 things about co-creation we didn’t know
before we created our own community
Q&A

14. Top 3 reasons why members participate
in online co-creation
1.
Because I can
share my views
2.
& interact with Because I can
a brand or
company.
interact with
others & meet
3.
like-minded Because I receive
people. rewards
Source: Promise Research, unprompted responses, 394 data points in total.

15. In social media we are often told to
take the brand off the centre stage, to
somehow hide it away – for co-creation
this is the wrong thing to do.
To engage consumers, we need a barn
that needs raising, we need the
company as raison d’être of the
community.

16. So what?
Unless confidentiality is a HUGE
issue, don’t run un-branded
communities.

18. Top 3 things that would make members
contribute more
1.
Having a strong
impact on the
decisions of the 2.
brand or
company. Higher financial
rewards, rewards
3.
for quality More social
contributions. status, peer
recognition.
Source: Promise Research, unprompted responses, 378 data points in total.

19. In the past we found that level of
feedback correlates with participation
Relative, average participation Scores
100
X
80
X X
60
X
X
40 X
20
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Impact Score (Quality & Quantity)
Source: Promise Research based on 6 co-creation communities.

20. So what?
Provide regular feedback what the
brand is doing (or not doing) with any
results – it’s going to be the cheapest
way to increase participation you got.

23. feel that being part
of the community
has made them
more creative and
38% able to express
themselves
Source: Promise Research, Top 2 boxes, n=170.

24. Top reasons why community members think
communities make them more creative:
1. They have the platform tools to express
themselves simply (audio, pictures, video)
2. Communities are longitudinal and allow them
to develop skills and confidence over time
3. They feel safe and not being judged
4. The bar for ‘results’ has been lowered
Source: Promise Research, unprompted responses, 322 data points in total.

25. So what?
A community is an extremely powerful
way of unlocking consumer creativity...
to unlock it provide tools, lower the bar,
don’t judge and wait.

27. 22% of community members
reported to feel close towards the host
brand before joining the community.
This figure more than doubled
after joining the community (49%)!
Source: Promise Research, n=170.

28. Cherish.
Acknowledge.
Use for co-creation.
Fans
Measure bias regularly.
Refresh.
Use for refinement and evaluation.
Less engaged
community
members
Usually no significant bias
found in quarterly surveys

29. So what?
MR tells us to fight bias and exclude
fans at all cost. Don’t - or else you will
kill the goose that lays the golden
eggs. Identify & cherish the brand
fans and measure/refresh the rest.

31. Consumer
Anthropologists:
Up-skill community
members and turn them
from respondents into
researchers.

32. Community Teams: Our members will become
Divide community into researchers themselves; we
small collaborative units will skill them up in basic
that compete with each research techniques &
other over time. encourage them to bring
the world around them back
onto the community

33. And finally we didn’t know…
HOW MUCH they dislike the
term co-creation!

35. Thank you.