Interview with David Alberts, Chief Creative Officer, MOFILM (uk)

Crowdsourcing has been an incredibly popular topic last year and will inevitably be a hotter topic this year as even more brands and agencies jump on the band wagon. This morning ADMA spoke to the Chief Creative Officer, David Alberts at MOFILM (UK), who are the curators of what is known as ‘crowdsourced creativity’, on the topic of crowdsourcing and his thoughts on the future. MOFILM – which is effectively the world’s largest creative department – is giving traditional ABL advertising and the creative industry a run for their money by supplying an endless source of fresh inspiring films and advertisements; all developed by the very people that brands view as their customer.  In fewer than three years, MOFILM has crowdsourced a community of more than 35,000 creative prosumers (producer-consumer) to produce 8,000+ advertisements and films for the world’s leading organisations.

David joined the MOFILM team after previously working for the full service agency, Grey London, where he found himself recommending TV and big budget advertising in which he thought if the roles were reversed i.e. he was the client, it wasn’t the thing he would invest in. In a world of new media, and with a record number of prosumers with access to digital cameras etc, there are fewer roadblocks for people to crack into the industry. “The the way the world is now, it used to be the cost of cameras etc. that used to be the barrier for people coming into industry, now it’s a different world” said Alberts. Now working at Mofilm, Alberts has access to over 35,000 film makers on the books; the result being that brands can get totally fresh, cheaper and innovative ideas by leveraging the power of these creative crowds.

When I asked Alberts if he thought crowdsourcing was the way of the future for marketing and advertising, he responded by reciting what Paul Edwards, Strategic Director at General Motors said when asked the same question at Cannes last year: ‘At the moment it works very well with my agencies, but who knows in the future.”

One interesting but obvious fact Alberts made was that there’s ‘currently a huge demand for content, and not enough supply’. So what does the future hold? There’s no doubt that crowdsourced content is in its element; it’s a wonderful way to source creativity outside the confines of the marketing and advertising industry’s walls. The counter argument is that it’s a good excuse for brands and agencies to use when they can’t come up with the creative thinking themselves. Not to mention it comes at a fraction of what’s normally paid for creative work.

Is crowdsourcing here to stay? Or will it die out as consumers feel the work and lack of return? Would love to hear your thoughts!

David is the Chief Creative Officer at MOFILM.

MOFILM work for top-tier brands, such as Coca Cola, Samsung and Chevrolet…

Watch out for a full interview with David through the ADMA Dialogue, this March.