Even Asda’s at it – or are they? | The Spirit of Co-creation

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October 6, 2009
By Nick Corston
One comment

Even Asda’s at it – or are they?

Noticed this article in Marketing magazine, Asda explains its bold attempt to involve customers in decision-making.

For a moment I thought the high street had got the co-creation bug but in fact it’s just focus groups (in disguise), the good old suggestion box (ideas in isolation) and a brand going public by (and hoping to get some credit for) finally accepting that the consumer is in control.

All a bit 90’s -and not a whiff of Co-creation here.

Comments for this entry

Nick Corston

While I was in the mood I posted a similar comment on the Marketing mag web site yesterday and had this comment back from Martin Thomas of Crowd Surfing (do read his book).

“Andy Bond’s personal commitment to this project would suggest that Asda is serious about empowering its customers, rather than simply embarking on a superficial publicity initiative. It is also worth noting that Asda’s Wal-Mart parent is widely regarded as a pioneer in the use of the social media in the US. It has made mistakes – allegedly paying bloggers etc. – but has always been prepared to innovate”.

I certainly didn’t mean to imply that ASDA is embarking on a ’superficial publicity initiative’ just that, contrary to what I initially hoped on seeing the article, it wasn’t in the Spirit of Co-creation as we know it at Sense and won’t have the same outcomes tho is indeed a worthy step forward, as was Tesco’s recent decision to open up its API, albeit at a more geeky level .