John Winsor

Welcome to Victors & Spoils

The news is out. Another adventure begins. I love the start of a new adventure. So much anticipation. So much excitement. It always comes down to the team. Standing at the beginning of this adventure, Victors & Spoils, is especially exciting with the amazing team that’s come together. My partners Evan Fry, Claudia Batten, Scott Beck, Chris Marks, Dana Vallely and you (That’s right, you. More on this later.) comprise a crew that I’ve always dreamed about having on a big adventure.

Victors & Spoils is the world’s first creative (ad) agency built on crowdsourcing principles. Our goal is to provide businesses with creative solutions to their marketing, advertising and product-design problems, by engaging the world’s most talented creatives.  

Brands need an alternative to current ad agencies and crowdsourcing platforms. One that offers the strategic direction, engagement and relationship management that agencies deliver today but one that also delivers engagement, connectivity, creativity, and ROI that crowdsourcing platforms have the potential to deliver.

It’s time for a new agency model. One built to address some of the biggest forces changing the face of business today. Radical transparency, the consumer’s demand to be more involved and a growing cost consciousness regarding clients’ budgets have all made crowdsourcing especially timely for today’s marketers. However, the crowdsourcing paradigm is a bit unruly for most clients. The number of possible solutions created and the effort to keep things on strategy for a brand can be overwhelming.

At the core of Victors & Spoils is our creative department. It’s not a typical creative department made up of art directors and copywriters but one in which everyone from art directors and copywriters to strategists and producers come together to solve a brand’s strategic problems. Our creative department is a global digital community where anyone who wants to participate can.  People will not only be rewarded by the solutions they develop both individually and as a group but also for participating in the community, itself, and helping others develop their skills and talent. In an effort to guide this participation, members of the creative department will earn a reputation ranking that will help determine a share of the revenue from each project.

As on any journey, things will change and develop new paths. I’ve been blown away already by how fast things are moving and the amazing excitement that clients have expressed. This is going to be a wild ride.

We look forward to figuring this new paradigm out with you.

What's Crowdsourcing Have to Do with It?

I enjoyed Dan Wood's recent Forbes article entitled, The Myth of Crowdsourcing. But, his argument is confusing. Here's the core of what he's saying:

But in the popular press, and in the minds of millions of people, the word crowdsourcing has created an illusion that there is a crowd that solves problems better than individuals. For the past 10 years, the buzz around open source has created a similar false impression. The notion of crowds creating solutions appeals to our desire to believe that working together we can do anything, but in terms of innovation it is just ridiculous.

There is no crowd in crowdsourcing. There are only virtuosos, usually uniquely talented, highly trained people who have worked for decades in a field. Frequently, these innovators have been funded through failure after failure. From their fervent brains spring new ideas. The crowd has nothing to do with it. The crowd solves nothing, creates nothing.

Hmmmm...

So, individuals innovate and groups don't. But what's that have to with crowdsourcing?

In Dan's article, you could easily substitute the word "company" with "crowd." Does Dan mean that companies can't innovate, as well? Can't Google innovate? Can't Pure Digital, the company that created the Flip Video camera, innovate?

Innovation is much more complicated than individuals innovate and groups can't. Time and time again, I've seen both. Ideas are always iterative. The idea that a singular virtuoso inventing something without any outside influence is naive.

Sir Issac Newton said it best:

"What Descartes did was a good step. You have added much several ways, and especially in taking the colours of thin plates into philosophical consideration. If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."

What I do agree with in Dan's article is that without strong individual leadership, whether it's Linus Torvalds as the benevolent dictator of an open source community or Steve Jobs as a visionary corporate leader, a group needs a virtuoso to lead.

When you start to look at different kinds of groups, companies versus crowds, there are some interesting advantages that are beginning to emerge from crowds. First, most crowds are a meritocracy. They allow a virtuoso rise to the top without being held back by education, language, geography or title. Let the best idea win.

Yet, crowds still need to be directed. Ideas need to be edited and curated. Traditionally, it's what companies do well.

My hunch is that the future will be made up of hybrid groups. There will be small groups of highly talented editors and curators, that solicate ideas from larger virtual communities then combine the best ideas, shaping them into something truly amazing.

The Power of Storytelling

It's great to be reminded that storytelling is the business we're all in, no matter if we're making products or ads. (via @campfiresteve)

Baked In Live Q&A

Watch live video from alex and I on justin.tv/bakedin, tuesday 10/13 @ 3pm MST

Thanks, Alex

Wow. What a great two and a half years. I’ve been fortunate to have lived a life full of adventure; climbing, skiing and surfing all of over the world plus starting a few businesses and writing a few books.  One of the things I love about adventures, especially in the big mountains, is the ability to travel into the unknown, both physically and mentally. Not knowing exactly where to go, and how the team will cope with the challenges ahead. It brings a sense of mystery, wonder and excitement. When you sit on the summit of a peak the victory is sweet from all of the collective effort that’s been put into the journey.

The CP+B adventure has been one of the most amazing I’ve had the opportunity to participate in. Alex and I first met for a mountain bike ride when he arrived in Boulder. Living in Boulder and participating in outdoor sports you can quickly distinguish the posers from the real deal. I wasn’t sure how a guy from Miami was going to do.

From the first few pedal strokes of that ride I could tell Alex is the real deal. Alex is a trusted friend and partner. He’s one of the few guys in the world that I can do anything with in the mountains, no matter how dicey the situation gets.

The same goes in business. I feel exceptionally fortunate to have had the opportunity at CP+B to help create more momentum for planning, start the product innovation practice and, of course, write Baked In with Alex.

A few weeks ago I turned 50. On my birthday, I went for a climb, soloing the First Flatiron. While I had soloed the climb dozens of times, it was somehow different. 800 feet up the face I sat on a ledge, and wrote a blog post on my iPhone about the importance of the act of soloing. While it’s not for everyone, it’s something I deeply believe in. After the climb, I made the decision that I needed to embark on another entrepreneurial adventure to explore new territory. As a good friend, Alex has been a part of the conversation since that day.

Going forward Alex and I will continue to work on Baked In together. That adventure has only begun. And, I’m sure we’ll find a few new lines to ski and peaks to summit.

So here’s to CP+B. What makes it so special are all of the great folks. Thanks to everyone for making the last two and half years incredibly special. I have no doubt that the agency will continue to lead the way for the industry through these disruptive times.

50 is the new 30

I got a present in the mail last night. After the initial gasp, I had a good laugh. I still feel like I'm 30. 50 is the new 30, isn't it?

The Power of Time Off

Stefan Sagmeister has figured out how to recharge his batteries in a very inspiring way. How do you recharge yours?

The Early Baked In Reviews and a Big Thanks

A couple of months ago I wrote a blog post inviting readers to become the first to review Baked In. Forty people were kind enough to volunteer to help get the word out. The first round of reviews are in. Thanks to:

Frank Striefler on PSFK

Gareth Kay

Len Kendall

Paul Miser

James Sherritt

Dan Pankraz

Dennis Bernard

Anibal Casso

Baked In Update: The Wikiblog

The Baked In Wikiblog is now live. The wikiblog is a place to extend the conversation that Alex and I started in the book. Dennis Bernhard, one of the folks that offered to review the book, does a great job of explaining how it works, from a readers point of view:

Remember when your mother would use the famous “do as I say, not as I do” trick on you. Well, this book is following the motto of “do as I say, and as I do”. Not only does it preach baking in, it actually does it. Throughout the book, the authors have included Twitter hash tags to keep the conversation going beyond the book, into the Twiterverse and their blog. This is a great way to bake conversation and word of mouth directly into the book. Instead of having readers from all over the world having haphazard conversations all over the web, the predetermined hash tags and blog allow readers to interact with the book and with each other. This will eventually lead to interesting and thought provoking conversations that will only strengthen the ideas within this book.

The conversation is starting to get quite a lot of momentum on the wikiblog. Stop by and jump in.