My Starbucks Idea, Free Crowdsourcing Of Product Ideas

“What would make your Starbucks experience perfect?” On MyStarbucksIdea.com people can post their ideas and see how Starbucks puts those ideas to work. Ideas range from Birthday drinks, a punch card system, locally baked goods to Coffee ice cubes. On top of being a simple Suggestion Box 2.0, the community can vote to select the best ideas. Or as the company puts it: “Together, we will shape the future of Starbucks.”

Corporate crowdsourcing of product and service ideas is not unique, as Dell’s IdeaStorm, Innovate with Kraft and a list of other examples illustrate. While My Starbucks Idea is fully company branded (powered by the Force.com platform of Salesforce), other companies opt for a specific idea challenge on intermediary platforms like Fellowforce.com, Atizo, IdeaConnection, InnovationExchange, or IdeaMagnet. In contrast to challenges on those platforms, My Starbucks Idea does not reward customers for their ideas. Apparently the experience Starbucks offers its customers is strong enough for people to want to contribute by offering free product ideas. Underlining again the importance for companies to create unique experiences, it sparks the question whether it will be sustainable to ask for free advice. Would you be able to gather free contribution and involvement from your customers?

Philippe De Ridder

Co-Founder @ Board of Innovation

Enthusiastic about innovation, new business models, intrapreneurship, and start-up life design. On a mission to make corporates innovate like start-ups.