It is called GeniusRocket. It is a crowd-sourced ad agency with almost 12,000 people making and designing programs for clients.
This is a very good idea and it is the work of a friend, Mark Walsh. Check it out. Don’t be shy to use them or to get involved. Click here for details.
This is a look into the future of community generated work output. It represents the next big thing I believe in outsourcing and I bet some of this work is as good as or better than any standard creative agency can deliver.
Tags: GeniusRocket, Mark Walsh, Ted Leonsis, Ted's Take

Ted, This is commonly known in the industry as Spec Work and is against the beliefs of the AIGA, the professional association for design.
Link for AIGA’s stance on Spec Work:
http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/position-spec-work
“In certain design disciplines, such as architecture, advertising and broadcast design, business practices differ and professionals have been expected to participate in speculative work. This usually occurs in fields where the initial design is not the final product, but is followed by extended financial engagement to refine or execute a design. In communications design, this is often not the case. The design submitted “on spec” is all that the client is seeking.”
Speculative work compromises the profession and the resultant work. For more information, please feel free to contact your local AIGA chapter.
this is a great idea and I love the idea of it for small clients and certain situations but to bet the work is as good or better than any standard creative agency can deliver….that is like saying a kid in Newfoundland is better than Ovechkin. better yet want to take any of the forwards from the New York Rangers for him? evenup trade? didn’t think so….lol.
This should help the economy. I guess the days of sitting down with a client/designer and hashing out the real needs and details of a project and building a relationship is a thing of the past. So instead of having an experienced creative explain why certain things work, execs can just pick what they think “looks cool.” Then the designer who sits there working on dozens of submissions to compete against hundreds of other submissions has a chance to make a whopping $500. Shame.
Totally embarassing. It’s the equivalent to child labor.
i use it
and one day i will come up with something that will actually be used!
quality still depends on the evaluation of ideas
which
imho
is the limiting factor generally
whether in education or business or government
be well!
Hi Ted,
Have you compared with http://99designs.com? We have over 38,000 designers registered.
Cheers, Adam.
99designs.com
This directly relates to an article in the current issue of Wired Magazine : The New Socialism
http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/17-06/nep_newsocialism
I agree we will see far more of this moving forward as people explore opportunities to further their own skills and experience by working on things that interested them as opposed to only working on things assigned to them by the typical corporations.
I have used GeniusRocket for a logo and had great results. I am not sure how anyone can try and compare crowdsourcing with child labor as Brian has. That is totally preposterous. These were designers, albeit most likely students or recent grads, but they participated by choice. I can understand why some designers don’t like crowdsourcing, I tried to get a quote for a logo and while one designer wouldn’t give me an exact price two that did were over a $1000. GeniusRocket was only $400 and I was able to choose from many designs. They helped me write out the brief, I was able to speak with them over the phone and by email to ask questions, and after two weeks I was working directly with designer to create the final logo. I’m not sure how it would work for video or the others services they offer, but my logo experience was wonderful. I see this as a great option for small companies, and don’t see it going away.
http://www.specwatch.info/