Diageo Innovation Head Benni Lickfett: Crowdsourcing Hasn’t Fulfilled Its Potential (Podcast)

18 Jun, 2021

Despite the success of apps like Waze, we haven't yet scratched the surface of the potential of crowdsourcing and co-creation, says Diageo Global Head of Emerging Technology Benni Lickfett, the latest guest on MAD//Fest's partner podcast, Shiny New Object. Host and Automated Creative Founder Tom Ollerton shares the conversation.

Benni Lickfett is Diageo's Global Head of Digital Innovation, where he brings a varied experience in start-ups to work with global brands and push the envelope when it comes to creating new and exciting campaigns.

His Shiny New Object is the unfulfilled promise of crowd wisdom and crowdsourcing, which was hailed as a way to collaborate more widely and create better brands, but is falling short of its initial potential.

Whilst this movement towards listening to the “hive mind” appeared to foster collaboration and co-creation when projects like Wikipedia and Waze took off, its potential hasn’t been truly fulfilled.

Mostly, this can be explained by brands not wanting to take enough risks, open themselves to criticism or be as transparent as they could be.

Benni will be running a £20k Diageo digital commerce innovation challenge at MAD//Fest London. Book your tickets here.

Tom Ollerton is founder of Automated Creative.