Posts Tagged ‘writing

03
Apr
13

Slogan Slingers – a contestant’s perspective

SloganSlingers focuses exclusively on Slogan/Tagline contests. They get enough clients to keep the contestants busy. In my experience with them, I’ve seen around 5 new contests happen every week. There are a very few other sites that run slogan contests – like SquadHelp and CrowdSpring. Apart from the word of mouth, if someone is looking to get a slogan/tagline through Crowdsourcing and decides to Google for a site, SloganSlingers’ SEO and top listing in Google results will ensure that they will find them first.

I had joined this site when they launched, but I had regrettably deleted my account after seeing that the first 2 contests I participated in got cancelled. At that time I felt that this was yet another scam site. But recently I came back to the site and am happy that I did, in a span of 2 months I’ve won 3 contests.

The contest process is very simple and straightforward. The client comes, deposits money, answers questions in a brief and the contest is launched. New contestants are limited to 3 entries and at some point (either after winning the first contest or when the site admin approves your entries) you get to enter a maximum of 6 entries per contest.

The great thing about SloganSlingers is that they pay the winner within 2 days instead of prolonging the payment like many other sites. The best thing is that they reveal the winners so you can see which entry won and compare it to your own entries. This makes the contestant trust the site more and it seems more transparent. Their entry template is very fast, you can enter 6 slogans within a minute as compared to SquadHelp’s entry box which takes 10-15 seconds to load for each entry.

Even though they mention “Guaranteed Prize” on every contest there are many that get cancelled. But they have many contests that get completed – i.e. winner chosen and paid, so one doesn’t feel like complaining. CrowdSpring on the other hand has a higher ratio of cancelled contests.

SloganSlingers email notifications are also very simple and straightforward and you end up reading them and acting on them rather than just marking them as read or deleting them.

Overall, SloganSlingers is a better choice for clients & contestants over SquadHelp or CrowdSpring.

03
Apr
12

Victors And Spoils

https://victorsandspoils.com
Their Service Description: Everything an ad agency does.
Our impression: Traditional agency model with a handful of people on staff, but a crowdsourced creative department. V&S’s creative director makes sure the work is solid and on brief.

This just in: Today, French advertising company Havas has acquired a majority stake in U.S.-based Victors & Spoils, for an undisclosed amount.

Since its humble start in 2009, V&S has added the following blue-chip clients to their roster: Chipotle, Coca-Cola,  Converse,  Crocs, Discovery Channel,  Dish,  GAP,  General Mills,  Harley Davidson,  Levi’s,  Mercedes Benz, Oakley, PayPal, Unilever and Virgin America. Havas said that one of the first joint projects between the two companies will be to use Victors & Spoils technology to “create a 15,000 person professional Havas ‘crowd’ to source ideas from”.
Questions arise. How will the “crowd creatives” react? Will V&S’s pioneering culture vanish? Is V&S about to enter a world of client conflicts? Will V&S’s CEO John Winsor be fully absorbed by the challenges of holding the new title of Chief Innovation Officer for all of Havas?
Operation is based out of Boulder, Colorado, US.

28
Nov
11

hatchwise

http://hatchwise.com/
Their service description: Getting your logo, website, brochure or pretty much any other graphic design or writing project done is easy.
Our Impression: Formerly known as eLogo Contest, hatchwise has been around since April 2008. Over 10,000 creatives have serviced close to half a million contests. Currently there are 46 live briefs, so it seems hatchwise is doing just fine. What’s a bit misleading is their just $29 dollar per custom design headline, but what it really means, is simply the idea that if a customer is unhappy with the logos, which start at $100, the money is given back, except for the $29 set-up fee. Part of the name change, is their addition of naming and writing contests, which aligns their service offering with crowdspring.com and an ever growing number of other crowdsourcing companies.

10
Apr
11

choosa

http://www.choosa.net
Design made easy.
Their Service Description: Our unique platform provides a space where both creative designers and project owners can participate in the creative design process. Choosa.net takes care of a wide range of processes efficiently.
Our Impression: Choosa is the Latin American version of crowdSPRING and 99designs (see Previous Entries). Having their site fully translated to English however, signals that it is open for business to North America. The great majority of the 15,000 registered designers are Latinos. So far, the Choosa crowd has designed over 700 contests, mostly logos. The design quality, or lack of, is at par with its global competitors, but like with any crowdsourced solutions, there is always a small number of surprisingly good submissions to pick from.

The founder is Dutch, but the operation is based out of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

18
Mar
11

blurGROUP

http://www.blurgroup.com/
Blur Group is the world’s largest Creative Services Exchange.
Their Service Description: Our 9,500 creatives and exchange staff, our unique business model and advanced technology radically alter the marketing services space – delivering the most cost-effective, real time and relevant design, marketing, advertising, media and ideation services.
Our impression: A very ambitious organization with a very broad service offering positioned to make a real dent in the agency world. Quotes like “No more agency beauty parades, no more hefty retainers.” on their site are clearly trying to position blur as a valid, full-service alternative. Their single largest reward of $130,000 is no pocket change either, which proves that their reputation and credibility is growing.
Operation is based out of London, England.

08
Mar
11

redesignme

http://www.redesignme.com
bringing ideas together!
Their Service Description: The word’s largest crowdsourcing agency for marketing and design.
Our Impression: Product innovation, package design, creative writing, marketing ideas, logo design, websites, company or product naming… every creative challenge can find a solution here. Impossible? We think so. At least at a quality that rivals specialized shops. It seems to us that Redesignme hasn’t quite found their niche yet. The claim of being the “world’s largest” may be correct, because they might be the only one trying to combine everything. As of 3/1/11 the company has attracted about 100 active jobs.
Operation is based out of Eindhoven, Holland.

08
Mar
11

ideaCROWD

http://www.ideacrowd.com
Crowdsourcing agency helping you create a splash
Service Description: ideaCrowd is a creative crowdsourcing agency, helping inspire businesses like yours. We specialize in crowdsourcing, product naming and business naming services and take advantage of our 10,000+ network of creative people.
Our Impression: Clearly a naming and not a graphic design resource. The blurry glass with a “splash” on their homepage makes a cheap and uninspired visual connection to their tag line. But hey, that is not what you’d be hiring them for. The team of ideacrowd makes a very approachable and easy-going impression. So far only smaller brands have tapped their services.
Operation is based out of Solona Beach, CA.

08
Mar
11

crowdSPRING

http://www.crowdspring.com
Their Service Description: Saving entrepreneurs and businesses millions of dollars on logo design, web design and writing services.
Our Impression: Not unlike 99designs, crowdspring claims to produce 110 submissions on average from a community of 85,000  designers and writers. Logo designs and naming services start at the bargain prize of $200, which makes crowdspring a great option for all budgets.
Operation is based out of Chicago, US.

08
Mar
11

12designer

http://www.12designer.com/en
Design Your Day. Style for everyone.
Their Service Description: We are conceptual artists, designers and project managers from the agency world to produce your logo, flyer, visiting card, writing paper, diagram, sticker, poster, web page, illustrations and banner.
Our Impression: Undoubtedly a good design resource in Germany with over 12,000 registered contributors. Beware of posting English language based projects, as the site itself has had its translation challenges. Their own tag “Design Your Day” raises more questions than it provides reassurance of creative quality.
Operation is based out of Berlin, Germany.




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