Tesco chief salutes Facebook's crowdsourcing role
By Matthew Chapman, marketingmagazine.co.uk, Wednesday, 07 November 2012 09:50AM
Philip Clarke, Tesco's chief executive, has claimed founder Jack Cohen would be "proud" of Tesco using Facebook to crowdsource a new ice cream flavour.
Tesco: runs crowdsourcing campaigns on Facebook page
The supermarket giant used the social media site to crowdsource a new flavour for its Tesco Finest ice cream range as part of its policy to ask customers to help create new products and lines.
Tesco used its Facebook page to canvass ideas for a new flavour and chose amaretto, cherry and almond as the winner from more than a thousand entries.
Clarke claimed the strategy has "massive potential". The new flavour is currently in the development process and will be available in stores and online next year.
Speaking at yesterday's FT Innovate 2012 conference, Clarke said: "Back to Jack [Cohen] – I like to think he would be proud of what we did with Facebook. It's the 21st Century equivalent of his 1930s store tours in Hackney.
"Asking customers what they want isn’t new but doing it the digital way is. I never had the privilege of meeting Jack but I have heard from his contemporaries that his innovative streak was borne out of an attitude of mind – he’d travel, he’d constantly ask questions, spark ideas, try things."
Clarke also used his "making innovation happen" speech to talk about the ways Tesco is working hard to make online shopping even more convenient.
Tesco has created an application called "Mapster" that allows the tracking of Tesco.com vans in real-time so if a van gets caught in traffic the supermarket can alert its customers.
The scheme is currently being piloted in some stores around London with a potential roll out to the rest of the UK business early next year.
Mapster is also being lined up for an international rollout with Clarke adding "already the blueprint is being developed because traffic congestion is acute in Seoul and they need it fast".
Follow @mattchapmanukThis article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk
Additional Information
Campaign Jobs
- Managing Director - Equity potential DU Group £120,000 - £150,000, South Oxfordshire
- Commercial Director / Head of Business Development Propel £100000 - £120000 per annum + bonus and benefits, London
- Retoucher / Artworker Red Sofa London £35000 - £45000 per annum, City of London
- Senior Planner Direct Recruitment £55,000 - £75,000 + bens, Central London
- Senior Packaging Account Manager Blue Skies Marketing Recruitment GBP28000 - GBP38000 per annum, Benefits: Benefits, Uxbridge
Most viewed
- Blippar connects disjointed families, says MEC executive
- Fans take on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Twitter-powered tennis game
- Campaign Viral Chart: Samsung scores hat-trick in tech-heavy chart
- Jaguar readies global campaign for F-Type launch
- ITV and Channel 4 insist they will beat declining ad market
- EE adds Dare to agency roster to develop digital
Most commented
-
Forget the ‘Store of the Future’; brands need to think about the store of tomorrow
Technological innovations are everywhere, and while we may hear about a number of fascinating new developments, few will actually truly define the future of retail. Considering the changing landscape, technology is irrelevant if you don’t first understand both the behaviours and motivations of consumers in a hyper-connected, multi-channel world.
