Biggby sent me an email the other day about B’ing creative from a caffeinated perspective.  The email was a shout out to invent a new flavor – a new Biggy Bear drink for their recipe books.  The inventor of the winning recipe would win a new iPad or an iTouch.  The invention process on the site is pretty basic.  Users choose whether their drink invention is hot or cold; choose up to three of eighteen flavors to add to the coffee; and then they name their creation. 

Biggby’s Coffee Invention is more of a contest than crowdsourcing, especially when you compare it to the mother of all coffee crowdsourcing sites — MyStarbucksIdea.com.  My Starbuck’s Idea is about passion for the brand.  Passion for coffee.  Passion for ideas.  Since the site launched in March 2008, members generated over 75,000 ideas.  Ideas are not limited to the product.  They also include suggestions to improve the experience (e.g. ordering, atmosphere, locations) and brand involvement (e.g. community building, social responsibility).   

Me-Too or Us-Too Strategy
Can (or should) Biggby do a “me too” strategy?   Maybe.  Several things about Biggby you may or may not be aware of (some of you may not be even aware of the brand).  Biggby is growing.  They currently only have 100 locations — primarily in the midwest.  So they are not the behemoth of a Starbucks, Caribou, or Dunkin Donuts.

Their current growth may be an advantage.  Biggby can be the up-and-comer — the new kid on the block.  As a brand builds its base of operation, they also need to build their base of fandom.  For example, Sonic Drive-in just moved into my area.  When the long anticipated location opened, the buzz was thick, because fans who experienced Sonic elsewhere were talking.  They were passionate.  Non-fans noticed the passion and wondered what the excitement was about.  My friends noticed.  My wife noticed.  I noticed (however, I am still grappling going to a drive-in when it is snowy, 28-degree day in Michigan — I think we will wait ’til spring). 

Biggby’s strategy shouldn’t be “Me-Too” rather it should be a ”Us-Too” strategy.  Their goal should be to build passion.  A passion people have collectively for the brand (“Us” instead of “Me”).  Biggby should build a fan base in whatever methods make sense.  Methods begin with destinations like facebook, YouTube, and the Biggby web site.  You need places for people to congregate.  Places to share their passion.  And sharing their passion requires active participation from the brand.  Although it is nice for the 9,789 facebook fans to give shout-outs to Biggby — Biggby needs to engage their fanbase to cultivate the passion.  They need to engage them online.  Engage them in their retail locations.  And maybe engage their fanbase through crowdsourcing.

What about Biggby Crowdsourcing?  The idea behind the current flavor invention engagement is worthwhile, but at the same time it seems stifling.  It would have been nice to allow people a little more creativity by adding their own flavors (and vary the amount per flavor).    Truly allow coffee recipe experimentation.  Regardless of the nuances, this kernel of an idea can be the beginning to increase fan engagement in the brand.  The engagement could lead to other aspects of the business (just like Starbucks).  The advantage to this invention loop would allow people to feel a part of the brand.  Feel they have a vested interest in Biggby’s future.  And with “feeling” will become passion.  A passion for Biggby.

You have many brackets to choose from. You can play for big prizes (the perfect bracket would get you $1 million). You can play for fame against friends, co-workers or the nation.

Either way, this is the time of year to play the brackets. Also, it is the time of year some marketers latch onto the bracket to become relevant. There are several different methods to get into the madness: Go with the Flow or Create Your Own Path.

The idea of Going with the Flow is to sponsor an existing bracket on a major sports site. For example, Hooters has taken center stage on Fox Sports (Fox Sports Hooters Bracket Challenge). The Hooters/Fox brackets participants can win cash prizes and wings.

ESPN (ESPN Tournament Challenge), Yahoo! (Yahoo! Tourney Pick’em), and CBS Sports (CBS Sports Bracket Manager) also have sponsorships from State Farm (ESPN), KFC (Yahoo!) and Enterprise Rent-a-Car (CBS). As you can see by clicking on the links, the Hooters sponsorship is much more demonstrative than State Farm (logo), KFC (logo), and Enterprise (banner).

Creating Your Own Path means creating an autonomous bracket on your own site. For example, Buffalo Wild Wings hosts their own bracket challenge (Buffalo Wild Wings Bracket Challenge). The BWW contest is the same as last year with a character named Brandy teasing participants by claiming she will win, because “You know to much.” BWW participants have an opportunity to win an HDTV with surround sound, camcorders, and gift cards.

Both strategies have pros and cons. Positives for Going with the Flow are the natural traffic to the sports sites and low development costs. The primary drawback is ownership. Sponsoring will get a brand exposure, but do they really own the activity? Hooters will benefit more than the other marketers due to integration and a closer brand/product synergy with the Tournament (I can watch the games at Hooters. KFC, Enterprise and State Farm seem to be just borrowing consumer interest in the tournament).

Positives for Creating Your Own Path include exclusivity and brand building. Like Hooters, BWW has a nice product synergy as a restaurant. Also, they are not sharing the spotlight with ESPN, Fox or CBS Sports. The primary drawback is BWW has to spend money to generate interest and traffic to the contest. I found out about the Bracket Challenge through a BWW email.

Although both strategies have merit, I think there is a bigger opportunity. The opportunity to build on the natural behavior of filling out the bracket. The opportunity to be part of the bracket conversation.

In my opinion, the most interesting bracket site does not exist this year. For several years Coke Zero offered an entertaining, bracket generating tool called the Bracket-o-matic. I discussed the application in a blog last year (Let the Bracket-o-Matic Madness Begin).

The advantage of the Bracket-o-Matic is it accentuated the process of filling out brackets. It built upon the natural behavior of completing a bracket. It aided the process of deciding which team will win. For example, does North Dakota State have a shot at beating Kansas in the opening round? Or will Purdue get to the Final Four?

With this said, you only have til tomorrow noon to complete your brackets. Good Luck!