????菲多利（Frito-Lay）在打造土豆片的最新口味時，智囊團把這項工作交給了最具創造力和最為重要的美食評論家們，也就是該公司的顧客。這家公司發起了一個活動——“請幫我們一個忙”（Do us a Flavor）。作為活動的一部分，菲多利食品愛好者們提出了380萬個有關薯片口味的想法（下文將進一步介紹勝出者的有關情況）。這種眾包技巧對于母公司百事可樂（PepsiCo）來說并不新鮮。百事的眾包歷史可以追溯到2007年，當時它的“激浪民主”（DEWmocracy）活動催生了激浪（Mountain Dew）的最新口味Voltage。菲多利首席營銷官安?穆克吉說：“它真正開創了我稱之為消費者參與和消費者掌控的新潮流。” 2007年以來，百事可樂旗下的所有品牌總共從消費者那里得到了2,000多萬個涉及產品口味的建議。

????和百事可樂（財富500強企業）一樣，很多著名品牌更加愿意把重要決定交到粉絲們的手中。這不是巧合。社交媒體數據分析公司Mass Relevance的CEO山姆?德克爾說，這股潮流在很大程度上來源于社交媒體整合的崛起。這家公司把社交媒體體驗融入客戶網站，通過突顯網站上的內容來幫助耐克（Nike）、美國全國廣播公司（NBC）和NBA等品牌與用戶進行溝通。眾多的粉絲們都愿意、也渴望在社交媒體上分享他們的想法，因此企業開始更加仔細地傾聽他們的聲音就不足為奇了。“觀眾就在那里。他們已經習慣了參與和創造內容，”德克爾說。“借助社交網站可以得到這樣的好處：把他們的參與擴大到他們在社交網站上的粉絲，從而吸引到更多的人。”

????從土豆片口味到NBA球服，下面是近期幾個非常引人矚目的眾包和粉絲投票活動。

1. 百事可樂

????這家飲料和零食生產商是眾包領域的先驅，旗下的很多品牌都借助顧客的創造力來開發新口味。百事可樂最近為菲多利開展了名為“幫我們一個忙”的活動，收到了近400萬個涉及薯片最新口味的建議。包括鐵人廚師邁克爾?西蒙和女演員兼餐廳老板伊娃?朗格利亞等名人在內的一個食品專家組從中選出3條建議，然后由粉絲們投票決定優勝者。這3條建議包括雞肉華夫餅和拉差辣椒醬，但起司蒜蓉面包占據頭名（其他值得注意的建議是瑪格麗塔和韓國燒烤）。

????穆克吉說，起司蒜蓉面包將在2013年底正式加入菲多利的產品陣營，但第二三名因為備受青睞也將進行小批量生產。投票總數超過了100萬張。她說：“（活動期間）我們為這個品牌創造了空前的輿論價值。”

????When it came time to create the newest flavor of Frito-Lay potato chips, the brand's brain trust turned things over to its most creative and important food critics: its customers. As part of the brand's "Do us a Flavor" contest, Frito-Lay lovers sent in 3.8 million chip flavor ideas (more on the winner to come). This crowdsourcing technique is nothing new to parent company PepsiCo. Its history with crowdsourcing dates back to 2007 when its "DEWmocracy" promotion generated the newest Mountain Dew flavor: Voltage. "It really started what I'll call a wave of consumer engagement and consumer control," says Frito-Lay chief marketing officer Ann Mukherjee. Since 2007, PepsiCo has received more than 20 million flavor suggestions from customers across all brands.

????Like PepsiCo (PEP, Fortune 500), many prominent brands are a lot more willing to place important decisions in the hands of their fans. And it's no coincidence. Much of the movement stems from the rise of social media integration, says Sam Decker, CEO of Mass Relevance, which builds social media experiences into client websites, helping brands -- including Nike, NBC, and the National Basketball Association -- engage users by highlighting content on their sites. And with so many fans eager and willing to share their thoughts over social media, it's no surprise that companies are beginning to listen more closely. "The audience is there. They're used to participating and creating content," says Decker. "By doing it through a social network, you get the benefit of amplifying their participation out to their followers and then pulling in more people."

1. PepsiCo

????The beverage and snack maker has been a crowdsourcing pioneer, utilizing the creativity of customers to come up with new flavors across a number of its brands. Pepsico's most recent "Do us a Flavor" campaign for Frito-Lay, garnered nearly four million submissions for its newest flavor of potato chips. A panel of food experts, including celebrities like Iron Chef Michael Simon and actress and restaurateur Eva Longoria, helped narrow submissions down to the final three, and a fan vote determined the winner. Finalists included Chicken and Waffles and Sriracha, but Cheesy Garlic Bread took the top spot. (Other notable submissions were Margarita and Korean BBQ.)

????Cheesy Garlic Bread will become a Frito-Lay regular later in 2013, but the top two runners-up will also be brought back for a limited run due to popularity, says Mukherjee. In total, more than one million votes were cast. "What we got in total talk value for the brand [during the campaign]," she says, "was unprecedented."