Co-creation is a new marketing strategy that is used by most companies that want a edge over their competition in the market it is no longer about “active firm” and “passive customer” both have to interact with each other in order to create value for the other .The customers no longer buy the products and services as independent transactions but they look at it more from an experiential point of view. (Prahalad, 2004).

The value from the customers point of view is that he is actively involved in all aspects of the product from design, production etc. This gives them a more personalised experience and the product now becomes their “Baby” or their creation no longer something that has been thrust upon them by some random company. The firm is able to get ongoing revenue, learning and enhanced market performance drivers for the firm (loyalty, relationships, customer word of mouth)this helps the firm in increasing customer life time value. The firm can also take benefit of the social networking platforms to run these co-creation campaigns that are very effective as compared to traditional advertising platforms in terms of cost involved as well as reach.

Since Unilever in 2004 wanted to position “Dove” as a masterbrand for all its women skin care products it ran a co-creation campaign called “Dove Campaign for Real Beauty “that includes advertisements, video, workshops, sleepover events and the publication of a book and the production of a play. The aim of the campaign is to celebrate the natural physical variation embodied by all women and inspire them to have the confidence to be comfortable with themselves.

If you were a Brand Manager, what conditions would you impose for co-created brand meaning? List 5 guidelines and justify each

Transparency: Just creating a platform for co –creation is not enough the company should be able to provide updates on which projects were accepted and what are the reasons for rejection. If they are using a social network platform like face book they can probably accept the idea which gets maximum likes so the consumer is convinced about the transparency part.

All inclusive: Co-creation project should also include the employees of the organization in a big way so that they are aware of what is happening and they can also drive it further they can also act as our test audience before the actual public launch of the project it also helps in increasing their motivation and loyalty.

Communication Clarity: We need to clarify to the consumers the leading values of our company, the objectives of the project/campaign so that they can keep these things in mind while coming up with co-creation ideas.

Continue development: Co-creation only delivers value when it is a long term engagement. Customer should not only be involved during creation of a brand they should be involved in all future processes like new product launches etc this helps in continuous engagement.

Inspire participation: Provide incentives and exposure to people who are able to add considerable value to your brand enable the best people to meet and work on your project as a team this can take them to the next level and also help the company get an effective brand management team