The Johnny Cash Project

 The Johnny Cash Project is a nice example of good, intelligent crowdsourcing. For the release of Mr.Cash's posthumous album, director Chris Milk has invited the public to contribute to the music video by painting over a chosen frame.

The painting tool they developed is simple and easy to use, making what could have been a long and arduous task into a simple one. The video itself looks great and it's full of very individual looking takes on very similar frames. Well worth a look.

It's worth remembering that the project hinges on a large and loyal fanbase. Would this idea work if you asked people to paint every frame of the new Coke ad? No. Crowdsourcing relies on a large, passionate fanbase who will work together to maintain the integrity and standard of what they are contributing to. Most brands don't seem to get that. This is an obvious observation but just you wait until some creative or marketing person somewhere sees this and the inevitable rip-off appears.