I have had a fantastic few weeks meeting some really interesting clients and agency people where we have been presenting & discussing co-creation. The first reaction in this type of meeting from advertising agencies and other experts in communication & design industries is hostility. To quote one advertising creative from a meeting this week “well if we hand over responsibility to the consumer we might as well get our p45′s and close down the office” I can understand this reaction and we might call this the “defensive expert” attitude. Because the training of most communication and design experts is based on creating value for their companies by owning
the science or magic of the creative process.

However I cannot help but be attracted to experts: creatives, planners, software architects, UX and fashion designers. I love them all: the nerdier, the better. It is a sheer joy to spend time with these people discovering their vocation and talent.

These kinds of experts love their jobs and they’re good at it and they can really inspire people. This is why this initial defensive reaction is to misunderstand the co-creation process and the important role they can play in it.
The trick for experts is to let go, to move from bottler of creativity to broker of knowledge and nurturer of ideas.

• Inspire
  Experts play a fundamental role when working with consumers – they are there to inspire consumers to engage with the subject and the challenge. The best co-creation projects always involve a passionate expert and a great example of this is Anne Gotelbe who inspired consumer to develop the next Axe/Lynx fragrance.
  
• Creative Talent Spotting
  Experts are also there to spot the golden nuggets of ideas or insights that can move the co-creation process on. In fact without this experienced trained eye co-creation would simply be a crowdsourcing exercise and we would be left with a sea of ideas. This involves editing and building on ideas, clustering, combining narrow and non visionary ideas into robust platforms, adding that crucial tweak that makes the idea really work for the client.
  
• Nurture
  Finally experts are there to mentor consumers and nurture the ideas that resonate. They are ultimately responsible for taking the ideas developed with consumers and bringing them to life within companies.