Crowdsourcing

Crowd sourcing is a technique many companies are now using to trial different ideas, with increasing success:

http://www.ideastorm.com/
Dell's site has been running since early 2007 and has implemented a lot of suggestions already (the idea to offer Windows XP when there was a backlash against Windows Vista last year being an example)

http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/home/home.jsp
The coffee giant has created a place for dialogue between company & customer. Both these idea have been sponsored at the most senior level.

And now it seems the UK High Street fashion retailer New Look have created an engaging community space to crowdsource new ideas and get important feedback from their most important customers. Its early days yet to see if this is just a publicity stunt and a way to get cheap R&D; or if it creates better products and improves the bottom line for them whilst rewarding their Brand Evangelists.