New Crowdsourcing Firm Intengo Launches

In the US, full-service online research specialist Infosurv has launched a new company called Intengo, which uses crowdsourcing techniques to help clients develop new ideas and go-to-market strategies.

In 2009, Infosurv launched a concept testing facility, Concept Exchange, based on the principle of on-demand prediction markets as popularized in James Surowiecki's book, 'The Wisdom of Crowds'.

Using this principle, sister firm Intengo has been set up to help marketers 'go from concepts to conclusions' in as little as seven days, by using crowdsourcing to examine multiple concepts at the same time, and collect qual insights to improve the ideas being tested.

The company's 'prediction markets' operate as a virtual online stock market, with participants - known as 'traders' - given virtual dollars to buy shares in a marketer's ideas. The prices for concepts fluctuate, depending on whether people believe a concept is of value or not, and by observing how share prices move during the 'trading period', Intengo says it can make 'highly accurate' predictions regarding the potential success of the concepts being screened.

Kyle Burnam (pictured), Intengo's 'Idea Accelerator', comments: 'The launch of Intengo represents several years of testing and refining our prediction market process. There's such a constant demand for better-faster-cheaper research, and we've never been able to justify a 'pick two' response. This approach has enabled us to accomplish all three without compromise, and opened the door to new types of insights and user conversations that we'd never seen using traditional methods.'

Web sites: www.infosurv.com and www.gointengo.com .