Those of us who migrated from traditional advertising to the brave new world of digital are perhaps the most open to openness. We were frustrated by the ingrained production-line culture of big agencies in which briefs chug from one department to the next until a big shiny TV spot plops out at the other end. We came here to build something better. Something more agile. Forget job titles and hierarchies, let's get the best people together, including the client and consumers, and find the most amazing solution possible. Old school advertisers would feel threatened by the thought of opening up their process. We feel invigorated. Our vision of an open and agile process is perfectly articulated by a concept called Collective Intelligence.

Collective intelligence emerges from 'the collaboration and competition of many individuals.' This definition comes from Wikipedia which is, appropriately enough, one of the best examples of collective intelligence yet produced. Jimmy Wales started Wikipedia in 2001 as a side project of Nupedia, an attempt to create an online encyclopaedia using traditional peer-review methods. The traditional project died, but its digital-age bastard child flourished. Wikipedia is now the web's most popular non-profit website. Every day millions of people search over 9,000,000 articles in some 250 languages. The quality of the information is generally excellent and up-to-the-minute. Despite initial scepticism there is no doubt that Wikipedia works brilliantly.

The question is, why? Why do thousands of people give their time and talent to build a free public resource? In his book 'Here Comes Everybody' Clay Shirky explains the need for humans to make a meaningful contribution, no matter how small or marginally recognised. It's why our ancestors put up animal paintings on cave walls. Now, instead of a cave we have the World Wide Web. We're still putting up animal paintings (http://www.pocreations.com/spo_cats.html) as well as photos, videos, songs, blog posts, comments, opinions, gossip and wiki edits. Millions of items every day. It's not always intelligent, but it's certainly collective and significant.

The key principle of Collective Intelligence is openness. Everyone can contribute and everyone can edit. If the production line was the crowning achievement of the industrial age then the open source model must surely be the symbol of the digital age. It's a heartening model. It brings out the best in humanity. Who among the industrial giants of recent centuries would have thought that people would willingly contribute their time and talent to a collective project from which they would gain nothing but personal satisfaction and a nod of respect? Who would have guessed that a seemingly random and un-managed group of people could produce something as focused and useful as an encyclopaedia? Or an operating system (Linux)? A web browser (Firefox)? Or a soft drink (OpenCola)? For those wedded to tradition it's disturbing. For the rest of us it's incredibly liberating.

We've always had the ability to be collectively intelligent but we've been held back by restrictive social models and limited communications. Two world wars broke down the social restrictions. The development of mobile phones and the Internet solved the communication issue, so now the possibilities are limitless. We're witnessing the spread of collective intelligence to business (Zopa.com), sport (MyFootballClub.co.uk) and culture (ASwarmOfAngels.com). How long before it reaches government?

As for brands, collective intelligence has turned age-old marketing principles upside down. These days the flow of information about a company, its products and services is almost entirely in the hands of consumers. How scary is that? Offer a crappy product or service these days and the blogoshpere will light up with indignation. Social networking tools allow consumers to coordinate protests, giving the traditional media something juicy to write about and forcing even the biggest companies into humiliating reversals of policy. But the smartest brands are embracing this openness and involving the consumer in their business as never before.

Perhaps the most impressive example of openness is from global superbrand Proctor & Gamble. They have launched an initiative called Connect + Develop which invites the world at large to solve specific product development needs. For example, right now they are looking for 'an auto-foaming technology that is more cost and space effective to incorporate in a powder laundry detergent.' Their aim is to outsource as much as 40% of product development. Potentially the core company will actually shrink, lowering running costs and increasing profits. Bigger isn't better. Open is better.

Just a couple of years ago it would have been unthinkable to allow sneak peeks of your new million-pound TV ad to leak out before the official launch. But now Sony actively enables bloggers to report from the set of the new Bravia ad and post tantalising clips online, feeding the conversation about the brand. As Cory Docterow observed, 'Conversation is king. Content is just something to talk about.' For one of our own clients, 17 Cosmetics, we built a MySpace community where girls can show off their look, enjoy beauty master classes and win the chance to help develop new products. It's one of the most successful branded pages on the site because we've allowed it to grow organically into a place where consumers actually want to spend time and have a conversation about the brand.

Collective Intelligence is at the heart of what we do and it's embodied in our name. Grand Union is a union of talent, a union of insight, a union of ideas. Within our agency, in our client relationships and with our connection to the consumer we strive to break down barriers and clear the way for brilliant thinking, collectively achieving solutions that are beyond the grasp of the individual.