• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, August 19, 2010

Crowd sourcing agency Victors & Spoils has seen the future of digital campaign management -- and it's one big squirrel fight. Or at least that's the name of its new digital platform, which will eventually let creatives manage and execute campaigns of any scale in a secure yet fluid environment.

The "Squirrel Fight" platform's first assignment is handling all creative entries for The International ANDY Awards. Through the month of August, people from around the world are being encouraged to submit original, creative concepts for consideration by the awards organizers.

"As it stands, 'Squirrel Fight' is like our version of Crowdspring," said Evan Fry, Victors & Spoils' Chief Creative Officer, in reference to the popular crowdsourcing Web site. "But we're building something much more robust that will have all the touch-points expected of an agency."

Expected in about a year's time, the next iteration of Squirrel Fight will likely shed the quirky name, but offer much broader functionality, including greater control over campaign management, a reputation ranking system for clients to vet potential partners, and greater security to protect intellectual property. And that's just the beginning, according to Fry, who stressed the comlete openness of the ambitious project. "We've been clear from the start that we're learning as we go along," he said of the Victors & Spoils team.

The Boulder, Colo.-based agency only launched last year, but has already built a name for itself as a pioneer in crowdsourcing principles. "We offer clients something that feels like standard agency interaction, but is more flexible, and without all the overhead," said Fry.

In late June, Virgin America tapped the agency for the launch of a new online campaign announcing its entrance into the Toronto market. The concept, The Virgin America Toronto Provocateur, was developed in-house by Victors & Spoils as an online PR stunt to generate excitement for the airline's first international destination, Toronto.

For Virgin America, it developed the concept for the campaign in-house, only turning to the crowd later in the search for a brand ambassador -- or Toronto Provocateur -- who will be expected to create buzz and interest for Virgin America in the Canadian city.

Also in June, Victors & Spoils debuted a major national TV campaign for Dish Network to promote its new "Free HD for Life" service. The campaign is made up of a suite of 15- and 30-second spots for network and cable TV, plus a 60-second spot for cinema.

For the ANDY Awards, ideas proposed through Squirrel Fight will be shortlisted by Fry and his colleague at Victors & Spoils Noah Clark. Along with Fry, industry creative Ty Montague and Michael Lebowitz, founder and CEO of Brooklyn-based creative agency Big Spaceship, will then make the final selection.