Founded in 2008, Mountain View, Calif.-based start-up Pixazza provides a self-servicing platform allowing users to “…shop for products directly from photos” by clicking them, thanks to a combination of algorithmic technology and of course, crowdsourcing.  The start-up’s new approach and cost-per-click advertisement model provides marketers with an extremely  targeted, visualized and cost-efficient means of reaching audiences utilizing a large network of product experts and publishers.

The first link in the Pixazza crowdsourcing chain is the experts segment.  This is a group of fashion, interior design, travel and sports-savvy individuals addressed via Pixazza’s official site to match products appearing in given photos with the platform’s product catalog.

The photos are in turn spread throughout the web by the second link, consisting of ‘publishers’ including bloggers, affiliate marketers and website owners who support relevant imagery and the Pixazza feature on their site. These websites are increasingly likely to be visited by individuals who are or would be interested in relevant products.  The start-up rewards its experts with financial incentives and its publishers with increased session times; revenue and additional traffic.

The images and particularly the items appearing in them are connected to Pixazza’s system, matched to products from a 10 million item-inventory aggregated from dozens of vendors and are linked - interactively - to Pixazza’s advertisers’ sites for direct purchase.

Pixazza is perhaps a great example of utilizing crowdsourcing for online advertising, as the company both preaches and practices crowdsourcing. Like many that have pioneered, this innovative platform may have the potential to become mainstream. As Pixazza continues to develop its model they have an eye on the near-term and on the future. Christmas is right around the corner, and Pixazza has just added a new “Ask Santa” feature to its platform.

When a user clicks a product he or she is interested in, the pop-up menu which previously only contained product descriptions, previews and links now also contains an “Ask Santa” button which enables the user to ask someone else to buy the gift(s) for them. The automatic e-mail sent to the potential gift-sender contains a description of a desired item and of course a link to an e-commerce site advertising with Pixazza. 

The California-based start-up’s publishing network reaches more than 40 million unique visitors every month, 10 billion image view per year and raised $17.8M in funding, which is an impressive achievement for a 3-years old operation. Nonetheless, while Pixazza hasn’t grown to the Groupon’s (a coupon site also based around crowdsourcing) $6 billion-worth proportions yet, it may have a promising future, as the platform is currently attracting a bigger and bigger number of experts, publishers and a plentiful of advertisers.