Is there a clear benefit to one over the other?
My company is quite large for having such a small marketing team. Besides myself, there really aren't any "creative" minds here at all. One of our subsidiaries is launching a new campaign and one of my back burner tasks is tee shirt design and printing. I had a few designs quoted by reputable small local and large nationwide firms ranging from $250 to $1000 per concept. I understand that these quotes are comparable to the marketplace right now but I don't like the idea of paying that much for something I don't love. Also, we are not a sexy brand, our tee shirts go on the sweaty, greasy backs of body men and car painters. In short, I'm not trying to win a fashion contest.
I looked into crowdsourcing and it seems like a viable option, especially for what I need. However, the various crowdsourcing communities are very much in it for profit and will say/do just about anything for my business. One promised 50+ concepts for the middle-of-the-road package priced at a fair $260. But wait, there's more! for another $240 I could have it mentioned on twitter! Not that I couldn't tweet a link for free by myself. It seems like a good shot but in my head I imagine a sweatshop of 5-10 designers working to the bone, pumping out vanilla designs. Do crowdsourcing communities really do what they say they will do? If so, which one has brought you success?