[Mageia-discuss] Mageia logo proposals and selection

Graham Lauder yorick_ at openoffice.org
Thu Oct 14 09:11:27 CEST 2010


On Thursday 14 Oct 2010 18:38:43 Thomas Backlund wrote:
> Graham Lauder skrev 14.10.2010 07:24:
>  > On Thursday 14 Oct 2010 16:16:39 Tux99 wrote:
> [...]
> 
> > Damned by faint praise, and frankly I'm insulted, I suggest you read the
> > Core Values statement which is up on the website now I think and which I
> > and my team put together in deep consultation with the founders.
> 
> [...]
> 
> > especially when you say it as though you have a deep dark knowledge.  I
> > don't really have time to do marketing 101 here and It's wasting my time
> > when I could be doing the more useful things that the Founders have
> > asked us to do.
> 
> Now this last comment does not at all follow the Values...
> The "more useful things to do" approach is never a good argument... ever...
> 
> > However:
> > Marketing raises Brand awareness
> > It connects a value with the product in the Consumers mind
> > It connects a brand with people on an emotional level
> > 
> > That's it, Getting people to use it is Sales which is a different beast
> > altogether.
> 
> True.
> 
> > We get people to see the brand, connect with the brand and then think
> > about investigating it after that it's sales and engineering.
> 
> But as one point already made, namely the "engineering part"...
> It does not help if we get a brand, but no developers & testers that is
> interested in it...

Agreed, and that is another target market.  We need to develop a brand that 
suits that particular market.  One of the drivers in the younger end of this 
group is "fame" or recognition.  High profile distros with a good brand image 
attract these people especially if there is a large user base.  Ubuntu have 
done this well.  Arguably the greatest part of their success is the number iof 
devs that they attract, This is pretty obvious when you attend Linux confs, 
interestingly the question: "Does it make a better Distro"  could be debated.

There are many reasons for this but probably a big driver is the "Significant 
addition to the CV"  Which works better when working for a high profile 
project. 
> 
> >> Software is not a car or a handbag or a jacket, those are items where
> >> looks and design counts a lot, with software the only design that counts
> >> is UI interface design aimed at maximising usability.
> 
> One thing that we must be careful about is the "maximising usability"
> part, as it's easy to get it so "dumbed down" that it ends up
> useless/annoying for many users...

Again in certain market segments "dumbed down" is exactly what is needed by 
the end user, I have suggested a solution to this particular dichotomy, we 
will see, I'm not sure if my solution is feasible from a Devs POV   

> 
> > There is an old saying there are none so blind as those that will not
> > see, and it doesn't matter how good the UI is, if no-one looks at it,
> > it's the same for anything, you can make it as pretty and as usable as
> > you want if nobody knows the brand exists then the only ones that will
> > connect are the ones that stumble across it accidentally.
> 
> True.
> 
> > Once more, this is wasting my time and there is no point in discussing
> > this with a closed mind and entrenched attitudes.
> 
> and the Values got hit again :(
> please think before you write.

I did think and I stand by the comment 

> 
> And if you think of the last statement, the "closed mind" part goes both
> ways.
> Many things in this discussion does come out as "closed marketing mind"
> vs "closed user/developer mind".
> 

My mind is open, it has to be,  I work in a marketing team.  I enjoy good 
debate and I get annoyed when people make broad statements that they have no 
evidence for and at the same time, completely ignore positions that are 
supported by substantive and exhaustive research that is done on a daily basis 
by companies all round the world.  

The problem we have is perhaps one of communication in that we need to 
communicate with people the value of marketing in an OSS project. I actually 
made comments on my blog about this. 

 Unfortunately (or fortunately from my POV) I first got into FOSS marketing in 
OOo where the marketing team has a project of it's own  
(http://marketing.openoffice.org) and it's a very supportive environment 
because the project values it's marketing team. And I think that shows in the 
results.

However having said all that I'll work  on the grumpiness factor.  :)
 
and I'll keep my grumps to my blog!

http://no-humble-opinions.blogspot.com/2010/10/free-marketing.html

> --
> Thomas

Cheers 
GL

-- 
Graham Lauder,
OpenOffice.org MarCon (Marketing Contact) NZ
http://marketing.openoffice.org/contacts.html

OpenOffice.org Migration and training Consultant.

INGOTs Moderator New Zealand
www.theingots.org.nz



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