Greg Raiz wrote:
Branding and slogans aren't about the product, they speak to the
culture and emotional experience you want people to have.
Some examples:
McDonalds - "I'm loving it"
Coke - "Life tastes good"
Wheaties - "Breakfast of Champions"
GE - "We bring good things to life"
Nike - "Just do it"
Staples - "That was Easy"
Note, great slogans don't usually mention the product by name,
A lot of the slogans I've seen on this list are clever but don't push
at the emotional reasons.
Greg, you are so modest when it comes to the topic of branding and
slogans. The examples you give appeal to the culture/emotional
experience which is exactly the direction this discussion needs to go.
Greg led a very interesting discussion at DAM-1 regarding the "image"
around Linux. His slides can be seen at...
http://www.raizlabs.com/blog/Gallery/Linuxthoughts/default.htm
In order to make an emotional appeal to enterprise and consumer markets,
we should portray an image of low risk and high reward. As Dan Kegel
has pointed out, up to this point the perception has been the opposite
(high risk, low reward). To get people to change, the mental weight has
to be lighter. This can be done by automating some of the complex steps,
including installation (pre-installed or manual) and configuration
(wireless, video, sound, etc.). It can also be done by creating a
unified user experience (desktop doesn't look like a hodge podge of 30
different .orgs assembling components). Most of these complex steps
HAVE been addressed. That is the good news. Now the challenge is to
get the message out to those people where there really is a low risk /
high reward proposition.
The hardware vendors have been targeting low cost PCs and mobile. These
are the markets where the low cost makes the most sense for an open
source operating system and software stack. We've seen OLPC, Xandros
Asus Eee PC 4G, Everex TC2502 gPC, and other sub-$200 computers being
sold in retail outlets like Walmart and Sears. With the maturation of
SaaS and Web 2.0 capabilities, many users just need a way to navigate
the internet. On the mobile side, we have seen a number of Linux based
stacks emerge, including the GNOME mobile and embedded stack, the LiMo
stack (haven't actually seen this one), and the Android stack from
Google. Linux mobile will explode in 2008 and 2009 and the average user
won't know they are using Linux. After all, how many know that their
current phone is probably running Symbian?
So who would be the main target for this advertising? I would suggest
the target should be enterprise desktops where cost and freedom are very
important as well as the low cost side of the consumer markets (mobile
and sub-$200 PC offerings). You could even say that the prime target
markets would be for "Web 2.0 users" (social networking, online
applications, mashups, etc.).
What should the emotional messages be? Something like...
All you need
It just works
Powerfully simple
Top to bottom (because of the multiple arch support and mobile to
server coverage)
<This is where my creativity grinds to a halt> :)
A successful "image" campaign has to be based around real products. We
would have a great collaboration event if we could get real marketing
representatives together from the desktop/laptop vendors as well as the
mobile device vendors. If each of these vendors comes out with a
different approach, the market will look confusing and fragmented.
So, will the product vendors be at the next collaboration event? We
won't let them leave until they agree on an approach. :)
John
--
Gregory Raiz
Raizlabs Corporation
www.raizlabs.com <http://www.raizlabs.com>
617-820-5206
User interface, design & software development.
We create simple solutions for a complex world.
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