On Sun, 2012-06-24 at 02:53 -0400, Ryan Wolf wrote: > Marketing Team: > > Just joined the list. A pleasure to meet you all here. I do hope to make > a valuable contribution. > > I'm considering doing a little research as to what it would take to make > the original SuSE Geeko. I have one from a couple years ago, which my > kitten has DECLARED is hers now (I ought to take a picture for > promotional reasons, although the plush is starting to come apart...) > > But, there seems to be a bit of demand for one, and I would like to > offer one to help promote my company's new HPC Workstation systems which > have SuSE Enterprise or openSUSE installed by default. > > 1) Does anyone have the original template for the plush? Not the latest > version, but the more conservative version that most looks like the logo. > Not sure which one you consider the "conservative" version. Take a look at my picture. On the tophat is the darker green one we gave out for a few years. On the white cane, is a newer version.
> 2) Is anyone interested in chipping in funds to have them made, where > all proceeds would go to openSUSE for continued development of the OS? > SUSE is preparing a large order to give away. They are given away at special events and FOSS events. I am unsure whether that makes selling the small handheld ones separately worthwhile. While I occasionally hear of people who are unable to go to shows wishing to get their hands on a small plushie, its pretty hard to quantify that into actual sales numbers that would make it a worthwhile effort. I don't think SUSE would ever get into the habit of shipping out a single small plushie to a single buyer on a regular basis. That's a lot of time consuming work, cost of packaging per unit, etc. > 3) Is there a way to analyze the demand for these, so we can justify the > costs of them being made? From what I can tell, minimum order is 1000... > and there's just over 1000 who looked at the openSUSE website/downloads > of openSUSE in the last 6 months. > Earlier in the year, some of us looked into selling the very-large Plushies. In Germany, there are about 5 large "table-top" plushies that they use for booth displays and openSUSE events and whatnot. Not for giveaway or sale. I had thought about creating a one-time special event limited/exclusive sale of these large pieces. But even then, there were cost considerations. Never took a measurement, but I'd guess this piece is about 2 feet long and a foot wide. A very cool item that many of us would love to own in our home. Your kitten would be dwarfed by it. :-) I do believe that the amount we had thought about would have sold well. but there were factors influencing potential decisions. Factors: (Based on recollection) it would have cost us about $50 per piece if we ordered 200 of the very large. This would have required us to put up a large amount of money up front for the creation part. Then shipped via slowboat from China. This also impacted by the fact that we have several major events that need funding, including COSCUP, openSUSE Summit and openSUSE Conference and our priorities. Because they're large, that means they'd take up a lot of storage space, hence the reason for a limited sale rather than long-term permanent sale. Global shipping is unclear but likely to have an impact on costs to buyer. $50 + slight profit margin + shipping is a lot in some countries. Bottom line, while I believe it is possible to sell 200 of them at nominal profit margin, there's no way to guarantee that we can take the $10K plunge and recoup the funds at this time. I would love to see this campaign happen though. > 4) Is anyone else on this list interested in having one? > I think if you can find a formula to make it work, go for it. Here's my suggestion. I see you're in New York. Mark your calendar and make plans to go to Orlando in September for the openSUSE Summit. (see http://summit.opensuse.org) Come down and discuss with more of us in person about your ideas. Heck, even organize a BoF to talk about it if you wish. We'll have several marketing-related sessions during the Summit, more are always welcome. (Note: Deadline to submit your proposal for session at Summit is this week...June 30th, so don't delay the proposal!) > I've considered having a "Silicon Wolf" made for promotional reasons as > well. Fandom is important in a brand, and generating interest in it may > generate interest in the products. > > I would have no problem having my company put together the funds > necessary to help promote openSUSE, and try to host more merchandise, to > include boxed copies of openSUSE for those who really want a "retail > package". > > Thoughts anyone? > -- > Ryan 'Rootwyrm' Wolf > President/CIO > Silicon Wolves Computing Society LLC > 214 Central Avenue Suite 218 > Dunkirk, New York 14048 > http://www.siliconwolves.net/ -- Phone: (714)681-2501 > _______________________________________________________________________ > > This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and > may contain confidential information. Any unauthorized review, use, > disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended > recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all > copies of the original message. > _______________________________________________________________________ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscr...@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+ow...@opensuse.org
