Just to introduce. I live in India. My profession is related to market research and behavioural research. Having briefly gone through the discussions on this list, the following thoughts come to my mind. 1. The major activities of this group apears to be related to managing the materials and resources for marketing Ubuntu. 2. There seems to be recent efforts to fill the leadership gap and need for a team structure. I am sure that a capable leadership lurks somewhere among the members and will surface soon. Meanwhile, just to get the discussion on structure moving may i propose an initial list of activity areas related to marketing for you all to discuss, add and delete. Each activity area may then have team members who wish to be involved. I suggest that any team member may choose to be active in one or more activity areas as She/he wishes. The following are the areas that may need work by this team. Please note that this list is only meant for brainstorming and feel free to comment, add, modify or delete or even reject the idea that the marketing team needs such a list. 1. Strategy / Policy The Ubuntu, GNU and Free software philosophy dictates much of the Marketing Strategy and policies. While the decision making on such matters rests with Cannonical and the company's leadership, I am sure that the marketing team would have some valuable contributions to the policy and marketing strategy. For example my own belief is that, Ubuntu follows and needs a "Social Marketing" approach. I can elaborate this thought much more if someone is interested. The discussions on strategy/ policy may or may not result in some decisions and changes of approach in Ubuntu but it is important for any marketing team to contribute with its strategic thought and actions. 2. Distribution A good system of distribution (CDs, downloads, OEM ) may already exist. Still there could be issues and bottlenecks in distributing ubuntu to every one who may need ubuntu. There could be innovations in distribution methods and more work in reaching Ubuntu to every corner of the computing world. 3. Promotion efforts Events and activities that promote Ubuntu to different types of users. 4. Promotion material Treating this as a seperate activitiy, because more work seems to be already going on in this group and certain types of team members may prefer to restrict themselves to this activity. 5. Product improvements The marketing team may need to suggest enhancements and changes in the product design , functions and uses. Some changes have been brainstormed such as need to change some terminology (for example i386 and AMD 64) into more marketing friendly names. Another example of ideas is the need for more specialised versions of Ubuntu such as Ubuntu studio. Of course it is not the marketing team that can decide on product changes but can certainly discuss and develop arguments for the decision makers to consider. 6. Market Research Some online research seems to be happening but like any product, sytematic market research can be a strong input to the marketing efforts. 7. Support to Loco teams Loco teams may need more inputs than material resources.
This are just my two cents to discuss futher if found worthwhile. Do comment and tell me if i am off track in making these suggestions. Regards and best wishes, Guna -- C.R.Gunasekar 21, Padmavati Nagar, Station Road Agraharam, KORATTUR Chennai - India- 600076 Ph (+91) 44 26512584 Mob: (+91) 9444409954 -- ubuntu-marketing mailing list ubuntu-marketing@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-marketing
