I'll probably not be able to answer every single point every person makes on this thread, but I'll start to try to help refine my overall intent here:
> First I have to note that I see a general problem with the term > marketing. Out of Product, Price, Place, Promotion, it seems to me that > only last is something that can happen outside Canonical. Corporate > management is not open to the community. > > Then, marketing has to some degree a stigma of being about deception and > creating requirements that are aimed at maximizing profit while tending > to infer with proper engineering and design. All shine and no substance. > > I think it should be called promotion or advocacy, with a matching > scope. Marketing can have negative connotations, but its very definition is to generate exposure and saturation to influence people's decision to purchase a product. Make no mistake that every new installation of a free piece of software that is used what we need to quantify as a "sale." >> 1. Setting the "message" that needs to be the focus of each release >> 2. Helping projects that have a relationship work together >> 3. Unifying the communication between Development and Marketing >> 4. Delivering detailed project plans, tasks, and ideas >> 5. Getting resources to projects that should have our support >> 6. Providing access and information upstream and downstream >> 7. Continue to refine the overall infrastructure of the Marketing team > > 1. is part of what I call design. > > 2 to 6 are inflating the importance of a single team, scope creep, > trying to be everywhere, taking on jobs already handled by others. re 1: Design is what happens once you know what you are trying to say. re 2: Example: You're working on a video. Joe is working on a new sample animation hoping to get it into the boot screen. There might be rationale to have one tie in with the other. Master project coordinators handle this sort of thing all the time, and with the free form of a community group like ours, such things are often overlooked. re 6: Downstream distributions have asked for help before and gotten none. Having people facilitate that communication and aid may be crucial in helping to unify the brand. > I'm active in ubuntu-artwork. I'm thrilled by your idea of having > "marketing" swallow all that. But seriously, it's a shame that there is > no connection between the artwork-team and SpreadUbuntu. > > I would guess that few artists and designers would look to marketing for > artwork and design ... This all depends on what you consider "swallowed". I'm sure there are many artists who would be willing to help good projects that have a vision, but a lack of implementation. Concurrently, having the art team understanding the goals of the "message" per release save for which animal is in vogue this cycle wouldn't be the end of the world. Again, it is about unifying the communication. >> Blogs, public events, release parties, meet-ups, posting on community >> forums (Ubuntu's or another), your posts on social media...all of >> these contribute to the cultivation of our unified voice. The work >> the LoCos do is a HUGE part of this cultivation, and we should be >> offering all of the support we can. > > This seems to me like what you should focus on. You can't speak to a thing if you don't know what to say. >> Support > > The next thing that should be handled somewhat independently and surely > outside of the scope of this team. Without the ability to stay on message and ensure that key resources are getting the right exposure, simply yelling "TRY UBUNTU" and then expecting someone else to pick it up from there is simply irresponsible. If we are truly "selling" a product than we have to make sure that from conception to retirement we have to make sure that the marketing of such a thing is clear and consistent. Part of that lifeline comes from making sure that people who need help are able to find it, the information provided contradicts our goals as little as possible, and that we continue to use the feedback to not only refine the marketing course, but also to provide feedback to development to help further the cause we are all fighting for: a simple to use, open source alternative operating system. -- ubuntu-marketing mailing list ubuntu-marketing@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-marketing
