On Ubuntu Marketing

[Josh Kress]

Hi folks,

I already posted this topic some days ago on ubuntu-users and ubuntu-de,
however it was drowned by the "Default Artwork"-discussion on the
international list. Maybe sounder is a better place fot this topic.

ABSTRACT:
It's mainly intended as the beginning of a discussion on how the
community and Canonical can work together to promote Ubuntu. Stay in
contact with press, volunteer for booths at fairs/expos, offical
standpoints of Canonical etc. 

These are some *ideas* from ubuntu-de and from a review of the
fedora-marketing-list archives:


Marketing teams and their tasks:
********************************

- Core Marketing Team (2-3 members), ideally with at least one member of
Canonical at every time.

        + Creating general marketing schemes, rules etc.: what to do,
        what not to do, "synchronize" efforts/output of local teams, be
        THE single point for local teams to contact
        
        + Synchronize/match marketing efforts of Canonical and the
        community (if there ever is any difference)
        
        + Which artwork to use (e.g. at fairs; not what you think!),
        keep project-wide artwork unified
        
        + Release ALL official press releases, like release notes
        
        + Be the "international" contact for press
        
        + Create/organize additional promotion material: an online
        magazine(*), t-shirts, caps etc.
        
        + All these points imply that the Core Marketing team has to
        keep close contact to the core developers and the documentation
        team. This might also include an artwork team later
        
        + If something's missing, scream! 

- Local Marketing Teams (2-3 members), for each country (or each state
in big countries)

        + Localize general material of the core team if necessary, like
        translations (together with translators), adoption to local
        habits (to avoid "Default Theme"-scenarios due to local habits.
        Hey, we all already learned from it, so it was worth it!)
        
        + Be the contact for local press, either for questions about the
        project or for negotiations about the inclusion of Ubuntu on CD
        (as discussed on ubuntu-de)
        
        + Organize booths on fairs, contact local users for
        volunteering, be a contact/help for non-local Ubuntu promoters,
        when they are at conferences or do a presentation. Be the
        contact for Canonical staff, if they participate in an event in
        your area (e.g. combined Canonical/Ubuntu-community booth)
        
        + Be the contact for local users for marketing- or
        promotion-related questions.
        
        + And a lot more, I'm currently not aware of; AGAIN: Please
        scream! 
        
General ideas:
**************
- Discussions should take place on mailing list, either on an extra list
or on sounder with a [marketing] tag in the subject, according to the
[doc] tag on the devel list.

- Of course, teams can or even must be bigger. However each team, may it
be local or core, should have those 2-3 team-leaders.

- Try to create professional, decent marketing, focusing on the
strengths: the project, the philosophy of Ubuntu, the people.


OK, that's it. No more ideas for now. This list is by no means complete.
Now it's your turn: provide some feedback, add ideas!

By for now!
-- 
Jörg Kreß                                                josh at kinjoo.com
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A proud user of Ubuntu!                              www.ubuntulinux.org