On Tue, 8 Feb 2005 21:38, Daniel Carrera wrote: > Alex Fisher wrote: > > When you say "OpenOffice.org" to someone, their reaction is... Well, many > > of you have mentioned the confusion some seem to manifest, but have you > > not noticed that *using* the ".org" *causes people to ask questions*. > > Asking questions is not inherently a good thing:
Well, I have problems with the way the conversation was allowed to develop. Right from the word "go"... > > Daniel: Hey, check out this really cool program called GIMP. Me: Have you looked at alternatives to Photoshop? There's a really good one called "The GIMP" that you can get for free, and it does just about everything Photoshop can do. > Friend: GIMP? That's stupid. Friend: Yeah? Does it run on Windows? me: Yup, sure does. Friend: Kewl! how do I get it? Me: Look up <www.gimp.org> in your browser next time your surfing. > Daniel: No no, it's really cool. It's the GNU Image Manipulation Program. Bzzzt! That is where you blew it. He's not interested in what the name means, just what it is. The correct response is to tell him that it's a Photoshop replacement... > Friend: What's GNU? > Daniel: GNU's Not Unix > Friend: What the hell's Unix? ! > Daniel: It doesn't matter! Download this program, it's great. > Friend: Where do I get it? > Daniel: www.gimp.org > Friend: Whatever... > Daniel: Hey! Where are you going?! And the rest of the conversation simply doesn't happen. My friend will soon enough (if he's interested) find out that it's an acronym > > > Using an akward name that's hard for many people to even say out loud is > very bad for marketing. And the fact that it causes people to ask > questions is not inherently good. Calling it "StupidOffice" would make > people ask questions too. Not really. Putting the .org in will make people ask "What's with the '.org' bit?", which gives you the opportunity to tell them that there is not only a great piece of software, but a whole community as well. But remember the KISS principle in your answer.... > > > but when talking to people who as yet know nothing about it, then keep > > the ".org" > > Promouncing "OpenOffice.org" is very cumbersome for me. It might not be > for your friend, but for many people it is. Furthermore, it hurts branding > to use a name that encourages people to call the product by a different > name. > > Another note on the questions thing. When you put up an advertisement you > don't have much opportunity to ask questions. So you provide the answers in the ad... "OpenOffice.org <next line, smaller type> It's not only a great Office suite, but there is a community of users world-wide too. That's why the '.org' in the name." > Not *all* our marketing is > by word of mouth, and even when it is, we don't always have a big lump of > time to explain why we picked such an akward name. Takes all of 5 seconds.... Irene's experience has been that most people say something like "I've heard of that... What is it exactly?". Then *if* they ask "Why the '.org'?", the answer is "Because it is an office suite *and* an online community as well.". How much time does that take? > And the time I *do* > have I'd rather spend explaining why it's good and why the listener may be > interested in trying it. And it is counter productive to expect every > single listener to be primarily motivated by the org part. Not motivated by it, rather have their curiosity piqued... > > Cheers, -- Alex Fisher Co-Lead, CD-ROM Project OpenOffice.org Marketing Community Contact Australia/New Zealand http://distribution.openoffice.org/cdrom/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
