On Sun, Oct 5, 2008 at 9:30 PM, Sameer Verma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Sun, Oct 5, 2008 at 11:58 AM, Sean DALY <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Effective marketing is targeted. Last year's typical G1G1 donor was >> probably a generous IT type with a positive viewpoint concerning Free >> software, curious about Sugar and perhaps even willing to be an >> ambassador of the OLPC project. This market doesn't need a marketing >> message; they are ready to donate and merely eager for practical >> information (cost, available by Christmas or not, available outside >> the USA, if so with localized keyboards or not, at same price or not, >> ...). All that market needs is a press release today answering those >> questions, and a press conference on November 17th, both of which >> would probably get very complete media coverage. A three-minute film >> demonstrating the laptop, showing OLPC people working on it, >> mentioning and showing places around the world it is in use, >> enumerating challenges, and finally asking for a donation in time for >> the holidays, could be posted to YouTube during the press conference >> (and an MPEG-2 broadcast version offered to the media for download). >> Even a homey home video would be fine, perhaps even preferable. >> Imagine G1G1 donors posting video responses.... The challenge this >> time is fulfillment, but that seems well in hand with the Amazon >> partnership. The most effective merchandising could be what Apple has >> done for decades: a few decals/stickers slipped in the box before >> shipment -- easily designed and printed with negligeable >> picking/packing and shipment cost. > > +1 > > This just came to me while sitting in traffic - a stylized bumper > sticker: "My other XO is in Mongolia" (or Rwanda, Haiti, etc. > Randomize the stickers or give them a few to choose from:-)) We have a > lot of creativity on these lists. Let it rip! > >> Massive buzz could be generated by >> another technique Apple has used for years: the education discount. >> Offer the pair at $375 for educators and university students, and $425 >> for others. Imagine thousands of educators holding an XO in their >> hands, the community feedback potential. > > This brings the overhead of verifying whose an educator etc. Apple > already has this in place. How do we handle it? >
My understanding is that Apple uses the honor system, skipping the administrative cost. Why not just add a data entry field for the education discount: School Name? Also, an excellent opportunity to link to the Give Many program. Sean >> Seen from the outside, the far more important target market that may >> need work is governments and education ministers. That group doesn't >> need merchandising, they need reassurance that they will be >> accompanied, that risks can be foreseen and contained, that there is >> indeed a correlation between learning via an interface optimized for >> children and later aptitude with office productivity software. IT >> vendors invest fortunes in such "decision-maker" marketing, and >> perhaps the best approach there is to find a small (or not), talented >> ad agency willing to work pro bono for the exposure, experience, and >> good citizen credentials. >> >> I would venture that the less said about the XO-2 at this time, the >> better. I believe the priority should be to combat the perception that >> OLPC has fallen short and discussing the future version might merely >> confuse everyone, in particular leading to speculation that something >> is not right with the XO-1. What G1G1 can do is remind everyone that >> hundreds of thousands of OLPC XO-1s have shipped and are shipping, and >> are serving children from Birmingham to Kigali. >> > > +1 > > The shipment numbers are impressive, and must be highlighted as much > as possible. Everyone I've spoken to at first thinks of this as a > faltered project, but then they hear the numbers and their eyes light > up. Numbers assure that the project is alive and kicking. > > Sameer > > -- > Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D. > Associate Professor of Information Systems > San Francisco State University > San Francisco CA 94132 USA > http://verma.sfsu.edu/ > http://opensource.sfsu.edu/ > > >> I am not sure I can offer any useful assistance, but I do have >> expertise in transcoding video formats, it seems there was a DVD >> produced last year which may just need to be transcoded to web >> formats? >> >> Sean. >> >> >> >> >> >> On Sun, Oct 5, 2008 at 1:09 AM, Sameer Verma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> On Sat, Oct 4, 2008 at 3:42 PM, Edward Cherlin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>>> Update: Some of the computer press has picked up the story. >>>> >>>> But we could be all over the Mainstream Media, including having >>>> Nicholas, Walter, Alan and others on all the talk shows. If they are >>>> willing. Are any of you? This is the one time of year when ordering >>>> something you can't get is a positive. We should aim for something >>>> ridiculous, like a million units. (Although we shouldn't say that to >>>> the media in so many words.) And then we should provide daily tracking >>>> of order numbers and of production lead times, to encourage yet more >>>> people to order as early as possible. >>>> >>>> We should be playing up the connection with the 40th anniversary of >>>> the Dynabook idea, and of Doug Engelbart's Mother of All Demos. I have >>>> been in contact with him and his people, and I know that they are keen >>>> on that. We should be doing T-shirts, mugs, stickers, replica mice, >>>> and all the rest of the merchandising, and getting several books >>>> published. Why anybody at OLPC would want to waste the best marketing >>>> time in the year is utterly beyond me. >>>> >>>> If you don't think my opinion counts, ask Amazon. >>>> >>> >>> I agree with Ed Cherlin in that if G1G1v2 begins in 5 weeks, now is >>> the time to get the campaign going. Five weeks isn't a lot of time. >>> What I'd look for in the efforts this year is something a bit more >>> orchestrated. Materials (posters, cards, stickers, shirts, etc) all >>> coming across with a consistency in branding, image, look-n-feel, etc. >>> If we do merchandise from somebody like Cafepress, we don't have to >>> get into the business of printing, cutting etc. >>> >>> I cannot setup shop at Cafepress because the logos involved aren't my >>> copyright, but if someone from OLPC initiates, I'd be glad to help. >>> >>> Sameer >>> -- >>> Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D. >>> Associate Professor of Information Systems >>> San Francisco State University >>> San Francisco CA 94132 USA >>> http://verma.sfsu.edu/ >>> http://opensource.sfsu.edu/ >>> >>> >>>> On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 4:50 PM, Edward Cherlin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>>>> This is the first time I have heard that G1G1 will start up again on >>>>> Nov 17. As far as I can tell, nobody in the outside world has picked >>>>> up on this yet. >>>>> >>>>> Is this a leak? Is it true? Has there been any outside announcement? >>>>> Since it doesn't show up in Internet news searches, I am certain that >>>>> there was no press release. Should I Slashdot this? >>>>> >>>>> This is a Hell of a way to run a global non-profit. We have one of the >>>>> world's biggest brands, and we do nothing with it. We could be The >>>>> Must-Have Gift for this Holiday season without any advertising >>>>> expense, if we would just let the media have the story. Even with the >>>>> manufacturing delays that we can predict. That's one of the draws for >>>>> the Must-Have Gift of the year. Cabbage Patch died the moment you >>>>> could get one off the shelf. >>>>> >>>>> There is a great deal more I could say about this and other management >>>>> issues, but this is not the place for it. If you want to hear any of >>>>> it, you know where to find me. >>>>> >>>>> But!! I have a better idea. Who wants to fork the PR program, and help >>>>> write an Open Source press release? We'll have to reverse engineer >>>>> most of the content, but I have confidence in our community's >>>>> abilities. >>>>> >>>>> On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 2:45 PM, Jim Gettys <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>>>>> Community News >>>>>> A weekly update of One Laptop per Child September 29, 2008 >>>>> >>>>>> Our appearance outside the Marriott attracted a lot of people to out >>>>>> tables; some of them were as far as from Finland; many of them knew >>>>>> about "those laptops for children" and were asking about the ways to >>>>>> acquire the laptops (we even got questions: are you selling the >>>>>> machines?). So, in addition to conducting our scheduled testing, we also >>>>>> served as "unofficial" OLPC marketing representatives, steering people >>>>> >>>>>> to the Nov 17 opening of the G1G1 event through amazon.com. The time we >>>>> >>>>>> were outside wasn't even the peak lunch time for people to fill that >>>>>> square; just imagine the level of attention, if we were there at the >>>>>> lunch time! >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> Don't panic.--HHGTTG, Douglas Adams >>>>> fivethirtyeight.com, 3bluedudes.com Obama still moving ahead in EC! >>>>> http://www.obamapedia.org/ Join us! >>>>> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/User:Mokurai For the children >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Don't panic.--HHGTTG, Douglas Adams >>>> fivethirtyeight.com, 3bluedudes.com Obama still moving ahead in EC! >>>> http://www.obamapedia.org/ Join us! >>>> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/User:Mokurai For the children >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Olpc-open mailing list >>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>>> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-open >>>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) >>> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org >>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep >>> > _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) 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