Good stuff Andy. I would be super interested in seeing some of the design ideas and providing feedback. Perhaps others on this list who care about branding as much as I do would be interested too. Is there a way for that to be done (in a private forum of course)?
On 12 June 2014 17:49, Andy Ellicott <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Noah, > No hard feelings :) > > Point taken on how we ought to publicize (via cloudant.com) our use of > CouchDB. We're working on a new home page design...let me see what we can > work in on the homepage and elsewhere. > > > > Andy Ellicott > VP Marketing > Cloudant.com, an IBM company > 200 State Street > Boston, MA 02109 > (m) +1 603 205 2804 > > > > > From: Noah Slater <[email protected]> > To: Andy Ellicott/Cambridge/IBM@IBMUS > Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, > Noah Slater <[email protected]>, "TheApacheFoundation ." > <[email protected]>, Sally Khudairi <[email protected]> > Date: 06/12/2014 11:43 AM > Subject: Re: Cloudant and CouchDB branding > ________________________________ > > > > Sally and I mentioned Couchbase first. :) > > Your comment concerns me though. I hope you don't think I am vilifying > Cloudant? I was hoping to enter into a productive discussion about > what we can do to strengthen both brands. > > Cloudant doesn't mention CouchDB on its homepage once. As a CouchDB > platform, I think that's a very important mistake. > > Like I said, I see an opportunity here for Cloudant to help CouchDB > with its brand. To strengthen the name of CouchDB through its > association with IBM and Cloudant, the NoSQL platform provider. > > The first step I would make is to say, explicitly, on the homepage, > that Cloudant is a CouchDB platform provider. But then, I'm not the VP > Marketing for Cloudant, so my opinion doesn't count. ;) But it's a > useful way to express my hopes. > > I received some responses from the reporter: > >> Not so: see 16 Top Platforms ubm.io/1gtHQla RT @nslater: If you were >> covering, you’d mention Hadoop, not Cloudera or Hortonworks. > > https://twitter.com/DHenschen/status/477109298276073472 > > To which I replied: > >> @DHenschen that is an article about platforms. >> informationweek.com/big-data/big-d… is an article about databases. But >> Cloudant is a platform for CouchDB. > > https://twitter.com/nslater/status/477111652765409282 > > He also said: > >> Read comment mentioning CouchDB. Enterprises want support. RT @nslater: >> thanks for the coverage of Cloudant, a CouchDB provider! > > https://twitter.com/DHenschen/status/477109967120781312 > > To which I replied: > >> @DHenschen yup. Platforms are very important! But in an article about DBs >> specifically, I was hoping to see a mention of CouchDB. > > https://twitter.com/nslater/status/477112011009327104 > > I would ask: why did this happen? How did this reporter confuse > Cloudant (as a database platform) with the database itself? And is > there anything we can do to mitigate against this? > > On 12 June 2014 17:33, Andy Ellicott <[email protected]> wrote: >> Thanks Andy, I was wondering when someone was going to bring up Couchbase >> on >> this thread instead of villifying us! >> >> We hold no reluctance to mentioning CouchDB at all. We just stop short of >> saying Cloudant = hosted CouchDB >> >> We're happy to continue to fund awareness raising via the community and >> IBM >> (and on our own). We're a bit focused on the process of getting integrated >> into IBM at the moment. Hopefully we'll be able to come up for air soon >> and >> contribute more on the CouchDB marketing front. We can spare money easier >> than we can spare people right now, if you've got ideas or need funding >> for >> marketing ideas (e.g., Lena's weekly reports), don't hesitate to ask.. >> >> >> Andy Ellicott >> VP Marketing >> Cloudant.com, an IBM company >> 200 State Street >> Boston, MA 02109 >> (m) +1 603 205 2804 >> >> >> >> >> From: Andy Wenk <[email protected]> >> To: Sally Khudairi <[email protected]> >> Cc: Noah Slater <[email protected]>, >> "[email protected]" >> <[email protected]>, "TheApacheFoundation ." <[email protected]> >> Date: 06/12/2014 11:21 AM >> Subject: Re: Cloudant and CouchDB branding >> ________________________________ >> >> >> >> Noah and Sally, >> >> thanks for bringing this up. Yes it's frustrating. And let's not forget >> about the existing confusion with Couchbase also. CouchDB is one of the >> first NoSQL databases and still a plain open source project. Noah you have >> often stated, that as a community existing out of volunteers, we don't >> have >> the power Couchbase or MongDB Inc has regarding marketing activities. >> >> I remember the email sent by Adam K. who asked, what IBM could do to help >> Apache CouchDB. There we have one point: marketing and press presence. >> Even >> though Lena is already doing a great awesome job, we need a bigger lever >> to >> not sink among the other NoSQL databases. >> >> Thanks a lot for all your help. It's highly appreciated. Please let me >> know >> what I can do to help ... >> >> Cheers >> >> Andy >> >> >> On 12 June 2014 17:11, Sally Khudairi <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Thanks, Noah. I hear you. Believe me. >>> >>> I'm working with another PMC right now on finding a way to help TLPs with >>> this issue. >>> >>> Just so you know, CouchDB is high on my awareness list. I actually >>> pitched >>> you guys to a reporter yesterday who had similar Cloudant/CouchDB >>> confusion. >>> >>> Furthermore, the ASF Board is aware of the need and is in support of our >>> finding a solution. >>> >>> Bear with us, but don't remain silent. >>> >>> -Sally >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------ >>> *From:* Noah Slater <[email protected]> >>> *To:* "[email protected]" <[email protected]> >>> *Cc:* TheApacheFoundation . <[email protected]> >>> *Sent:* Thursday, 12 June 2014, 11:08 >>> *Subject:* Cloudant and CouchDB branding >> >>> >>> Hello marketing folks, >>> >>> Check out this list of 15 NoSQL databases to watch, posted by the >>> Cloudant Twitter account: >>> >>> >>> >> >> http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/big-data-analytics/16-nosql-newsql-databases-to-watch/d/d-id/1269559?image_number=1 >> >>> >>> It actually took me several minutes to spot that Cloudant was in that >>> list. I had a draft tweet reply asking why it wasn't mentioned before >>> I spotted it. >>> >>> The logo is about 66% the IBM logo, then 33% the Cloudant logo. Which >>> is a bit weird, if you ask me. But there you go. That's Cloudant's >>> issue, not ours. >>> >>> What I do take issue with is that in a list of 15 top NoSQL databases, >>> CouchDB doesn't get a mention, but a company that packages up >>> (admittedly, a fork of, at this point) CouchDB does. And it is >>> Cloudant's name that gets press. >>> >>> We have: >>> >>> - MongoDB >>> - Riak >>> - Apache HBase >>> - Cassandra >>> - Cloudant >>> >>> One of those is not like the others. Anyone else see the problem with >>> this? >>> >>> What can we do about it? >>> >>> The author of the article posted this tweet about it: >>> >>> https://twitter.com/DHenschen/status/477089827981377536 >>> >>> I replied with two tweets: >>> >>> > @DHenschen thanks for the coverage of Cloudant, a CouchDB provider! >>> > Just >>> wondering why you don’t mention CouchDB specifically? >>> >>> https://twitter.com/nslater/status/477104465976512512 >>> >>> > @DHenschen I imagine that if you were covering Hadoop, you’d mention >>> Hadoop specifically, and not Cloudera or Hortonworks. >>> >>> https://twitter.com/nslater/status/477104509513396224 >>> >>> I spoke to Jan about this before sending. Jan mentions that this is >>> probably the result of Cloudant having a strong PR/AR game. >>> >>> We don't engage PR/AR at all. I'm wondering what we can do to change >>> this. Because this article (while cool for Cloudant) makes me very >>> sad. >>> >>> Sally, is there anything you can do to help us avoid this sort of >>> situation in the future? I brand has really taken a beating in recent >>> years, and stuff like this really does not help us at all. >>> >>> Thanks, >>> >>> -- >>> Noah Slater >>> https://twitter.com/nslater >>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> Andy Wenk >> Hamburg - Germany >> RockIt! >> >> GPG fingerprint: C044 8322 9E12 1483 4FEC 9452 B65D 6BE3 9ED3 9588 >> >> https://people.apache.org/keys/committer/andywenk.asc >> > > > > -- > Noah Slater > https://twitter.com/nslater > > -- Noah Slater https://twitter.com/nslater
