> > I'd like to report on the session we had here at UDS regarding Ubuntu > Marketing so that we can get a wider audience and allow everyone a fair > chance to share their ideas, point of view, or prospective solution on the > undeniable reality that the way the current marketing team is setup simply > isn't working. I know a number of us have been putting effort lately into > re-jump starting the team or furthering specific marketing initiatives but > because there has been a lack of an individual who has stepped forward to > clearly champion Ubuntu marketing, not much progress has really been made in > terms of making the team as a whole useful again. There is certainly no > shortage of great, creative ideas... we just need to figure out how to get > things moving - getting the ideas off the idea board and into production. > > This inconjuction with the observation that most loco teams seem to be > doing an excellent job doing local (also known as "street") marketing, the > idea was put forward to disband the marketing team as we know it and move to > a decentralized model where loco teams collectively makes up the "Marketing > Team". Before you object on principle, ask yourself "What is the purpose of > the marketing team?", "What should it do?" and I think that you'll see that > the loco teams are the ones that are clearly fullfilling that role already.
<snip> I've been lurking on this list for about a month, and I can see the problems that you bring up. I see a lot of the same issues over at the One Laptop Per Child organization. There are a lot of interested people who are willing to work, but a lack of top level cohesion. I believe that this *could* be fixed via better structuring and organization, but it wouldn't be an easy process. Regardless if a manager is hired or not, there needs to be more positive statements and calls to action on the wiki for UbuntuMarketing. I see some few supplies and materials on the website, but I don't see examples for users. As in any volunteer project, especially an ad-hoc project like this, it is important for users to have some sense of ownership and recognition for their work. Yes, the great majority of Ubuntu volunteers aren't interested in glory or recognition from their peers, they are simply here to improve ubuntu. But if given the choice to do a task that is faceless and no one else can see, and one where they can get feedback and community from their peers, they are likely to choose the later. This is just the impression that I get from the short amount of time I have been on the list. But I feel that looking at some examples of similar outreach and marketing structures should be done. Firefox has an excellent campus representatives project that works pretty well. Also structures from street teams at PETA might be worth researching. Blogging memes and various blog buttons might fit even better. Ubuntu has such wonderfully energetic volunteers and users. The trick overall is going to be lowering the cost of adoption for an Ubuntu-user to become an Ubuntu-marketier. Calls to action: * Ubuntu Outreach Challenge: Put up 10 posters, explain and pass out 5 cd's, Help one new user install/setup Ubuntu in a one week period * Ubuntu Learning Day: Schedule a talk at the local University, Community College, or Highschool * Ubuntu Temp Tattoo Day: Get every supporter to wear an Ubuntu Logo Temp-Tattoo (or sticker) for one day and explain Ubuntu to anyone who asks that day. If there were mechanisms, to organize these events, I believe that more users would get involved because they have a deffinate start and end date, don't require too much effort, and can be discussed in a community the way that handing out fliers couldn't. > Another idea put forth was seeing Canonical hire someone to lead the > marketing team > <snip> > but we did learn from the Mozilla folks at the session that having > someone(s) hired to work on the marketing seemed to be instrumental in > generating the required momentum. Jay Patel at the Mozilla Campus Representatives does a good job at setting up a multi-national team of students to work for Mozilla. > Another interesting tidbit was that Jono said that if a marketing iniativie > requires funds or resources (that are unreasonable for the loco team or > individuals on the project to be able to obtain easily or via a bit of elbow > polish) that they could contact him and he'll be able to assist them (ie. > he'll get his wallet out... erm, as in he'll act as a liasion to get > sponsorship from Canonical). I think that there needs to be more swag handed out to marketers. Both to reward them cheaply and to support their work. PETA has some pretty interesting structures for figuring out how much to trust street team members and how much swag to give away through them. <snip> So, what is your opinion? Thoughts? Concerns? Ideas? Personally, although I > was put off by the idea of disbanding the marketing team as we know it > currently, once I had sometime to think about it I've come to think that > maybe that would be a good idea. We certainly have to do something and I'm > happy, as one of the last active marketing team admins, to faciliate what > ever we decide to be the best course of option. > I've given most of my thoughts inline. But whatever Ubuntu decides to do, I'm really interested in getting more involved with Ubuntu Marketing projects. Ubuntu does a pretty job already at leveraging the media just because there are so many users, but I would be even more interested in seeing how much more could be done. Seth Woodworth Intern, OLPC Wiki-admin, Sugarlabs [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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