Comments on: Superbowl ad: 3 million reasons why Mozilla shouldn’t run one http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161 a Rolnitzky blog > thoughts about Mozilla marketing and some other stuff Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:32:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Tara http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161&cpage=1#comment-1950 Tara Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:59:24 +0000 http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161#comment-1950 PS. The part I'm referring to is about 2 minutes into the video... PS. The part I’m referring to is about 2 minutes into the video…

]]> By: Tara http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161&cpage=1#comment-1949 Tara Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:57:18 +0000 http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161#comment-1949 Great post Rolo. I tend to agree with most of your points, but also liked some of the comments above... especially Alex's idea :) Hypothetically speaking, we don't even need to shove our own contributors into the stadium, but simply hand out the cards for people to hold up (coordinated by seat number). Similar to what Michael Jackson did in 1993. Which in my opinion was one of the best half-time performances: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mSqjzdaCYA Great post Rolo. I tend to agree with most of your points, but also liked some of the comments above… especially Alex’s idea :) Hypothetically speaking, we don’t even need to shove our own contributors into the stadium, but simply hand out the cards for people to hold up (coordinated by seat number). Similar to what Michael Jackson did in 1993. Which in my opinion was one of the best half-time performances: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mSqjzdaCYA

]]> By: Laurent http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161&cpage=1#comment-1947 Laurent Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:51:09 +0000 http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161#comment-1947 Basically throwing money in a SuperBowl commercial would mean Mozilla and the whole community aren't clever enough to do something different. Think of whatever Firefox clip you'd like to see (that's yet another matter), now imagine it stuffed in the middle of high-adrenaline/mind-numbing... branding exercises. Wouldn't it be like having a child take a shower with the convicts of a State Penitentiary? Basically throwing money in a SuperBowl commercial would mean Mozilla and the whole community aren’t clever enough to do something different.

Think of whatever Firefox clip you’d like to see (that’s yet another matter), now imagine it stuffed in the middle of high-adrenaline/mind-numbing… branding exercises. Wouldn’t it be like having a child take a shower with the convicts of a State Penitentiary?

]]> By: Will We Eventually See a Firefox Super Bowl Ad? < Blog of Metrics http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161&cpage=1#comment-1944 Will We Eventually See a Firefox Super Bowl Ad? < Blog of Metrics Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:29:20 +0000 http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161#comment-1944 [...] David Rolnitzky has a comprehensive counterpoint here.  I actually agree with most of what he says, but if you’re interested in a rebuttal, Justin [...] [...] David Rolnitzky has a comprehensive counterpoint here.  I actually agree with most of what he says, but if you’re interested in a rebuttal, Justin [...]

]]> By: Alex Faaborg http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161&cpage=1#comment-1942 Alex Faaborg Sun, 01 Feb 2009 01:29:47 +0000 http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161#comment-1942 Let's say we place enough consecutive people in the stadium so that they can color coordinate to collectively create a massive Firefox logo. Sort of a human crop circle. The message focuses on leveraging an organized crowd (literally), and it isn't very corporate. Given a similar budget we could probably get a reasonably sized logo, but on the downside contributors would need to watch an entire football game :p Let’s say we place enough consecutive people in the stadium so that they can color coordinate to collectively create a massive Firefox logo. Sort of a human crop circle. The message focuses on leveraging an organized crowd (literally), and it isn’t very corporate. Given a similar budget we could probably get a reasonably sized logo, but on the downside contributors would need to watch an entire football game :p

]]> By: Benoit http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161&cpage=1#comment-1940 Benoit Sat, 31 Jan 2009 20:53:33 +0000 http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161#comment-1940 The New York Times ad may have been "US centric" but this newspaper has an international aura of something serious, respectable, credible. I'm sorry to inform you that it's not at all the case with the super bowl. I can't see anyone in the rest of the world being excited by this (even after being explained what the super bowl actually is). I certainly wouldn't be. The assumption that the global traffic would jump by 24% is also wrong. Only 24% of the traffic coming from the US would. See this article linked on Wikipedia: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/steve_rushin/02/03/rushin0206/ If you wanted something truly global, you could choose the FIFA World Cup finals. Of course it would be an equally bad idea, but maybe it will help you understand why :) The New York Times ad may have been “US centric” but this newspaper has an international aura of something serious, respectable, credible. I’m sorry to inform you that it’s not at all the case with the super bowl. I can’t see anyone in the rest of the world being excited by this (even after being explained what the super bowl actually is). I certainly wouldn’t be.

The assumption that the global traffic would jump by 24% is also wrong. Only 24% of the traffic coming from the US would. See this article linked on Wikipedia: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/steve_rushin/02/03/rushin0206/

If you wanted something truly global, you could choose the FIFA World Cup finals. Of course it would be an equally bad idea, but maybe it will help you understand why :)

]]> By: dria http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161&cpage=1#comment-1939 dria Sat, 31 Jan 2009 20:18:53 +0000 http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161#comment-1939 As a community member I'd be pretty profoundly annoyed if Mozilla blew $3m like this. Superbowl ads where the epitome of dotcom bubble insanity, imo. There has got to be a better way to spend that money. As a community member I’d be pretty profoundly annoyed if Mozilla blew $3m like this. Superbowl ads where the epitome of dotcom bubble insanity, imo. There has got to be a better way to spend that money.

]]> By: David Boswell http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161&cpage=1#comment-1938 David Boswell Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:18:45 +0000 http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161#comment-1938 If we followed the example of the New York Times ad, running a Super Bowl ad wouldn't take anything away from the regular marketing budget since we'd raise donations specifically targeted for the commercial. In 2004 the community was much smaller, but 1/4 of a million dollars was raised in just around 10 days for the ad. In theory we could raise enough donations to do this and that process itself could be a fun activity for the community. If we followed the example of the New York Times ad, running a Super Bowl ad wouldn’t take anything away from the regular marketing budget since we’d raise donations specifically targeted for the commercial. In 2004 the community was much smaller, but 1/4 of a million dollars was raised in just around 10 days for the ad. In theory we could raise enough donations to do this and that process itself could be a fun activity for the community.

]]> By: chofmann http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161&cpage=1#comment-1936 chofmann Sat, 31 Jan 2009 12:30:57 +0000 http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161#comment-1936 -I'm not going to try and argue that the superbowl isn't US centric, but it should be noted that its televised and viewed in 230 countries. -5 years ago 15,000 of the 3 million firefox users opened up their wallets to the tune of about $30 each to make the NYTimes ad happen. What is the size of that community 5 years later? Is it still 15,000, or is it roughly 0.005% of Firefox users, or is it something else? If its grown at the same pace as the number of users it would be around a million. -A million people tossing in $2, $3, or $5 could make something big happen. -I'm not sure that just using one of the flicks videos is the right approach. We ought to think about something that communicates something about our values, and what we are trying to achieve, and the impact we are/could have. That was the magic of the apple ad from many years ago. Tough to do, but that is the challenge. -I’m not going to try and argue that the superbowl isn’t US centric, but it should be noted that its televised and viewed in 230 countries.

-5 years ago 15,000 of the 3 million firefox users opened up their wallets to the tune of about $30 each to make the NYTimes ad happen. What is the size of that community 5 years later? Is it still 15,000, or is it roughly 0.005% of Firefox users, or is it something else? If its grown at the same pace as the number of users it would be around a million.

-A million people tossing in $2, $3, or $5 could make something big happen.

-I’m not sure that just using one of the flicks videos is the right approach. We ought to think about something that communicates something about our values, and what we are trying to achieve, and the impact we are/could have. That was the magic of the apple ad from many years ago. Tough to do, but that is the challenge.

]]> By: Marc Diethelm http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161&cpage=1#comment-1935 Marc Diethelm Sat, 31 Jan 2009 12:07:30 +0000 http://www.giantspatula.com/?p=161#comment-1935 Nah, superbowl ad feels wrong to me. Probably #1 reason is I'm not US American and I don't care about spectator sports. Besides it's a one time affair, hit and run and very expensive. Also I have some doubts whether it would be worth it. Wouldn't the ad possibly just drown between the scantily clad women and other big budget productions? "Now thy're advertising for a browser, yawn. Very interesting." (Hey, what's wrong with scantily clad women anyway? I think I would support it if the ad would go completely and obviously overboard with scantily clad (and nerdy) girls all using Firefox...) Maybe Mozilla should do what Hollywood did in starting in the Forties. Invest in some high-profile product placement. Make using Firefox as cool as smoking was then. The female heroine pushing away her know-nothing companion who starts opening IE, yelling: "Are you nuts!? I don't need my machine infested with viruses, idiot! Ah, men!" Then she starts Firefox and does all the incredible things we Firefox users do everyday :-) For 3 million you could do a lot of this sort. It would be crazy. :) It would go on to eternity and beyond on video and TV broadcasts. I'd love to see that! That's global retention marketing. I don't believe I wrote this but it could actually work. Nah, superbowl ad feels wrong to me. Probably #1 reason is I’m not US American and I don’t care about spectator sports. Besides it’s a one time affair, hit and run and very expensive. Also I have some doubts whether it would be worth it. Wouldn’t the ad possibly just drown between the scantily clad women and other big budget productions? “Now thy’re advertising for a browser, yawn. Very interesting.” (Hey, what’s wrong with scantily clad women anyway? I think I would support it if the ad would go completely and obviously overboard with scantily clad (and nerdy) girls all using Firefox…)

Maybe Mozilla should do what Hollywood did in starting in the Forties. Invest in some high-profile product placement. Make using Firefox as cool as smoking was then. The female heroine pushing away her know-nothing companion who starts opening IE, yelling: “Are you nuts!? I don’t need my machine infested with viruses, idiot! Ah, men!” Then she starts Firefox and does all the incredible things we Firefox users do everyday :-)

For 3 million you could do a lot of this sort. It would be crazy. :) It would go on to eternity and beyond on video and TV broadcasts. I’d love to see that!

That’s global retention marketing. I don’t believe I wrote this but it could actually work.

]]>