Archive | October, 2007

Mozilla Power

At John Lilly’s request, we’ve created a new “Powered by Mozilla” logo. The idea is that companies that use Mozilla technology as the basis for what they do would proudly display this logo on their sites (or wherever it’s most relevant).

I’m happy about this because I think it will do two good things for our brand: 1) help differentiate Mozilla from Firefox (among the broader audience, there’s still some confusion around this) and 2) further establish us as an organization working on the cutting edge of a lot of cool new technology (again, beyond just being “the Firefox guys”).

Mozilla Power

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A Few Quick Mozilla Store Updates

It’s been awhile since I reported on the Mozilla Store, so here are a few updates:

* Probably the most frequent comment we got after relaunching the US-based Store back in August was, “are you going to redo the International Store too, and if so, when?” The short answer is “absolutely yes” and “very soon”. I probably should have done a better job of communicating this at the time, but updating the International Store has been part of the plan all along…work has been proceeding for a few weeks now and we’re hoping to have the International Store live in late October or early November. It’ll have the same design, features and merchandise as the US-based Store, so stay tuned…

* The good thing about the International Store is that Mozilla fans will be able to have their gear shipped to almost any country around the globe. The bad thing is that the world is a big place and shipping costs can get pretty expensive (especially when you factor in duties and taxes in certain places). We’re currently looking into a few grassroots solutions with some local Mozilla communities to combat this. I don’t have anything specific to report on this yet, but wanted everyone to know that we’re actively exploring ways to solve the problem.

* About the US-based Store, we have an opportunity to add a new item of our choosing. We figured this would be a good opportunity to let the community weigh in, so we’re putting five frequently suggested items up for a vote. David Rolnitzky’s blog has more details on this, but the quick summary is that we’ll add the winner to the Store as soon as possible. So, if you have an opinion, click here to vote, or look for this promo next time you’re at the Store homepage:

A Few Quick Mozilla Store Updates

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New Approaches to an Old Challenge

Convincing people to download and begin regularly using an entirely new web browser is a pretty tall task for an online ad, which is why we’re always testing different approaches to see what works.

We recently asked Nobox to come up with concepts for two online ads around the themes of security and customization (key points of differentiation between Firefox and the competition). The ads started running a few days ago…my esteemed colleague David Rolnitzky has a detailed breakdown of the thought process behind them on his new blog, so definitely check that out.

Our main request to Nobox for the security ad was that it be very benefits-focused…in other words, communicate how browser security (or the lack thereof) directly impacts the user, rather than just making a generic statement about what Firefox’s security features are. For the customization one, we asked them to explore some non-technical metaphors (besides the somewhat played-out one of souping up your vehicle) that would help explain what add-ons are and how they can help you.

Nobox processed all that and came back with an interesting approach: cartoons. When they first proposed this I have to admit I was a little uncertain, but they quickly sold me with their specific concepts, which communicated our key points in a very fun and engaging way. I feel like it’s important to be serious about what we do, but also not to take ourselves too seriously, and to me these ads do a good job of doing that. Of course, online advertising provides very well-defined results so the users will have the final say!

The landing page for the security ad is below. You can see the other landing page plus the ads themselves on David’s site.

New Approaches to an Old Challenge

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