Marketing Firefox
We’ve got a simple goal for the year.
We want to significantly increase the number of people using Firefox, so that more people can experience the benefits of having a choice in how they get on the Web.
If we can do this, we’ll be doing our part to ensure the Web is accessible the same way to everyone, regardless of the browser or operating system they happen to be using.
Part of the reason Firefox has grown from zero to tens of millions of users is the marketing we’ve done to date. The grassroots, word of mouth marketing led by our community of users has helped introduce millions of people to Firefox.
Take a walk through the recent past of Firefox marketing:
- The New York Times ad campaign
- The Spread Firefox affiliate program
- Positive recommendations on blogs
- Vacation installations of Firefox on your parents’ computer
- The Firefox Flicks Ad Contest
There’s no doubt in my mind that the marketing we’ve done to date has been effective because it’s been rooted in the goodwill of our community.
As we gear up to market Firefox in 2006, we need to tap into this goodwill again, to reach a much bigger potential community for Firefox. As part of this, reaching those people and organizations who share Mozilla’s philosophy of doing work for the public good. We also want to figure out how Mozilla can actively help these groups. Details to come soon on this approach.
A core premise in reaching out to these new groups of potential users is that the methods that have worked for us in the past need to be augmented. We think there’s some fundamental work we have to do to make people aware of who Mozilla is, and why a choice in Web browsers matters.
So we plan to launch several educational campaigns about Firefox over the next few months.
Some of these campaigns will take shape as new community-based marketing projects. Others will take the form of broader outreach campaigns that will feature both Mozilla and Firefox. The goal of both the community marketing and broad outreach campaigns is to help people understand what Mozilla stands for as an organization, and what Firefox is.
We’re going to integrate both of these efforts. The broad outreach we do will connect in meaningful ways with the new set of community marketing we’ll be doing. We’ll also incorporate operating principles from our open source development process into the ways that we plan, implement and measure the success of all our campaigns.
We have a lot to learn on the marketing side of the house from the folks on the development team.
Open source development shifts the nexus of value creation from ownership of a proprietary set of bits, to the creativity you bring to harnessing the potential of a common asset. As open source software has come into maturity we’re seeing second order benefits that are directly impacting the Web. Startups can get from idea to delivery that much more easily because they are building upon the freely available work of the Linux, PHP and MySQL development communities. And the innovation that’s resulting from this path is everywhere you look on the Web today.
Where is the similar innovation in marketing? How do you shift the focus of marketing from branding, slogans, feature/benefit discussions, and onto the direct communication of who you are? And do it in a way that is additive to the lives of the people you’re reaching, rather than just another distraction in the mental environment?
At the end of the day, we’re going into this effort with a clear understanding of what’s made us successful to now. A clear understanding of what our strengths are as an organization and a community. And a clear understanding of the challenges we face this year in reaching our goal of a much bigger community of Firefox users.
The spirit of what makes Firefox great is that it’s made by people who are passionate about making the Web experience better for other people. We’re going to honor this spirit in the marketing that we do in 2006.
Let us know how we’re doing.
14 Comments so far
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please send me a few of those hack posters.
thanks,
alan
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The thing I hear from non-techies when they switch is “Tabbed browsing” how could I have ever livedwithout it? That and the ad & pop-up blockers like Adblock seem to sell them.
I think Firefox should come with tabs turned on for all external links that are to open up in a new window for this very reason.
I and other mozilla enthusiasts in Hyderabad, India have been spreading Firefox. One blocker for us is Firefox does not support Indic scripts. Every other time, people complain to us that Firefox is not correctly showing websites in Telugu language. And, they switch back.
I hope CTL (complex text layout) issues in Gecko will be resolved soon. And, that would be great for all Indian netizens.
Deacon, as soon as IE7 gets released, it’ll be hard to convince people to switch to Firefox because of tabbed browsing.
BTW, I’m interested in this poster, too. :)
Firefox is doing quite well on the SOHO and home sector, but is still not making many inroads in the big companies and governmental agencies. Firefox needs that official MSI package, and fast.
Microsoft tries to catch up with MSIE7, but Firefox still has a few areas where it is superior:
** Multi-plaform. MS withdrew from the Apple platform, and MSIE7 will not run on Windows 2000. Most Linux distros come with at least one Mozilla-based browser these days.
** Better CSS support, better SVG support, better extension architecture.
** Hassle-free install and uninstall.
** Ongoing development. MS left MSIE6 without updates for years while Firefox has a steady development roadmap.
I would not be too scared of MSIE7.
Paul, could you possibly post a higher resolution version of that hack poster? It looks great.
@Rishi: I’ll see what I can dig up. I’m about to head out on a flight to Brussels for FOSDEM so it might be a day or so but I’ll comment on this post if I find something high-res. :-)
IMHO corporate is where it’s at. People use what they are given at work, and get comfortable with it. Many also rely on corporate IT for their tech recommendations. Getting an “in” there is critical.
It’s been claimed that corporate use is what got Netscape in homes.
Not only the tabbed windows are attractive,
but also the printing feature that allows
to print pages that in IE doesn’t print
well.
Regards
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Andres Berger
Managing Director | BeTheFinest.Com
Now You Can Browse The Net With Safety
http://www.BeTheFinest.com/firefox
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I think we need to target high school and college students the most. Getting firefox installed in computer labs will make students curious and they’ll be hooked from there. After all, it’s teenagers these days that are spending the most time online and frequently overlook the family computer. Today’s generation of young adults hate marketing, which illustrates the need to stress the ad-blocking extensions and the strength of firefox’s pop-up blocker. Cheers!
Do you have already think about an “art context” for Firefox marketing campaign?
You could contact artists (painters, graphics, photographers) and ask them to produce an artwork to celebrate Firefox. Then you can sell the work in order to raise founds an even produce a catalog (digital or/and paper). You can also ask some museums to organize an exibition.
Thanks for the feedback and suggestions all. As several of you have noted looking at educating different types of users is going to be an important next step in marketing Firefox. I’ll keep you posted on the directions we head in as we roll out these next campaigns.
The Spanish-language site is not in 100% correct Spanish. “Ama Mozilla” should probably be “Adora Mozilla” or “Le encanta Mozilla”. You should have a speaker of correct Spanish check the rest of the text.
“Ama Mozilla” sounds weird. An Spanish speaker would rather say: “Mozilla es Fascinante”, “Mozilla Me Encanta” or even “Mozilla Me Gusta”.
I know because my primary language is Spanish, not English.
Regards
———————————–
Andres Berger
Managing Director | BeTheFinest.Com
Now You Can Browse The Net With Safety
http://www.BeTheFinest.com/firefox
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