Re: GNOME colors

[Michael Bernstein <webmaven lvcm com>]

Joakim Ziegler wrote:
> 
> It's difficult to brand something this large and diverse. I'm hoping we can
> succeed by being fairly abstract in our approach. Possibly, we'll just have
> to say "this is what we want GNOME to be associated with", instead of "what
> is it people associate GNOME with?", because people's perceptions at the
> moment are very varied.

Joakim,

Has anyone on the 'GNOME marketing commitee' ever created a
positioning statement for GNOME?

A positioning statement, for those of you on the list who
may not have heard the term before, is simply a description
of how you would like to be perceived by your prospects. It
shouldn't be confused with your position, which is a
description of how you actually ARE perceived.

A positioning statement can be created quite simply by
answering seven questions:

Who: Who are you?
What: What business are you in?
For whom: What people do you serve?
What need: What are the special needs of the people you
serve?
Against whom: With whom are you competing?
What's different: What makes you different form those
competitors?
So: What's the benefit? What unique benefit does a customer
derive from you?

To illustrate, take Bloomingdale's as an example:

(Who) "Bloomingdale's (What) are fashion-focused department
stores (For whom) for trend-conscious, upper-middle class
shoppers (What need) looking for high-end products. Unlike
(Against whom) other department stores, Bloomingdale's
(What's different) provides unique merchandise in a
theatrical setting (So) that makes shopping entertaining."

Of the seven questions, the trickiest is number five 'What's
different?'. This is where people try to cram in everything
but the kitchen sink. When trying to define your position in
the marketplace (especially the marketplace of ideas), you
must choose the one thing that makes you different from your
competitors, and not try to say you are all things to all
people.

So, has anyone ever done this for GNOME?

Michael Bernstein.