Linux and branding

“Marketing isn’t the first word that one associates with the
Linux community, but it is a necessary activity for those who wish
to bring new users into the fold (and perhaps make a buck at the
same time). The recent Ubuntu rebrand, and the subsequent media
attention surrounding it, provides an opportunity to consider the
larger question of branding for Linux distributions and open source
projects.

“The brand of a project includes the name, theming, artwork,
fonts, logos, and even audio cues for a project. Community
projects, especially those with a primary sponsor, have a unique
set of challenges and considerations when it comes to branding.
Companies promoting proprietary projects can pour millions into
building cohesive brands, and have the ability to dictate branding
decisions from the top down. No one at Microsoft need worry about
whether branding decisions will affect the community distributions
of Microsoft Office, because there aren’t any. Nor do the decision
makers in Redmond need to worry about offending a community art
team when imposing brand changes, or worry about a lack of talent
when it comes time to develop and implement branding.

“Not so for community distributions and open projects. The
tradeoff for strong community involvement is a diverse set of
stakeholders that will want to weigh in on branding, but come with
considerably less money and talent on tap to develop branding.”

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