kf4bdy wrote:kareka wrote:hannelore wrote:I have an heretical question:
Why does Joomla need a slogan?
Has Google a slogan?
Why not push Joomla to a synonym with "CMS", like Google is with "searchengine".
I agree!
I second that motion!
Actually, been doing some thinking and Hannelore is quite right. Do we need a slogan?
Besides the Google example Hannelore has given, imagine these:
"Microsoft Windows; All the windows your house will ever need";
"Oracle; we told you so";
"Symantec AntiVirus; doctorin' the Tardis";
Now, these are off course not very good examples of a good slogan, but they don't need one either.
The only slogan I ever came accross with by Google is "Google; Search the web". Not fancy, not intellectual, but simple and unnecessary because it'll make you go "Duh..".
A slogan for mindsettingCompanies that have slogans are not using it to 'explain' their product. They use it to for mindsetting; creating a feeling with their brand and thus
alll of their products; not just one product.
E.g. "Nike; Just do it". The mindset: win at all cost, no matter what, just do it, just win... that's a strong feeling.
"Canon; you can". The mindset: it's so high tech stuff we make, but it's so easy to use... you can use it
"Nokia; Connecting people". The mindset: it's not just a telephone, it's much more, it connects you to others with all kinds of technologies (SMS, MMS, email, more). Does have a high 'Duh'-factor too...
Sony is about to come with a new slogan: "Sony; Like no other". Mindset: A DVD player is not just another DVD player if it is a Sony..
A Dutch Insurance company has: "Interpolis; Crystalclear". Mindset: we have simple rules on our insurance policies, they're simple and easy to understand and no small print. What you read is what you get, crystalclear.. very comforting, if you have any experience reading through insurance policies...
Failing slogansCompanies that use mindset slogans but horribly fail to convey the message:
"NEC - Empowered by Innovation"; Yeah? And why should I care, what's in it for me? Nice to see you feel empowered but what about me, the customer??? (Wouldn't be surprised if I had to pay double..). Your stuff should empower
me!
"HP - Invent"; Why? Who? Who should invent? Hope they didn't mean me... I'm paying them to invent...
"Philips - Sense
and Simplicity". What makes sense? This doesn't make sense. If it does makes sense, it sure isn't simple to see the sense, so what's the simplicity of the lot?
"MaxData - Indiviual technology". Errmmm, I like companies that comply to standards... can I play any DVD on you system? Or do you have some sort of 'own', individual DVD standard as well??
In short, slogans can be good but can be very destructive as well. But it always comes down to mindsetting. You need to give people a good feeling with a slogan. But it shouldn't just 'explain' a product, because that's not a feeling; that's a description...
In that respect you could argue that all slogans here with the word 'CMS' or 'OpenSource' in them can be written off.
Explaining 'Joomla!'s meaning or derivation (All together), isn't the solution either.
Slogan for Joomla!If we do want a slogan, it has to be one that conveys the feeling, the essence of Joomla! We should be focussing on what Joomla! is to us, what it means to us, where it comes from and where we want it to take us.
We all already know what Joomla! is and those who don't know Joomla! yet will read the product description or a review. What these new people don't have, is what we feel with Joomla! That's what's needed to be conveyed to people new to Joomla! We should share the feeling we got to make them feel the same way...
The Joomla! feelingWhy is Joomla!? Because we felt Miro was taking Mambo the wrong way.
Why did we stick with the core-devs and not with Miro/Mambo? Because we feel Miro was curtailing our freedom.
What did Mambo mean to us? Mambo was freedom because the OpenSource character ensured that we had a say in where it went.
So what's Joomla! to us now?
- Joomla! is the renewed, refound freedom to take Mambo where we want it to go;
- to use it how we like it;
- to extend it with what we deem necessary without having to pay for it (reference the 3PD scheme Miro pulled);
- true freedom as in OSI's "Free Software";
- it's also the freedom to express ourselves (whereas Miro wants 'mambolovers' to sign a Non-Disclosure-Agreement and plenty of other agreements curtailing the freedom again)..
- and sooo many more examples..
The main feeling I think we
all have is "freedom"; in many, many ways.
IMHO this multitude of "freedoms" is the feeling that we should try to convey in a slogan.
Now I'm not much of a slogan writer myself. There's two sides to this medal: knowing a good slogan from a bad one and writing a good one... The latter side is not my forte; one has to know his own limitations. But I hope this post inspires a lot of creative minds to come up with really good ones.
That is, if we need a slogan in the first place, because Hannelore does have a good point me thinks..
(phew... my longest post ever 
)
