ubuntu-advertising team mailing list archive

["danteashton@xxxxxxxxx" <danteashton@xxxxxxxxx>]

Right, we've had an influx of adverts, and practically all of them are
either infeasible, too costly, or just plain illegal, so here are some
guidelines.

1. Mentioning a product outside of Ubuntu is a big no-no, we cannot mention,
suggest or even nod towards Apple, Microsoft, Microsoft Office...the term
'Mac' is also trademarked...World of Warcraft, iTunes, Amazon, iPod or even
Podcast. Legally speaking if we want to mention a product, we're going to
have to seek permission, for those I just mentioned (and similar) this could
turn into thousands of dollars/pounds worth. Likewise, things like Banshee,
OpenOffice...we're going to have to look into seeing how they feel about
others using their name. We could of course, just use those names, but then
we'll also have to deal with the fallout created by a lawsuit directed
against us. This also applies if we're going to do a live action video; we
CANNOT have shops in the background like Starbucks, etc.

2. It must be short on dialogue: We're not writing a movie here, having a
paragraph of text to speak is NOT going to help. We're going to bore the
viewers if we do this. Keep it short, simple and use easily understood
visual metaphors where possible.

3. Special effects; We either do it right or don't do it at all. Doing a
half-cocked job will only degrade the advert. Having helicopters and people
disappearing through walls would be ok if we were a bunch of 3D effects
gurus with a MASSIVE rendering farm, but we're not and we don't!

4.DO NOT act in public, this can complicate things, as many people being
filmed in public WILL want to send a lawsuit our way for invading our
privacy. The local authorities may not look too kindly on it, either.

5. NO CLICHÉS! This means NO CHEESY ADVERTS! No remakes of popular adverts,
no 'Hey Michelle! I love what you've done with your hair!" sort of adverts.
We want to inspire people to use Ubuntu, not make them vomit, and AGAIN,
remaking a popular advert WILL RESULT IN LEGAL ACTION AGAINST US.

6. NO TECHNICAL JARGON/ITEMS! This includes LiveCDs, no use of the words
'operating system, interface, text commands, update manager, ' or any such
language.

It HAS to be original, it HAS to be done properly, it HAS to be done without
running the risk of legal action and by god, it MUST have an emotional
impact! This is Ubuntu's first attempt at advertising to a mass audience. I
also strongly discourage use of 11.04 n the advert, as Unity is still being
designed and we'll just have to wait till the UI freeze is done.


-- 

-Danté Ashton

Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici


Sent from Ubuntu