Marketing:Boilerplate

Mozilla needs to get better as messaging its mission and public benefit nature.

With this in mind, we want to do a thought experiment: rewrite the boilerplate text used at the end of Mozilla press releases.

While it would be nice to have better boilerplate text, that's not the main point here. The goal is to really push ourselves on a) they key concepts we're trying to communicate and b) the words we're using to deliver these concepts.

If we can nail this -- or even come up with a couple of good versions -- we will have useful fodder for renewed mission-based marketing efforts.

Current boilerplate text

Mozilla is a global community dedicated to building free, open source products and technologies that improve the online experience for people everywhere. We work in the open with a highly disciplined, transparent and cooperative development process, under the umbrella of the non-profit Mozilla Foundation. As a wholly owned subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation organizes the development and marketing of Mozilla products. This unique structure has enabled Mozilla to financially support and cultivate competitive, viable community innovation. For more information, visit www.mozilla.com.

Key words and concepts

• x
• y
• z

Experimental rewrites

• a
• b
• c

Taglines and boilerplates from other orgs

• Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information - anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com .

• Greenpeace exists because this fragile earth deserves a voice. It needs solutions. It needs change. It needs action.

• Kiva.org (www.kiva.org) is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to an entrepreneur in the developing world. Founded in 2005, Kiva.org's mission is to connect people, through lending, to alleviate poverty. Kiva.org currently connects lenders in more than 100 countries with entrepreneurs in 41 developing countries, through 88 microfinance partners. Kiva.org is headquartered in San Francisco.

• Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

• Miro is developed by the Participatory Culture Foundation (PCF), a non-profit organization, and by volunteers around the world. PCF was founded in 2005 and has a mission to create a more open and decentralized online video space. Miro is used by hundreds of thousands of people around the world- only 24% of users are based in the United States.

• Since its launch in October 2004, Ubuntu has become one of the most highly-regarded Linux distributions. With millions of users in homes, schools, businesses and governments around the world, Ubuntu is growing in popularity on both the server and the desktop. With the values of Open Source software at its core, Ubuntu costs nothing to download or update. Users are also actively encouraged to copy, reinstall, modify and share their Ubuntu software anytime, anywhere and with anyone. Visit www.canonical.com or www.ubuntu.com for more information.

• About Patagonia

Patagonia is noted internationally for its commitment to product quality and environmental activism. Its Environmental Grants Program has contributed over $20M in cash and in-kind donations to grassroots environmental activists since the program began in 1985, and its Environmental Internship Program allows employees to workfor environmental groups while receiving their full paycheck. Incorporating environmental responsibility in to product development, the company supports the ambitious mission statement: “To make the best product, cause no unnecessary harm and use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.” Since 1996, Patagonia has used only organically grown cotton in its clothing line, and is noted world-wide for using recycled soda bottles in many of its polyester fleece garments beginning in 1993. Sales for 2004 were $240 million.

• Adbusters