SUSE LINUX Unveils New Advertisement Campaign, Corporate Design and Logo [LWN.net]

From:		mak-AT-suse.de (Martina Krahmer)
To:		lwn-AT-lwn.net
Subject:		"SUSE LINUX Unveils New Advertisement Campaign, Corporate Design and Logo"
Date:		Thu, 2 Oct 2003 18:09:02 +0200 (CEST)

Dear  LWN-Team,

you may already have noticed that something is different about SUSE LINUX.
For one thing, we are no longer SuSE Linux, but SUSE LINUX (easier to type).
We have also redesigned our web page (www.SUSE.de/en/), our logo -- our
entire corporate design -- to be even more dynamic, fresh and striking.

You'll also see a new advertising campaign coming soon, communicating our
innovation, our technological leadership -- along with a independent streak.

Along with the new logo you'll notice a new tag line for SUSE -- "simply
change". We wanted to shift our focus from us (The Linux Experts) to our
customers -- showing them that they can change for the better with the help
of our proven expertise.

I hope you like the new SUSE LINUX -- although our appearance has changed,
our commitment to customers, partners and the community hasn't.

Kind regards
Martina Krahmer

_____________________________________________


SUSE LINUX Unveils New Advertising Campaign, Corporate Design and Logo

"Simply Changes" brand 


Nuremberg, October 2, 2003 - SUSE LINUX today unveiled an irreverent new
advertising campaign, along with a new corporate logo and design.

The pioneer of the burgeoning commercial Linux and open source software
movement, SUSE needed a corporate identity to broaden it's appeal to a
business audience. The new claim, "Simply Change," is on one hand a challenge
to switch from monopolistic software to the flexibility of SUSE and on the
other signifies how simple this shift can be. 

"SUSE was looking to more effectively reach our business audience
capitalizing on our strengths as the pioneer in commercial Linux as well as
our reputation as the Linux engineering experts," said Dr. Uwe Schmid, vice
president, Marketing and Business Development, SUSE LINUX. "At the same time,
we wanted to maintain the irreverence, creativity and innovation inherent in
the open source movement."

J. Walter Thompson worked with SUSE to bring new dynamics to the SUSE logo
consistency to its corporate design and to develop an irreverent advertising
campaign. In a brazen way, testimonials depict people sticking out their
tongues in a gesture that says goodbye to expensive proprietary systems that
sometimes lock users into an unwelcome dependency.

About SUSE LINUX

Established in 1992, SUSE LINUX is one of the world's leading providers of
Linux software and services. With the largest dedicated Linux research and
development team, SUSE delivers enterprise-ready software and services that
harness the innovation, speed-to-market and independence of the open source
community. A privately-held company based in Nuremberg, Germany, SUSE --
together with global business partners -- supports customers throughout the
world. For further information on SUSE LINUX, please visit www.suse.de/en/.

Press Contact:
SUSE LINUX AG 
Martina Krahmer
Deutschherrnstr. 15-19
90429 Nuremberg , Germany
Phone: +49-911-74053-507
Fax: +49-911-741 77 55
E-Mail:  martina.krahmer-AT-suse.de

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SUSE LINUX Unveils New Advertisement Campaign, Corporate Design and Logo

Posted Oct 9, 2003 3:42 UTC (Thu) by bignose (subscriber, #40) [Link]

> you may already have noticed that something is different about SUSE LINUX.
> For one thing, we are no longer SuSE Linux, but SUSE LINUX (easier to type).
> We have also redesigned our web page (www.SUSE.de/en/), our logo -- our
> entire corporate design -- to be even more dynamic, fresh and striking.

The new logo is indeed nicer looking. However, it still names the company "SuSE" rather than "SUSE".

Changing the name to SUSE may be a good idea, but spelling Linux as LINUX is silly -- everyone already looking for Linux will spell it that way, not in all-caps. "SUSE Linux" seems the best compromise.

Giving domain names with mixed lowercase and uppercase letters is just confusing -- the domain is www.suse.de, it is not www.SUSE.de. They both work, but giving mixed upper- and lower-case implies that one would work and the other would not.

Press releases that only give partial URLs are annoying -- the links should be given as e.g. http://www.suse.de/en/ so that they can be automatically recognised as such. Enclosing them in angle brackets is even better, as in <http://www.suse.de/en/>, since it can have adjacent punctuation, allowing a more natural sentence flow.

> Along with the new logo you'll notice a new tag line for SUSE -- "simply
> change". We wanted to shift our focus from us (The Linux Experts) to our
> customers -- showing them that they can change for the better with the help
> of our proven expertise.

This does indeed sound like a change for the better; the tag line is certainly much more aproachable, and doesn't smell like hype.