Marketing Pilgrim

Mozilla, makers of the Firefox browser (my preferred browser due to the amazing plugins) wants to lure Internet Explorer users. They have a new marketing campaign that hasn’t gone over so well. The theme of the campaign is Fight Against Boredom, suggesting that IE is a boring option.

Here’s a line to give you the idea of the 70s goofy feel of the campaign’s song (Rise Up! Rise Up!).

The world is such a great big place with so much to do. You can ski, eat green eggs, ride bikes, or start a coupe.

The jokes on the site they set up (which is unaccessible now) didn’t go over very well, especially the ones that talk about heart disease and cancer. They say, Firefox users are much hipper than Internet Explorer users, quoting fake stats.

Firefox users are:

• 21% less likely to be a sales representative or agent at their current place of business.
• 45% more likely to have gone on vacation in San Francisco within the last 2 years.
• 33% less likely to live with others suffering from high cholesterol.
• 24% less likely to live with others suffering from heart disease.
• 66% more likely to have viewed or listened to audio or video about politics or public affairs news within the last 30 day.
• 89% more likely to have purchased database software for work in the last year.
• 38% less likely to live with others suffering from breast cancer.
• 25% less likely to have breast cancer.

TechCrunch reported on the campaign, and Paul Kim, VP of Marketing at Mozilla, did some explaining. He said the site wasn’t reviewed or ready for public view:

This is Paul Kim, VP of marketing for Mozilla. I want to apologize to anyone who was upset or offended by some of the stats on the not yet final website for this campaign. The list Techcrunch referenced was posted without a final review by Mozilla and wasn’t intended to be published as is. We’re working right now to correct this on the site, which goes live in a final form later today.

Recently, Mozilla’s CEO Mitchell Baker stepped down as CEO and their chief operating officer John Lilly, Mozilla’s will be her replacement. Estimates put market share for Mozilla at about 15% and it’s been 10 years since launch. I pop in to read Baker’s blog from time to time and she details the changes there.