I think we should have a D-Dolphin ;-)

On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 01:04:42 +0800, Wang Zhen wrote:

> Kyle Furlong wrote:
>> Does anyone else think that D-man needs to retire? I think some cute animal or other recognizable mascot would suit better.
> 
> I once made a D-dog for D last year (http://shfls.org/w/d/ddog.png). Walter replied with exactly the same question -- "What's wrong with D-man?"
> 
> Come to think about it, why do we need a mascot for a programming language in the first place? When did the lack of a mascot hinder the growth of C or C++?

In article <pan.2006.03.21.21.54.02.713550@sneakemail.com>, =?iso-8859-1?q?Knud_S=F8rensen?= says...
>
>I think we should have a D-Dolphin ;-)
>

Too late.  MySQL beat us to that:

http://www.mysql.com/news-and-events/news/article_77.html


- EricAnderton at yahoo

Knud Sørensen wrote:
> I think we should have a D-Dolphin ;-)
> 
> On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 01:04:42 +0800, Wang Zhen wrote:
> 
> 
>>Kyle Furlong wrote:
>>
>>>Does anyone else think that D-man needs to retire? I think some cute animal or other recognizable mascot would suit better.
>>
>>I once made a D-dog for D last year (http://shfls.org/w/d/ddog.png). Walter replied with exactly the same question -- "What's wrong with D-man?"
>>
>>Come to think about it, why do we need a mascot for a programming language in the first place? When did the lack of a mascot hinder the growth of C or C++?

I don't know if others share this observation, but does it seem like the whole "mascot" thing is particularly American? Seems quite prevalent in sports and so on. You'd rarely see such a thing in Europe, for example. And perhaps it's just me who finds it vaguely amusing to imagine some sort of giant wobbly Chicken|Goofy|BigBird thing prancing about on behalf of Australian or Kiwi Rugby teams?

There's definately a "team" element associated with mascots, which I suppose is reflected in the corporate arena by a marketing logo? Seems like it all comes down to branding? If so, then the D-dude is perhaps a bit "back of the napkin" type of thing, from a branding perspective? I hate to say it, but D-dude doesn't add anything at all in terms of "professionalism" ~ to D as a product. Perhaps the contrary, actually. For me, D-dude has always had a waft of, umm, shallow hubris? But then I just ignore brandings anyway.

I guess it comes down to which audience the /Branding/ for D is intended to help seduce

kris wrote:

> I hate to say it, but D-dude doesn't add anything at all in terms of "professionalism" ~ to D as a product. Perhaps the contrary, actually. For me, D-dude has always had a waft of, umm, shallow hubris? But then I just ignore brandings anyway.

I always liked the parts where he's "in action"
Like http://www.digitalmars.com/gift/index.html

D-Man has the "I'm too busy coding to look good"
Wonder if the cutesy dog can do any hacking ? :-)

--anders

In article <44207264.2020209@bar.com>, kris says...
>
>I don't know if others share this observation, but does it seem like the whole "mascot" thing is particularly American? Seems quite prevalent in sports and so on. You'd rarely see such a thing in Europe, for example.

Now that I think about it, you're right.  I think it's a product of being in such a hyper-capitalist society/culture; *everything* is a commodity.

>And perhaps it's just me who finds it vaguely amusing to imagine some sort of giant wobbly Chicken|Goofy|BigBird thing prancing about on behalf of Australian or Kiwi Rugby teams?

And now I can't get the image of giant foam-rubber prawns and wallabys out of my head.  That would be utterly surreal.

Lets get some solid examples of what's wrong here.  From my neck of the woods:

Hockey - Capitals: Slapshot the Eagle
Football - DC United: Talon the Eagle
Baseball - Nationals: Screech the Eagle
Basketball - Wizards: G-Wiz (don't ask)
US Football - Redskins: None

Yes, these are all as lame as they sound - I think that's kind of the point with mascots, its more for the kids anyway.  Google for pictures if you must. :)

And I conclude by saying that the Redskins are the only ones around here that have managed any kind of tasteful PR image, which has likely come about for a combination of (sadly) PC reasons and being corraled by a very image conscious league.  So they're very much the exception here.

>There's definately a "team" element associated with mascots, which I suppose is reflected in the corporate arena by a marketing logo? Seems like it all comes down to branding? If so, then the D-dude is perhaps a bit "back of the napkin" type of thing, from a branding perspective? I hate to say it, but D-dude doesn't add anything at all in terms of "professionalism" ~ to D as a product. Perhaps the contrary, actually. For me, D-dude has always had a waft of, umm, shallow hubris? But then I just ignore brandings anyway.
>
>I guess it comes down to which audience the /Branding/ for D is intended to help seduce

Well, judging by the frappr D group map, leaning towoards a more global appeal (read: less US centric) would be a better move.  You mentioned Rugby - maybe D should adopt a more football* or rugby club-banner type of branding instead?

"Learn D - Its like C only with fewer scrums."
"Use D - unlike C++ and FIFA approved equipment, it won't hurt your head."

(*Ya know, the kind you play with your feet?)

- EricAnderton at yahoo

"pragma" <pragma_member@pathlink.com> wrote in message news:dvq6bi$1qsl$1@digitaldaemon.com...
> Well, judging by the frappr D group map, leaning towoards a more global
> appeal
> (read: less US centric) would be a better move.  You mentioned Rugby -
> maybe D
> should adopt a more football* or rugby club-banner type of branding
> instead?
>
> "Learn D - Its like C only with fewer scrums."
> "Use D - unlike C++ and FIFA approved equipment, it won't hurt your head."

That'd just put off American programmers, then.  What is a scrum?

And then even Walter wouldn't know what his advertising slogan meant ;)

How about a non-sports-related slogan / logo?

In article <dvq8qk$1tgq$1@digitaldaemon.com>, Jarrett Billingsley says...
>
>"pragma" <pragma_member@pathlink.com> wrote in message news:dvq6bi$1qsl$1@digitaldaemon.com...
>> Well, judging by the frappr D group map, leaning towoards a more global
>> appeal
>> (read: less US centric) would be a better move.  You mentioned Rugby -
>> maybe D
>> should adopt a more football* or rugby club-banner type of branding
>> instead?
>>
>> "Learn D - Its like C only with fewer scrums."
>> "Use D - unlike C++ and FIFA approved equipment, it won't hurt your head."
>
>That'd just put off American programmers, then.  What is a scrum?

Eh, they're just tounge-in-cheek ideas just like the rest of the slogans I've posted around here.  The way I see it: if something funny sticks, all the better. ;)

Now "Scrum", in this particular case, is a pun:

- In rugby football, a scrum is a way to restart the game after an interruption,
e.g., after a minor foul.
- In management, scrum denotes a light-weight management process targeted at
software development.

>And then even Walter wouldn't know what his advertising slogan meant ;)
>
>How about a non-sports-related slogan / logo?

Hey, sure!  Any ideas?

- EricAnderton at yahoo

"Anders F Björklund" <afb@algonet.se> wrote in message news:dvq1j3$1isd$1@digitaldaemon.com...
> I always liked the parts where he's "in action"
> Like http://www.digitalmars.com/gift/index.html

The "some assembly required" cartoon was my favorite.

> D-Man has the "I'm too busy coding to look good"
> Wonder if the cutesy dog can do any hacking ? :-)

Cutesy dog?

Anders F Björklund wrote:
> kris wrote:
> 
>> I hate to say it, but D-dude doesn't add anything at all in terms of "professionalism" ~ to D as a product. Perhaps the contrary, actually. For me, D-dude has always had a waft of, umm, shallow hubris? But then I just ignore brandings anyway.
> 
> 
> I always liked the parts where he's "in action"
> Like http://www.digitalmars.com/gift/index.html

Hadn't seen the Coffee-Mug D-Dude in action ~ branding and merchandising in one easy step :-)


> D-Man has the "I'm too busy coding to look good"
> Wonder if the cutesy dog can do any hacking ? :-)

Aye. Wonder if BigBird can pop his/her stack?

Anders F Björklund wrote:
> kris wrote:
> 
>> I hate to say it, but D-dude doesn't add anything at all in terms of "professionalism" ~ to D as a product. Perhaps the contrary, actually. For me, D-dude has always had a waft of, umm, shallow hubris? But then I just ignore brandings anyway.
> 
> 
> I always liked the parts where he's "in action"
> Like http://www.digitalmars.com/gift/index.html
> 
> D-Man has the "I'm too busy coding to look good"
> Wonder if the cutesy dog can do any hacking ? :-)

Hey! Maybe D should stands for something instead of, uhhh, nothing?

Now, whoever heard of a language called "Dude"?  Woah ... that's way awesome! Like, totally bodacious, dude!

Seriously though, that does have rather a nice ring to it. And, from a marketing perspective, there's nothing quite like standing out from the crowd. Then, the D-dude would totally Rool!

In conversation, I'm gonna' start calling it "Dude" ~ just to see what external reactions are like <g>