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Steve Rubel says open source marketing is the future and uses Mozilla ‘campaign’ to build momentum behind Firefox as an example:

Mozilla today launched a community effort to secure enough funds to take out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times. The full-page ad will include the names of everyone who supports the campaign along with a message about the benefits/features of the awesome Firefox browser. An individual contribution of $30 will get your name included in the ad ($10 student rate).

Now that’s an interesting way to go about it. I just think that full-page ads in The New York Times (or any other newspaper for that matter) are a waste of money but that’s a different point to the one Steve is making:

This is a big sign of things to come. Eventually tons of innovative open source marketing/public relations campaigns will sprout up online. They will be owned by folks who share a common passion and goal. They will rely on the Web and best practices gleaned from innovators like Mozilla and Howard Dean. Depending on how you look at this - this is either a huge threat or an opportunity for the public relations industry.

Obviously, you know that I say it’s an opportunity. The days of throwing a release on the wire and seeing what comes back are over. It’s time the PR industry begins to apply the new, low cost tools that are popping up everyday; tools like Skype, PubSub, iPodder, TypePad, del.icio.us and more. Firefox is re-writing the marketing playbook and is showing the world how open source marketing can work.