Hey. Silly thought. I used to have the idea that Mullvad is the only VPN I trust because the founders seemed ideologically motivated (I guess from some interview I read, don't remember for sure). But advertising seems to undermine that view. Maybe I was just naive.
Hi! I used to think that the product should speak for itself, only grow by word of mouth, and that it was wrong to do any advertising. Part of me still thinks that.
On the other hand we ran a very political advertising campaign one-two years ago when we protested a new EU law proposal. We plastered Stockholm's airport in billboards targeting EU politicians and journalists. We published a book and sent copies to several hundred politicians. It was quite a success. Incidentally our office was raided by the Swedish police a month later - the first time in 14 years.
I really appreciate your feedback. Are you able to pinpoint more exactly why you feel that our advertising undermines trust in our brand? Is it simply the fact that we're advertising at all?
Our marketing team works hard to ensure that our advertising doesn't make security guarantees we can't keep, or sell the product through fear-mongering. I feel that we've found a set of advertising messages that work, but clearly it still causes some unease and skepticism.
Perhaps it's simply a worry that we'll change because Mullvad is growing up and is no longer an obscure underdog?