diff --git a/cmd/containerd-release/build.go b/cmd/containerd-release/build.go
index 1c7297458..94a32f96e 100644
--- a/cmd/containerd-release/build.go
+++ b/cmd/containerd-release/build.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"runtime"
+	"strings"
 )
 
 func build() error {
@@ -18,10 +19,10 @@ func build() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-const tarFormat = "containerd-%s.%s-%s.tar.gz"
+const tarFormat = "%s-%s.%s-%s.tar.gz"
 
-func tarRelease(tag string) (string, error) {
-	path := fmt.Sprintf(tarFormat, tag, runtime.GOOS, runtime.GOARCH)
+func tarRelease(projectName, tag string) (string, error) {
+	path := fmt.Sprintf(tarFormat, strings.ToLower(projectName), tag, runtime.GOOS, runtime.GOARCH)
 	out, err := exec.Command("tar", "-zcf", path, "bin/").CombinedOutput()
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("%s: %s", err, out)
diff --git a/cmd/containerd-release/main.go b/cmd/containerd-release/main.go
index 459c22633..01dc19895 100644
--- a/cmd/containerd-release/main.go
+++ b/cmd/containerd-release/main.go
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ type download struct {
 }
 
 type release struct {
+	ProjectName     string            `toml:"project_name"`
+	GithubRepo      string            `toml:"github_repo"`
 	Commit          string            `toml:"commit"`
 	Previous        string            `toml:"previous"`
 	PreRelease      bool              `toml:"pre_release"`
@@ -49,10 +51,10 @@ type release struct {
 
 func main() {
 	app := cli.NewApp()
-	app.Name = "containerd-release"
-	app.Description = `release tooling for containerd.
+	app.Name = "release"
+	app.Description = `release tooling.
 
-This tool should be ran from the root of the containerd repository for a new release.
+This tool should be ran from the root of the project repository for a new release.
 `
 	app.Flags = []cli.Flag{
 		cli.BoolFlag{
@@ -61,7 +63,6 @@ This tool should be ran from the root of the containerd repository for a new rel
 		},
 	}
 	app.Action = func(context *cli.Context) error {
-		logrus.Info("Welcome to the containerd release tool...")
 		var (
 			path = context.Args().First()
 			tag  = parseTag(path)
@@ -70,6 +71,7 @@ This tool should be ran from the root of the containerd repository for a new rel
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
+		logrus.Info("Welcome to the %s release tool...", r.ProjectName)
 		previous, err := getPreviousDeps(r.Previous)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
diff --git a/cmd/containerd-release/template.go b/cmd/containerd-release/template.go
index bb2f0a7d3..9e347e763 100644
--- a/cmd/containerd-release/template.go
+++ b/cmd/containerd-release/template.go
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
 package main
 
-const releaseNotes = `Welcome to the release of containerd {{.Version}}!
+const releaseNotes = `Welcome to the release of {{.ProjectName}} {{.Version}}!
 {{if .PreRelease}}
-*This is a pre-release of containerd*
+*This is a pre-release of {{.ProjectName}}*
 {{- end}}
 
 {{.Preface}}
 
 Please try out the release binaries and report any issues at
-https://github.com/containerd/containerd/issues.
+https://github.com/{{.GithubRepo}}/issues.
 
 {{range  $note := .Notes}}
 ### {{$note.Title}}
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ https://github.com/containerd/containerd/issues.
 
 ### Dependency Changes
 
-Previous release can be found at [{{.Previous}}](https://github.com/containerd/containerd/releases/tag/{{.Previous}})
+Previous release can be found at [{{.Previous}}](https://github.com/{{.GithubRepo}}/releases/tag/{{.Previous}})
 {{range $dep := .Dependencies}}
 * {{$dep.Previous}} -> {{$dep.Commit}} **{{$dep.Name}}**
 {{- end}}
diff --git a/releases/v1.0.0-beta.2.toml b/releases/v1.0.0-beta.2.toml
index d6b5ad8d9..fc5b2ea1f 100644
--- a/releases/v1.0.0-beta.2.toml
+++ b/releases/v1.0.0-beta.2.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 # commit to be tagged for new release
 commit = "HEAD"
 
+project_name = "containerd"
+github_repo = "containerd/containerd"
+
 # previous release
 previous = "v1.0.0-beta.1"