Huffington Post and Brand Thunder Create Custom Browser Theme to Deliver Breaking News to Growing News Community by Brand Thunder

For Immediate Release

COLUMBUS (October 27, 2008) — Brand Thunder LLC, the browser customization specialists, announced today its relationship with the Huffington Post to build a custom browser theme to allow users of the Huffington Post site to get breaking news delivered directly to their Internet browser.

The Huffington Post Browser also marks the first time Brand Thunder’s customizations will be available as both an enhancement to a browser or a single download of browser and customizations. The complete bundle distributes the Mozilla browser code, the same browser as Firefox, and adds branding, custom links and news feeds. Additionally, a one click uninstall will allow a user to simply remove all elements of the customizations. Earlier customizations required a user to navigate two locations within Firefox’s Add-ons menus for removal.

“We’re honored to be selected by the HuffPost to build their custom browser,” says founder Patrick Murphy. “And their demand for excellence helped us evolve the Brand Thunder product suite in a positive way for our end users. It’s the perfect execution of a powerful brand, an engaged community and a re-envisioned browser that better meets the needs of the avid Huffington Post participant.”

The custom browser theme can be downloaded at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/firefox.

About Brand Thunder

Formed in April, 2007, Brand Thunder creates a more persistent presence between corporate brands and their internet consumer through its browser customization which leads to increased web site visits and revenue. Through a software installation, end users change the look and feel of their internet browser into an immersive experience from their favorite sports team, entertainment franchise or internet site. The customized browsers feature official logos, colors, content and functionality, but can also extend capabilities including video, music players or other internet widgets. Current business partners and clients include the The Huffington Post, NCAA, NHL, Starpulse.com, Universal Music and Yahoo!. Samples found at http://brandthunder.com/gallery/.

Contact

Patrick Murphy, CEO
Brand Thunder, LLC
614-408-8202

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Is Timing Everything or Just One Thing for a Startup? by Patrick Murphy

In a historic political season with financial crises and world events keeping people attuned to their favorite news sources, Brand Thunder is releasing a custom browser theme for the Huffington Post (you can read the press release here). Pretty good timing.

The Huffington Post ranks as the most visited news blog. With the desire for breaking news running high and the powerful draw of the Huffington Post bloggers – this feels like a marketer’s dream of strong name recognition, a sense of urgency to “act now” and a legitimate need for the consumer.

While timing is good – it’s a single element in our effort for continuous improvement. And continuous improvement is likely the more important item for the startup. So, while this release provides good timing, it also provides a more streamlined user experience and a better awareness campaign.

• A streamlined user experience – by including a full browser bundle in addition to the custom theme for Firefox. Any user, whether Firefox or not, can get the custom Huffington Post experience with a simple, single download and installation.

• Better awareness campaign – by providing the Huffington Post with banner assets to promote the custom browser on their site (you’ll find a permanent banner ad for the custom browser theme on this page). We deal with our product every day, we know how to talk about it and we did that on behalf of our client.

Each improvement, from product to promotion, resulted from the review of past product launches where we listened to the wishes and desires of our partners, and assessed the difficulties of the end user. These little post-mortems don’t take long, but they occur with our team and our clients by simply asking “what could have been better?” And it’s always good timing to learn that.

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Brand Thunder a Finalist in Excellence in New Communications Award for the NHL’s Washington Capitals Custom Browser Theme by Brand Thunder

For Immediate Release

COLUMBUS OH (October 22, 2008) — Brand Thunder LLC, the browser customization specialists, announced today it is among the finalists in the Society for New Communications Research 3rd Annual Excellence in New Communications Awards.

The awards program honors the work of corporations, governmental and nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, media outlets and individuals who are innovating the use of social media, ICT, mobile media, online communities and virtual worlds and collaborative technologies in the areas of business, media, and professional communications, including advertising, marketing, public relations and corporate communications, as well as entertainment, education, politics, and social initiatives.

The Society for New Communications Research, a nonprofit think tank focused on the latest developments in new media and communications, has entrants submit case studies detailing their initiatives and technologies. The winning case studies are published on New Communications Review and the winners will be honored at the 2008 Society for New Communications Research Symposium & Awards Gala, which will be held November 14 in Cambridge, Mass.

“The NHL’s Washington Capitals were one of the first major brands to test a custom browser theme and the connection it can make with fans. We were always pleased with the results,” says founder Patrick Murphy. “Now, to have that work acknowledged by such a prestigious organization is outstanding.”

About Brand Thunder

Formed in April, 2007, Brand Thunder creates a more persistent presence between corporate brands and their internet consumer through its browser customization which leads to increased web site visits and revenue. Through a software installation, end users change the look and feel of their internet browser into an immersive experience from their favorite sports team, entertainment franchise or internet site. The customized browsers feature official logos, colors, content and functionality, but can also extend capabilities including video, music players or other internet widgets. Current business partners and clients include the The Huffington Post, NCAA, NHL, Starpulse.com, Universal Music and Yahoo!. Samples found at http://brandthunder.com/gallery/.

Contact

Patrick Murphy, CEO
Brand Thunder, LLC
614-408-8202

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Brand Thunder is an SNCR Excellence in New Communications Finalist by Patrick Murphy

Brand Thunder is a finalist in an award event that last year celebrated the work of such notable company’s as The Coca-Cola Company, Dell, GM, Flying Dog Breweries, Microsoft and more – and we’re celebrating now! (Read our press release if you don’t believe us.)

To be included among some of the best large and small companies out there is an honor and a joy, and to us – we’ve already won. We strive to provide solid products and meaningful results with our custom browser themes, this helps to reaffirm those efforts. So, we’re heading to Cambridge, MA on November 14 to see how it turns out at the 3rd Annual Excellence in New Communications Awards.
Okay, we’ll stop gushing now. (Sally Field, we salute you!) Here are some of the details around the event hosted by the Society for New Communications Research.

The awards program honors the work of corporations, governmental and nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, media outlets and individuals who are innovating the use of social media, ICT, mobile media, online communities and virtual worlds and collaborative technologies in the areas of business, media, and professional communications, including advertising, marketing, public relations and corporate communications, as well as entertainment, education, politics, and social initiatives. Winning case studies are published on New Communications Review.

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Brand Thunder in its First Fashion Show – Dissecting a Unique Business Opportunity by Patrick Murphy

While we think our custom browser themes make some of the most stylish and fashion-forward browsers, we never thought we’d find ourselves near the fashion runway. Indeed, last week, a Brand Thunder theme participated at the 8th Annual Vodafone Athens Collections (the Official International Fashion Week in Athens for Spring/Summer 09).

Here’s how, in less than 14 days, it came about for us, and we’re sharing it with hope that you can find new markets for your products.

As a rule, we try to monitor and improve the flow of business, looking at:
• How people find us – making sure we’re discoverable
• How we execute on partnerships – the people that help with our go-to-market strategy
• How we manage the build process to leverage our expertise, systems and efficiencies and minimize bottlenecks
• Measure the impact of the above steps on our company

For this project, the order of events was the following:
1. High ranking on search terms “custom browser themes” helped an agency to find us
2. Contract template for establishing strategic partners allowed us to quickly sign with a new agency
3. Production process in place enabling us to accept a rush order
4. Achieve a new category for our custom browser themes – custom experience for “closed” environments

Two weeks prior to the event, due to our blog entries and web site content, Brand Thunder ranked high enough for the search term “custom browser” that Anemone, an interactive agency in Greece (www.anemone.gr), found and became our representative in the Greek market. Using our contract template, we struck the partnership in less than a week.

During that time, Anemone received a Vodafone project – create a kiosk-like, branded presence on all PCs in the Vodafone internet café at the Athens Fashion Week show. Anemone decides to use the custom browser for the desired effect.

One week prior to the event, Anemone asked Brand Thunder to fulfill the project. Fortunately, our build process has been refined to the point that by shifting priorities we felt we could execute without disrupting all our work. The partner delivered branding assets, we did the rest.

What we’ve gained, in addition to new clients, is knowledge around a new use for our product – event-based, controlled-environment browser themes. Between Anemone and Brand Thunder, we created a kiosk experience using standard PCs – reducing costs but maintaining branding control for the client.
Looking back, we feel very lucky with the string of events that fell our way and made this happen. We also hope the diligence we practice in building our business helps create some of that luck.

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A Method for Entering International Markets by Patrick Murphy

Brand Thunder is releasing its first European version of our custom browser themes. DJMick.co.uk is a celebrity photo site covering the gamut of sultry and photogenic people (we’re still waiting anxiously for a response to our Brand Thunder staff photo).

Targeting markets outside the US has always been a goal. Despite its steady growth, Firefox represents around 20% of US browser market share. However, market share in Europe is closer to 30% (source: xitimonitor.com). When you consider how Firefox is designed for the global marketplace and localization, and then look at our ad-based business model and realize the monetization rates of Europe are similar to the US – this all became a very easy decision. Nothing about our business needs to be geographically limiting.

To sell into the European market, we partnered with two strategic partners who already sell there (Adevia Software out of Vancouver, British Columbia and KAM Sports International out of London). We found them through our aggressive networking, both personal networks and networking sites like LinkedIn. So, while the thought of entering an international market may seem daunting – it turned out to be pretty straight forward since it is the same process we’re already using (see our blogs where we discuss our strategic partners Coolfire Media and DMB Sports).

This is a great first step toward achieving a global presence for our product. It became attainable once we found companies already selling in those markets and partnered with them. We have a belief that we don’t need to own every component of our business and should extend our reach through the strengths of others. And, as of today, that belief has helped us grow beyond the US market.

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