Kevin Dwinnell - Director, Product & Marketing
Kevin has over 15 years of experience in the online industry with AOL, CompuServe and Netscape. His experience in business, product and promotion management also includes positions at Hanna-Barbera, Liebert and Turner Broadcasting. Kevin received his B.S. in Marketing from George Mason University and his M.B.A. from The Ohio State University.
Jan 19
If you came to Brand Thunder yesterday, or even earlier today, you probably assumed we were part of the Internet blackout effort to stop SOPA. While I might say that was fortunate timing, the real truth is that we experienced an unfortunate server meltdown. For us, there were two scary parts to the story of January 18.
Please read both of them. We can really use your help with the first point. The second point is a much more subjective one. I won’t say which way to throw your support, but it’s an issue worth your time to have an informed opinion.
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Posted in Commentary | Tags: brandthunder, browser, Chrome, firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, SOPA, Stop Online Piracy Act | No Comments »
Dec 29
The first desktop wallpaper, as used on the Xerox Star in 1975. -Image via Wikipedia
Community toolbars have been around for years helping online publishers build engagement with their fans and online community. The power of this tool has helped build Conduit, the leader in this space, into what some say is a billion dollar company. Engagement is a powerful tool.
For many years more, desktop wallpapers were the path to customization and personalization for the personal computer – from family photos to wonderful waterfalls – we’ve either seen or tried them. They are easy to install and change. There is no way to interact with the wallpaper, they exist simply for the visual enhancement they offer. The only real downside? Wallpapers spend the majority of time covered by the applications running on the computer. You get to enjoy that beautiful graphic when you start up and shut down your computer – hello and goodbye.
So, what’s it like to take two great ideas and merge them into one. It’s like asking the question, can you get two great tastes to taste great together?
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Posted in Commentary | Tags: brandthunder, browser themes, Chrome Themes, Computer wallpaper, Conduit, Desktop Nexus, firefox, Google Chrome, Web browser | No Comments »
Dec 06
Brand Thunder is giving users of its BT:Engage DIY browser theme creator a place to showcase the browser themes they are creating – right on the top of the new Brand Thunder Gallery.
This is an added bonus to the redesigned browser theme gallery for anyone seeking Chrome themes, Firefox themes and IE themes.
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Posted in News | Tags: Brand Thunder Gallery, brandthunder, Buffalo Bills, Chrome Themes, firefox, Firefox Themes, Greyson Chance, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, theme gallery, Web browser | No Comments »
Dec 01
With brands and large communities that have used browser themes to engage their audience, there’s been a pretty straight forward style – cool graphics with the identifiers your fans associate with and integrated content to facilitate communication with the community.
Now that we’ve released BT:Engage, the world’s first DIY browser theme creator for Firefox and IE, it’s interesting to see what small and medium businesses choose when they build a theme. The following are a few browser themes create by SMBs. Take a look and see if there are ideas that you can use for your own SMB marketing efforts.
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Posted in BT:Engage | No Comments »
Nov 28
Image by zhouxuan12345678 via Flickr
We should have known how popular BT:Engage would be with the gamer community based on our official browser themes for IGN and Major League Gaming.
Especially for Gamers
The IGN and MLG browser themes are among our most popular, and just like many of our browser themes from our professional clients – they’re available for Google Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer.
Launching our DIY browser theme creator, BT:Engage, we’re starting to see the range of offerings from game fans and the supporting community. Here’s a quick look at what some of the game forums and fans of a game are building for their browser themes.
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Posted in BT:Engage | Tags: browser theme, firefox, game forum, Gamer, gamers, Gears of War, Google Chrome, IGN, major league gaming, RPG, XBOX 360 | No Comments »
Nov 18
Image via Wikipedia
What’s it take to grow your user base and build awareness for a business partner? CBS College Sports and Fathead found using the browser theme for marketing promotions is a great way to convert users and deepen engagement.
CBSSports.com College Network is a leader in delivering web services, e-commerce, streaming and mobile services for college and university’s athletics websites. Fathead is a leader in sports and entertainment wall graphics. Nice set up for bringing companies together that serve similar audiences.
The results – SPECTACULAR!
Posted in Commentary, News | Tags: CBS, CBS College Sports, CBS College Sports Network, CBS Sports, Electronic Arts, fathead, marketing, Twitter | No Comments »
Oct 28
Image via CrunchBase
Patrick Murphy recently did a Brand Thunder interview with Shoestring Ventures, The Startup Bible Blog. One of their questions was “What other web-based products would you recommend to entrepreneurs, business owners or freelancers?” I realized the recommendations fell into categories discussed in our blog post about Sales Strategy: Browser Theme – Hunter vs. Farmer.
Given that start, here’s a short list of tools useful to that category of startup, small or medium business or freelancers. Tools to help you and your clients. Add your favorites in the comments.
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Posted in Commentary | Tags: browser theme, Customer relationship management, Google Alerts, Jigsaw, LinkedIn, marketing, Patrick Murphy, sales tool, Social network, Twitter | No Comments »
Oct 21
Brand Thunder often finds itself lumped into the category of toolbar. It’s not a comparison I necessarily agree with, but anything that’s a recurring perception is worth a look.
Here’s an overview of toolbars, browser themes and what each can do for your web site, business or community.
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Posted in Commentary | Tags: brand thunder, browser theme, Clients, Conduit, Facebook, Toolbar, WeatherBug, Web browser, YouTube | No Comments »
Oct 14
Image by TerryJohnston via Flickr
Brand loyalty is nothing new, but we usually think of Coca-Cola or Nike. Huge global behemoths that consumers ask for by name and wear proudly on their heads, lips, body and feet.
But online marketing has changed the way brand loyalty is acquired and earned. With the explosion of social media, businesses are making a solid attempt to be honest and open in their marketing communications. This plays to the strength of the small or medium business (SMB) since SMBs don’t have the deep pockets for huge marketing spends and agencies leading the social media charge. We do it ourselves and we’re the most knowledgeable and open about our products and companies.
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Posted in Commentary | Tags: American Marketing Association, Brand Keys, Brand loyalty, browser theme, Coca-Cola, Nike, online marketing, smb, Social media | No Comments »
Oct 06
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Think of widgets as little single-serving pieces of your web content – easy to pull from your web site and put them wherever they can best boost traffic to your web site. When you first go to create your own browser theme at BT:Engage, you’ll discover a features tab called Widgets. You’ll also uncover how powerful a browser theme can be at increasing traffic and visits to your web site.
Here’s what you need to know.
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Posted in BT:Engage | Tags: browser theme, Clearspring, Facebook, Twitter, Web browser, Web traffic, Website, Widget, Widgetbox, widgets, Yahoo | No Comments »
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