BrandThunder | Solutions to Immerse and Delight Your Audience!

The announcement this week that Google is launching its own browser, Chrome, could be a major obstacle for a company like Brand Thunder that is building its business on building custom browser themes – and primarily for Firefox. This is just the nature of business – the landscape changes. Each change will present some measure of opportunity and threat, but the share of each remains unknown. Are you prepared? Our position is this creates greater opportunity for Brand Thunder. It generates more awareness in the market of alternatives t...

Brand Thunder has just entered a period where we’re not just leveraging a brand; we’re depending on it to overcome a potential barrier to entry with the end user. Brand Thunder launched its first full bundle that includes our custom themes plus a full internet browser. Early data shows this full bundle is converting half as well as our custom theme alone. Our previous installation flow had users landing on a marketing page and then proceeding to download the custom theme if they were using Firefox, or to go and install Firefox first b...

It’s been a little over a year since we launched our first custom browser theme for the NHL's Washington Capitals. That tenure has given us a solid data pool from which to compile our first case study, which will be made available via our website as a lead generation tool. (For our blog readers, you can secure yours now simply by giving us your name, title, company, phone number and email address on our Contact Us page – as close to free as you can get, but yes, you’ll hear from us for a sho...

Playing baseball in my youth, I was told to get back to basics when my hitting was off. It meant stop all the unnecessary things I was doing when I got up to bat, and instead refocus on the stance, bat position and keeping my eye on the ball. I’m finding the same refocus necessary in this start up. The core items we focus on at Brand Thunder are: • Telling our story – building awareness to our prospects and clients • Selling our product – the calls, emails and contracts to actually sign a partner • Developing our technology...

As a business that sells to businesses to reach consumers (did you follow that?), Brand Thunder has to have several layers to its sales strategy. The relationship announced today with Starpulse (read the full release here) is an excellent example of this. Our sales presentation had to move from the broad corporate need to the specific consumer need to the impact on the business. Starpulse.com is an online leader in the frenzied market of entertainment news. In Entertai...

How often does your ego get in the way because you say to yourself “I can do it all”? The ego has its role. It probably inspired a lot of entrepreneurial ventures because you believe you can do “it” better. But, does it also give you free reign to do what’s right for the business? As a start up, we have some notion that we simply can’t do it all and one aspect of that is reaching all client prospects as rapidly as we’d like. So, to broaden Brand Thunder’s business development, we’ve talked with a number of agencies sin...

Brand Thunder launches its browser customization for Universal Music Nashville’s Sugarland concurrently with the duo’s Deluxe Fan Edition CD (the standard CD will release a week later). This bonus version is similar in value proposition to a custom browser. The Deluxe Fan Edition offers additional tracks, more detail in the CD booklet, exclusive downloads and a chance to win a VIP package to the CMA Awards and hang out with the band. This CD bundle goes farther, does more and gives bonuses to the more avid fan. Sugarland is creating ...

We announced our relationship today with Dynasty Reps (full release here). With this custom browser, we’re working with emerging talent who are establishing themselves as the brand. Brand Thunder has worked with some well known brands and entertainment artists, this is the evolution of our vision for browser customizations. When you think of brand management, there’s a lot of control exerted around the message of the brand and what gets associated with the brand. I...

For those of you in the central Ohio region, TechColumbus is offering a lunch meeting this Friday, July 11, at 11:30AM titled “The Art of the Pitch.” You can find details and register here. Hurry though, the deadline is noon on Wednesday, July 9. We’ll be discussing how to present your business idea to investors. I have the good fortune of being one of the panelists and Dan Casey, our advisor, is the moderator. It should be a good and lively discussion . Patrick ...

Thoughts on Building the Start-up Team Brand Thunder announced today the formation of its executive team (you can read the full release here). We set out to create a team capable of building (1) a custom-browser infrastructure where we’ll (2) work with some of the best known brands to (3) create branded browsers for their consumers. That creates a long list of needs to be able to address each category effectively with a very small team. Here are three considerations...

It’s been a frenetic few days getting our products in line with the Firefox 3 launch, but we’re happy to say we made it. Our staff has rolled a single installer that will deliver the right browser customization whether you’re on Firefox 2 or Firefox 3. The single install is great from an end user perspective and great from a business perspective. The more you can reduce decision points during software installation, the more you can increase adoption of your product. That may be an obvious point, but it’d be a shame to overlook it...

We’re happy to announce our initial funding from TechColumbus (full press release). It’s truly a great moment that’s helping make browser customizations a more available marketing tool. As a quick reflection, and for the benefit of other startups working toward their funding, here are three unexpected lessons learned from this process. 1. Coach-ability – Our investors wanted us to listen more than we talked. From the Entrepreneurs in Residence to the investment...

It goes without saying we are huge fans of Firefox here at Brand Thunder. As we prepare to migrate our clients to FF3, we wanted to share Walt Mossberg's (Wall Street Journal columnist) review of FF3. To sum it up, he thinks it the BEST web browser (for now). I think he is referring to a Brand Thunder-themed version of FF3 !! Read the full review here......

Brand Thunder, among some other big names in the Mozilla Development Community, will be attending MozCamp Vancouver on April 13. Brand Thunder focuses on helping spread the word of Mozilla as a platform for various partners to showcase their brand. Unlike other development platforms, Mozilla allows brands to fully visualize their image to the end user across all major platforms. Please see the official Release from Shane Caraveo below for info on MozCamp:

Brand Thunder Inc (http://www.brandthunder.com) announces the first use of its innovative browser tool within the music industry via their client Geffen Records and artist NLT. NLT is the first musical group with their own customized web browser (http://www.nltmusic.com). "Brand Thunder's customized theme helps fans show their love for NLT while keeping them informed about the latest NLT news," says Aaron Foreman, head of New Media for Geffen. "We are extremely pleased for NLT to be the first musical artist to have their own customized bro...

One of our newer clients, Geffen Records, recently launched an interesting advertising campaign utilizing online gaming advertising. These ads support the artist NLT and Geffen experienced a 10X click-thru rate given the highly targeted initiative. Read More.....

Business First recently sat down with Patrick at Brand Thunder to talk about the new venture...

Business First of Columbus - December 3, 2007 Brand Thunder customizing lowly browser amid personalization trend Business First of Columbus - by Kevin Kemper Business First In the world of consumer technology, where everything from cell phone ring tones, laptop computers and social networking Web sites is customized by users, the ubiquitous Internet browser has been left behind. A Central Ohio entrepreneur wa...

Not only are Brand Thunder themes distributed via our partnerís websites but a VERY important piece of our distribution strategy is through Firefoxís own theme repository, ADDONS This site is being refreshed and a Mozilla blogger has posted some screen-shots that I thought you may be interested in exploring. See them here......

I think Will from Shoífr brings up an excellent point here around branding, particularly in the automobile business. A brand extends beyond the four-doors... Read more......

Brand Thunder announces the first use of its innovative browser tool in the NCAA via their client, Ohio State University's football coach, Jim Tressel. Coach Tressel is now the first NCAA football coach with a customized web browser (http://www.coachtressel.com). Brand Thunder gives CoachTressel.com another valuable tool that allows OSU fans to show their Buckeye Pride while providing a convenient way to stay up-to-date on all of the great things that take place within the Ohio State football program. Internet marketers are scrambling to...

Like any sports team, your fans are your lifeblood. You've built your team's image to embrace your fans and draw them in. You've carefully designed your logo, chosen the colors and invested in a professional web presence to create branding for your team. Your fans, in turn, take these colors, symbols and logos and brand themselves to demonstrate their loyalty. Part of creating and keeping loyal fans is keeping your brand present in their minds for the greatest amount of time possible. That's why you invested the time and sought the expertis...

Brand Thunder LLC announces entry into the European sports market via the creation of a marketing / distribution partnership with KAM Sports International. KAM Sports International will deliver Brand Thunder custom browser themes to their clients and partners in the European community. With a customized web browser theme, KAM Sports International can offer their clients a tool that keeps the attention of fans, even as they navigate away from your page. "In a web marketplace where users expect personalization, our unique themes facilitate th...

Engage your fans no matter where they are on the web Internet sports marketers are finding that having a great web page is only great for as long as their fans remain focused on their site. Web developers will tell you that they can make your site more compelling, but, no matter how engaging a web page is, it will only be on the screen for a small fraction of the 4 to 6 hours the average user is surfing the internet on a given day. Optimizing your site for search engine hits will bring your fans to the mountain, but what if you could put the...

Today Brand Thunder LLC announces the first use of its innovative browser tool in the National Hockey League via their client, The Washington Capitals. The Washington Capitals are now the first professional sports team with a customized web browser (http://www.washingtoncapitals.com). "Brand Thunder's customized theme helps our fans show their love of the Caps while keeping them informed about the latest Caps news," says Sean Parker, the Capitals' Director of New Media. "We are extremely pleased to be the first professional sports team to h...

Brand Thunder LLC today announces the availability of its unique web browser customization services. Brand Thunder customizes the look, feel and functionality of the Firefox web browser allowing companies to add logos, content, custom functions and more to the user experience. Read More...