Jason Calacanis recently wrote an editorial called “The Age of Excellence” and he raises a lot of good points. His visual of a ratings gun and it’s effect on the future of business is compelling. Those of us who are fans also know Jason can be a little over the top, and he is with his passion for excellence. I don’t take issue with the goal of excellence. It’s important, however, to realize what excellent isn’t, and to know we can’t be great at everything.
Excellence is Not Perfection
The folly of perfection was planted as an idea in my first economics course. If 90% is an A, stop when you reach 90%. Shooting for 100% is wasted effort. It has taken me far too long to recognize the significance of this. I held the ideal of perfection for too long with too high a cost. This is a nuance that I think is lost in Jason’s appeal for excellence.
Fathead knows the market they play in. Their taglineGo Big – Real. Big. says it all. And with that vision, they became the leading brand in sports and entertainment wall graphics with thousands of officially licensed products. That’s BIG!
That’s what fan marketing is about. Connecting with a group of passionate users in a way that taps the affinity they have for that thing they love. So, what’s it take to connect with your fans in this way? It’s a three step plan. Let’s take a look.
Musicians today are part artist, part business person and all hustle. You have to be if you’re going to make a living in the post-apocalyptic era of the music industry. It’s no surprise that bands and fans are connecting through BT:Engage, our do-it-yourself browser theme creator. Though it may have surprised us how the fans themselves are creating themes they love for the artists they love.
While the music industry doesn’t look like it did in the Tower Records heyday, it’s alive and well in its current iteration of local nightclubs, iTunes and Amazon music stores, Spotify and Pandora music streams. Here’s a collection of band and artist-inspired browser themes to show Brand Thunder’s small contribution to independent musicians, bands and the community they serve.
Themes from the Band
Nine Lies Theme
An award winning Indie Rock Band from Belfast, Northern Ireland, Nine Lies have had incredible success since their inception, realizing milestones that most unsigned bands can only dream of. Their determination and drive set them apart from the crowd, as does their guitar-forward sound with musically matched vocals and percussion. As the first band to use BT:Engage for their fans, Brand Thunder continues to be a big fan. Get more from the band at http://www.ninelies.net/ or get the Nine Lies theme.
A cosplayer portraying Ezio from Assassin's Creed II at Sac-Anime in Sacramento, California. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
When Brand Thunder turned over the keys to browser theme builders with BT:Engage, we knew lots of different communities would be attracted to it. We recognize some of the best in our weekly browser theme of the week contest. Others seem to stand out when you look at the full collection of themes that are built and offered in Brand Thunder’s Theme Gallery. (You know you can publish the themes you build to Brand Thunder’s Gallery, right?)
The following represents some of the themes we’ve discovered in the gallery devoted to popular computer and video games. I’m not sure if these were created by gamers turned artists, or artists with an affinity toward games. All I know is some of these are pretty cool themes of upcoming, current and classic games.
Take a look and tell us your favorites in the comments.
At the start of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, there were 34 teams with browser themes. Thirteen teams that reached the Sweet 16 offer their alma mater browser themes. Guess what it takes to be a winner? The positive energy of a connected fan base, of course! Though a talented team, good coaching and solid free-throw percentages don’t hurt either.
It’s not too late to get on the bandwagon of your new favorite team. The official browser themes of the Sweet 16 schools are all listed below. If you want to hedge your bets, you can follow all the March Madness with Brand Thunder’s Bracket Madness theme. But don’t forget, it’s easy to switch between themes. So, install as many as you like and be ready come tip off!
Brand Thunder broke technical ground when it released its dynamically updating Movie Premiere browser theme that included movie posters, reviews and ticket sales all from leading site – Fandango. It’s still a fun and useful theme, great for any movie buff or those just along for the summer blockbuster ride.
A more recent technical innovation is browser themes, Brand Thunder’s drag and drop theme creator, has spawned a whole slew of new movie themes and many focused on our favorite movie stars. Here’s a look at some of those you’ll find in the Brand Thunder’s Theme Gallery.
It’s tournament time. US productivity is down while basketball viewing is up. Whether you’re a fan of women’s basketball, or you’re following the men’s bracket, there’s no better way to follow your team and keep up with the action than a browser theme.
Brand Thunder’s browser themes are brought to you by the Athletic Departments of your favorite colleges and universities. They’re free so try yours today. And feel free to change to whichever theme makes your bracket picks better.
Mozilla is showing it has the naming skills of George Forman and using the same name for a second product. After years of Personas representing easy-to-use, lightweight themes that let you personalize the look of your Firefox, it’s now your name. Or, to be more accurate, your online identification. Mozilla is stepping away from how your browser represents you to you, and toward how your browser represents you to others. Confused? Exactly.
Prince (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)
But that’s not the first time the browser industry has stumbled over its naming.
Perform a search for “Download Themes” and you’ll find a host of offerings for personalizing your digital experiences.
Sites like Customize.org offers a central destination for Themes, Skins, Wallpapers and Icons. Zedge.net offers themes for your mobile phone. You’ll find options for Windows 7 themes, XP themes and WordPress themes. What’s conspicuous by its absence is the option to find browser theme downloads. Especially with the meteoric rise of the Google Chrome browser and its emphasis on enhancements via its Chrome Webstore.
BrowserNation Browser Themes Come to Brand Thunder
You may have read earlier in the week how Brand Thunder and BrowserNation were coming together to bring the full host of Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer browser themes to more professional teams, artists, entertainers and more.
We’re thrilled and can’t wait to get all the themes built and delivered to our new clients and their fans. The news of the event went out across the Twittersphere based on coverage from CNET and tech blogs, including:
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