Distribution

It’s easy to see the caliber of brand that we’re fortunate enough to work with, our client list is full of great names from around the globe. Leveraging the power of the brand and their consumer touch points is common practice for affinity products. We try to bring a little more.

The web has splintered audiences. Think about how a sports fan may follow their favorite team. A fan may go to the team’s site, or they may go to a leading sports site, or they may participate in a blog or community focused on a team or sport. Limiting distribution through team channels limits the reach of the product. (As an aside, if you really want to learn about how teams can keep up with their fans, follow Sports Networker.)

Brand Thunder leverages distribution opportunities beyond the client site. We interact with communities where fans are gathering (always in a respectful way). We go through download sites where users are already looking for ways to personalize their experience. We look for other means to message the availability of the browser theme and get it to fans. We’ve seen a material benefit to our partners with this approach.

Product Extension

We love our client list and helping our clients connect with their fans is our biggest priority. But that’s not are only product. We also build interactive browser themes for the generalist or people that like stuff not represented by our client list. In the world of affinity credit cards, the NFL card is in the top 3 (don’t quote me on the exact number). Data accuracy aside, the illustration holds – most fans choose the NFL over their favorite team.

That’s why we have a Basketball theme, in addition to the NBA teams we work with like the Cavaliers, Magic, Sixers and Suns.

These product extensions help us reach the broader audience and grow our business. We continue to look for ways to meet the end user where they are and where their interests lie. We’ll continue to strive for that while we work our way toward the four million download mark.

A lot of attention will be on Philadelphia today for Major League Soccer’s draft day. You can find much of the action at the MLS site. Events like this bring fans together with hope and anticipation for the coming season.

And in the midst of the hype, I’m going to make a shameless plug for browser themes Brand Thunder created for each of the MLS teams. We’ve had great success with our product across sports leagues, and fortunate enough to engage the MLS at the league level so each of their teams benefited.

If you’re a fan, go to Brand Thunder’s Gallery and click on Sports, scroll down to Soccer and choose your favorite team. You’ll be treated to world-class designs and the best of the team’s content right in the browser. And that offers you style and substance in addition to a completely new browser experience.

Enjoy the theme, the day and good luck to all the teams and players.

Our custom browser experiences prove valuable because they are engaging. The browser is the most used application on the computer. You wrap that in branding, images, content and functionality and you’ve got a pretty compelling product. You put that in the hands of your loyal audience and you’ve got a powerful engagement tool that’s going to strengthen that connection with the end user.

I don’t see engagement as the problem. For advertisers, though, I can see the problem being where the engagement label is applied. If your user is engaged with a web site, the ads only chance is to interrupt that experience which probably isn’t going to get the response you want (though there are billions of dancing mortgage ads that will argue this point with me).

When engagement is within the site, if you’re not a natural part of the site, your value declines. AOL Instant Messenger never really cracked the ad mystery because the high volume of ads and a user’s intense focus on the application. Engagement with the product is through the roof, but with the ads is horrendous. Brand marketers found their integration points however with avatars and skins and you saw users respond.

To claim engagement isn’t valuable to the advertiser or is overhyped, to me, misses the mark. An advertisers interaction with its end user is incredibly valuable, and that’s engagement. Just don’t expect it when their attention is firmly somewhere else.

“Our business is at the point of growing exponentially,” said Patrick Murphy, founder and CEO of Brand Thunder. “As we look to scale the business, we needed the wealth of knowledge and resources these gentlemen bring. We think their contribution will be invaluable to Brand Thunder’s business as they each bring a expertise in areas critical to our ongoing success.”

Bob Christopher brings leadership and operational experience in building successful technology companies with international focus. Bob recently served as CEO of UGOBE where he raised $24 million to launch the first consumer lifestyle robot company. Bob’s experience includes President of the investment forum InnerCircle 1,and Chief Strategist and President for Nikotel, a worldwide VoIP company.

John Dixon offers incredible depth of knowledge about online businesses and management. He recently served as Vice President of Business Development & Strategic Alliances at AOL and was instrumental in developing partnerships across industries including PC Manufacturers, sports, search providers and content creators. John’s experience includes marketing and brand management for H. J. Heinz Company.

Mark Harris, a 14-year veteran with Microsoft, brings a discipline for technology serving its consumer. Mark led the releases for Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 R2. He currently works with large healthcare accounts in central and northeast Ohio as a Technology Strategist.

Brand Thunder’s browser Booms! wrap the user’s web browser in a graphically-rich experience with integrated content and functionality from their favorite sports team, entertainment brand, publication or Internet site. The browser becomes a valuable connection between brand and its community delivering continuous engagement and increased loyalty.

About Brand Thunder:
Formed in April 2007, Brand Thunder creates custom-browser experiences for major brands. Brands enjoy a more persistent connection to their Internet consumer through the custom browser Boom!, which increases website 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 custom browser Booms! 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 Huffington Post, Major League Soccer, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA, NFL, NHL, 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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Hockey teams seem to be the innovators in the interactive marketing space, especially if the team’s name is the Capitals. At least, that’s been our experience to date.

One of Brand Thunder’s first clients was the National Hockey League’s Washington Capitals. Now, we’re first again with the Capitals. This time it’s the Elite Ice Hockey League’s Edinburgh Capitals in Scotland. It’s the first entry we’ve had into the sports marketing arena within the UK. You can read the details here or see the product here.

The sports industry has been the most aggressive in adopting our product. That seems natural as they’re businesses are dependent on the ongoing and strong relationship with their existing fan base. They are not solely focused on the trial or new user that so many marketers pursue. Reaching and appealing to new audiences is important, but it’s never at the expense of that vital core.

We’re thrilled to count the Capitals and their fans among our users. Again.

From distinctive looks to the latest videos and Tweets in the sidebars, each Boom! packs a lot into a redefined browser experience. The built-in feed reader will keep users up-to-speed on the latest news and features appearing on the sites. Plus, the toolbar buttons get users back to the most popular areas of COEDMagazine.com and CollegeCandy.com fast.

“COED Media Group captures the fun of the college lifestyle and puts it into our websites everyday,” said Robert Bardunias, President of CMG LLC. “Now, we’ve taken the best and hottest and put it into Brand Thunder Booms! so our fans enjoy it regardless of the site they are on.”

“COED Magazine and College Candy are ideal sites to offer a custom browser experience,” said Patrick Murphy, founder and CEO of Brand Thunder. “The content is highly visual and headlines are enticing, so they integrate well into the browser and also act as an irresistible invitation to click back to the sites.”

Brand Thunder’s browser Booms! are free, lightweight active customizations that can include themes, toolbars, sidebars and other content or functionality. Users can switch real-time between any installed Booms!.

About Brand Thunder:
Formed in April 2007, Brand Thunder creates custom-browser experiences. Brands enjoy a more persistent connection to their Internet consumer through the custom browser Boom!, which increases website 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 custom browser Booms! 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 Huffington Post, Major League Soccer, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA, NFL, NHL, 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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Today, Laurie Sullivan over at MediaPost’s Online Media Daily discusses how Google is educating the world about Chrome. It’s a small step in a much bigger effort.

Whatbrowser.org is a simple site defining the most important application on the computer. It generously makes the major browsers available from the site, and has links to tests that I’m not sure really further the knowledge of browsers.

This is all nice, but the rest of the story is the overall push that Chrome is making to gain market share. Google is proceeding in a systematic way as hey are also buying the default placement on PC-OEM machines and offering customization via themes.

Switching is a fairly high barrier, so the default placement on the PC-OEMs will provide a big lift for Chrome. Customization has proven to be another tool that overcomes satisfaction with the norm. We’ve seen Firefox penetration double on our partner sites after they’ve launched a branded browser Boom!. That’s despite the requirement of going off to Mozilla to download Firefox first.

Given these steps, is Brand Thunder releasing a Chrome Boom!? Not yet. For a small company, efforts have to be focused. That focus has been on refining the custom browser experience on Firefox and extending the product to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (see our IE beta story here). The market share of Chrome doesn’t warrant our full attention.

Does this put Chrome on the product road map? You bet. Google is taking the necessary steps to ensure Chrome has a meaningful presence, and that has ensured companies like ours are moving from interest to action.

Today, Brand Thunder announced the beta launch of the Internet Explorer Boom!. This is not just a huge milestone in our ability to serve our clients and end users, it’s another step toward mitigating risk in our whole business. Here are a few thoughts on single dependency and how it shaped getting us to this point.

Eco-systems and Platforms

When we started building on Firefox, addons.mozilla.org (AMO) offered an ideal proving ground for concept and technology. It offered an aggregated audience predisposed to enhancing their browsing experience with add-ons. Other companies built their businesses here as well (StumbleUpon, Clipmarks, Delicious). Facebook is that environment for social applications.

Any time you’re beholden to a single entity, there’s the risk for a single point of failure should something in that relationship change. Mozilla being open source and community driven isn’t like other organizations, but it’s still serves a segment of the Internet population. To meet the needs of our clients, we need to serve as wide an audience as possible and that service is on other browser platforms.

Channels to Market

AMO is a tremendous help in getting our product to end users, but it’s not our only source of distribution. Since we built custom browsers for major brands, we had the advantage of distributing through their sites and their fan sites as well. For successful social applications, they look to Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and leverage their Viral Loop. Other browser extensions build out to IE, Safari, Opera, Chrome and so on.

We weren’t limited to a single channel, but now we extend that even further through access to IEAddons.com and sites devoted to Windows downloads. And since we’re unique the visual immersion we bring to the browser experience, there’s an opportunity to satisfy and under-served market.

The Internet Explorer Highlights

So, we’ve improved our position in a couple key areas for our business and we’re thrilled about that. But, here’s why we think our clients and end users will be excited as well.

The story about how a little download can add a lot of Boom! to a browser just became a whole lot bigger.

COLUMBUS, OH — September 29, 2009– Brand Thunder LLC (http://www.brandthunder.com), the custom browser specialists, announced today beta group availability to test the most visually immersive add-on available for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser. Fans of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks (http://canucks.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=48312) or Washington Capitals (http://capitals.nhl.com/browser) can request access to private beta groups and their opportunity to experience Brand Thunder’s Boom! beyond Firefox.

Brand Thunder creates persistent connections between major brands and their online consumers via the Internet browser. Each browser Boom! delivers a visual takeover of the browser, an integrated toolbar for content and functionality, plus the multimedia sidebar for videos, photos and more. Previously, the Boom! was only available to users of the Firefox browser. With the addition of Internet Explorer, 90% of the browser market will have access to a more custom and personalized Internet experience.

“The customization capabilities we’re adding to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer are a pretty big step forward for the users of the IE browser,” said Patrick Murphy, founder and CEO of Brand Thunder. “And it’s a huge win for our clients who want it as simple as possible to give their fans a stunning web browser.”

Brand Thunder’s browser Booms! are free, lightweight active customizations that can include themes, toolbars, sidebars and other content or functionality. Users can switch real-time between any installed Booms!.

About Brand Thunder:
Formed in April 2007, Brand Thunder creates custom-browser experiences. Brands enjoy a more persistent connection to their Internet consumer through the custom browser Boom!, which increases website 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 custom browser Booms! 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 Huffington Post, Major League Soccer, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA, NFL, NHL, Universal Music and Yahoo!. Samples found at http://brandthunder.com/gallery/.

Contact:
Patrick Murphy, CEO
Brand Thunder, LLC
614-304-1316

###

Marketing can be a lot like the singles bar — the 15 and 30-second shot, the photo shoot for the magazine spread, the flash banner. It’s all the equivalent of “the look,” “the line” or, in my case, the spilled drink. It’s about attention getting and breaking through the clutter. Despite the splintering of consumer’s attention, brilliant creative can still capture attention.

Unfortunately, marketing is more frequently being asked to do more than create the introduction. It’s being asked to go along on the first date, hang out with friends and commit to the long-term. Marketers can’t just rely on that air-brushed image to do all the work. (If I’m not clear, seek out Cyrano De Bergerac or Steve Martin’s “Roxanne” for clarification.)

Marketers have to show more depth, be interesting and generally be something you want to spend time with. When you’re with that consumer over extended periods of time, you’re going to see the less-than-glamorous looks, the things you wish never got said — you’re going to be in a relationship.

Brand Thunder’s Booms! are in the long-form of marketing since we create a persistent presence between a brand and their online consumer. Here’s what we see working around the web:

News Feeds

You’re giving fans the news as it happens. It’s like calling your friend so you can share.

Twitter

This is a great product to use and great content for your site or application. But it goes beyond the instant updates, it’s about allowing personalities to emerge and represent your brand. They will be their own brands (@THE_REAL_SHAQ) helping their affiliated brand (Cavaliers). They will be people that emerge and positively affect your brand (@ComcastCares). Though you’ll undoubtedly see the occasional slip up.

Images

Photos and videos are an easy way to let your fans keep up with current activity and catch up on what they may have missed. By offering this content, you let them know you wish they could have been there.

Commerce

Seriously. You’re fans want your stuff, so make it easy for them. Better yet, make it valuable. Our sports clients are letting fans know about available tickets, especially during high-demand periods like playoffs, to great results.

We are big advocates of the open flow of information back to your fans. It’s not always going to be pretty or perfect, but it’s going to be interesting and it’s going to build mutual respect. And mutual respect is vital for any relationship — marketing or otherwise.