What’s different from year’s past is it’s no longer acceptable to have that blue E pull up a boring gray browser. Internet Explorer skins for your browser give you the ability to personalize your Internet experience and enjoy a little style when you’re online. Whether you enjoy professional sports, the hottest music artists, your college alma mater, the latest in news or just nice elements of style – the following is a sampling of some of the IE Skins you will find in Brand Thunder’s Theme Gallery.

Alabama Crimson Tide 2012 BCS National Champions Skin

Regardless of what you think of the BCS Bowl Championship Series, you can appreciate a classic theme from a storied college team that has returned to top form. When you surf the Net, you should also Roll Tide with an IE Skin.

Jacob Latimore Skin

No need to wait for his next appearance on 106 & Park, with Sony Music’s Jacob Latimore browser theme – he’s with you whenever you’re on the Internet. We asked Jacob for his thoughts on browser skins. No surprise that he “Like ‘Em All.”

NFL San Francisco 49ers Skin

The 2011 49ers team is full of surprises with first-year coach, Jim Harbaugh, and their first playoff appearance since 2002 – and their first official browser skin. Get your IE browser on the 49er bandwagon this NFL Playoff season.

NHL Western Central St. Louis Blues Skin

We’ve got a long way to go in the NHL season, but the Blues at the top the standings of their division. And they can sit on top of your IE browser when you get this theme.

Huffington Post Skin

With the election year finally upon us, we know the news and political spin is going to be flying fast. There’s no better place to keep up with the latest and to engage in the discussion than on The Huffington Post. If you’ve got skin in the political game, get this Internet Explorer skin.

Blue Nebula

The ever productive MaDonnas Personas will astonish you with her productivity and her consistently outstanding portfolio of work. Here’s a space inspired skin that will make your Internet Explorer look out of this world.

Dragon

Arya Mathur used Brand Thunder’s BT:Engage to create this astral vision of a Dragon, and then kindly published it to the Brand Thunder Gallery to share with everyone.

And remember, if you don’t find what you want in the Gallery, you can always design and build your own browser skin with Brand Thunder’s BT:Engage. You can choose images from the catalog of images or upload, then drag and drop your own into the browser design. It’s 100%  free to build, share and download your own browser skin.

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• Internet Explorer 8 Themes (brandthunder.com)

COLUMBUS, OH – January 12, 2010 – Brand Thunder LLC (http://www.brandthunder.com) and the Florida Panthers (http://www.floridapanthers.com) announced today the launch of an interactive browser theme designed to keep fans in touch with the team. Panther fans can find the free download at http://panthers.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=59831.

Through a small browser add-on, the user’s web browser will get a complete makeover that includes a Florida Panthers theme, links to the most popular sections of the team site, a news ticker for breaking headlines and a multimedia sidebar full of team videos and its Twitter feed.

“We continue to look for new and innovative ways to stay connected with our fans,” said Michael Yormark, President & COO of the Florida Panthers. “This browser theme with its integrated news, video and Twitter offers both style and substance to the online experience of every Panthers fan.”

“The Florida Panthers have great online content for their fans,” said Patrick Murphy, founder and CEO of Brand Thunder. “That great content is delivered as it happens within the browser making it a powerful community tool.”

Brand Thunder’s browser Booms! are lightweight active customizations that can include themes, toolbars, sidebars and other content or functionality. With a Boom!, users can switch real-time between any of the browser looks they created without restarting their browser.

About Brand Thunder:
Formed in April 2007, Brand Thunder creates extreme makeovers for the Internet browser. Brands enjoy a persistent connection to their Internet consumer, 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 interactive browser themes 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 Bing, The Daily Beast, Huffington Post, Major League Soccer, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA, NFL, NHL and Universal Music. Samples found at http://brandthunder.com/gallery/.

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

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We don’t want to give away all the facts that are found in the case study, but one that we’re proud of is we doubled the penetration of Firefox usage on the Capitals web site. OK, we’ll give Firefox its due since it saw 40% growth over that period of time (growing from 16% to 19% over the time frame analyzed). Even giving Firefox credit for a 40% lift, that still leaves 60% that looks an awful lot like Brand Thunder contribution.

While Firefox penetration is not the goal of our program, what it indicates is a user’s willingness to overcome the hurdle of acquiring another browser to get the Capitals custom browser theme and that a compelling product can reach beyond the boundaries of your site and reach a new user. It also demonstrates a growing audience that has a persistent online connection with the Capitals. And that ongoing connection to the fan is the goal.

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.

Try the new installers for any of our current partners on our Media page:

· CoachTressel.com, site for head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team
· Go Big Network, an entrepreneurs network site
· NLT, an Universal Music artist
· The Washington Capitals, a top NHL team