If you’re looking to bolster your Facebook Advertising strategy, we recommend taking advantage of the lookalike audience feature. This is a method that we use and have seen proven results. Delivering ads to lookalike audiences allows us to be highly targeted with our campaigns and efficient with our budget. How it works: When creating … Continued
Brand Thunder is now offering media packages to help generate awareness for your new tab and bolster users. These promotional kits are a cost-effective way to be armed with everything you need to spread the word to your audience. In addition to our Premier and Base Packages, we can always do something custom to fit … Continued
The trend of new tab experiences is growing rapidly as some of our favorite sports teams, colleges, music groups and publishers offer add-ons that allow you to theme the new tab page. This post is dedicated to Safari, showing how simple it can be to customize your experience. There are hundreds of new tab pages … Continued
Add-ons and extensions often get accused of slowing down browser performance. The short answer is true, but that discounts a lot of scenarios and value. In many cases, you’ll have a better experience when you have the right extensions installed – and that can speed your personal performance if not the bench speed of the … Continued
The debate continues over whether it’s better to have a closed system for distributing apps or a more open one. You see it a lot in comparing Apple’s App Store to Google’s Android Marketplace. Apple reviews and approves every app before launch. You’re ensured a certain level of product quality, integrity and safety because of … Continued
You may have seen the frightening warnings that Google Chrome will pop when installing a theme. “WARNING! This extension will follow you home from work!” Eek! OK, it’s not that bad, but it can feel like it. To be fair, Google is just trying to warn you of what could happen, not what will happen. … Continued
We’re proud of our announced relationship with MLB.com, and we think fans will be excited about the newly available themes. As a result, we’ve been giving shout outs to baseball bloggers so they can weigh in and hopefully share with their readers. We love the feedback we get and in whatever form it comes. This … Continued
It was just in April that Conduit confirmed J.P. Morgan’s purchase of a $100 Million stake in the company, and pushed its valuation to $1.3 billion. Big money. That must have sparked others to look at the browser extension space for other rising stars. Based on a PR Newswire release yesterday, at least some of those … Continued
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 … Continued
Fathead knows the market they play in. Their tagline Go 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 … Continued
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 … Continued
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 … Continued
Sweet Themes for the Sweet 16 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 … Continued
Movie Stars and Movie Star Themes 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 … Continued
It’s March. Madness is upon us. 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 … Continued
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 … Continued
Download Themes 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 … Continued
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 … Continued
Chinese New Year Browser Theme If you’re going to be celebrating the Chinese New Year, Tet, Losar or any other lunar calendar celebration that I’m not aware of – you need to check out Brand Thunder’s dragon browser themes. It’s the Year of the Dragon and we have the browser skin for you. 3D Dragon … Continued
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 … Continued
That big blue “e” on your desktop has been getting you on the Internet for years. Internet Explorer remains the most popular browser in the world despite the voracious competition from Firefox and Chrome. What’s different from year’s past is it’s no longer acceptable to have that blue E pull up a boring gray browser. … Continued
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 … Continued
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 … Continued
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 … Continued
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.
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 … Continued
We’re all in sales. Whether you’re Coca-Cola or the GateWay College Gecko soccer teams, you’ve got an audience you’re trying to reach and some action you’re trying to inspire. These two groups may be miles apart in terms of scale, but they’re both actively engaged with their communities online. Coke has it’s MyCokeRewards.com and the … Continued
Changing your Google Chrome Theme is very simple. Just a few steps and you’re on your way to updating the look and feel of your Chrome browser or perhaps just resetting it back to the default. Follow these simple steps for changing from your current Chrome theme to another custom Chrome theme. 1: Go to … Continued
Today, we’re announcing Brand Thunder’s free browser theme creator, BT:Engage. Besides some amazing technology that makes it easy for anyone to create their own interactive browser theme, there are also some compelling reasons if you have your own site or online community. Here are three recent reports that drive this point home. 1. Your message … Continued
There are several ways that you can customize the look of your browser when you’re using Mozilla Firefox to browse the web. There are different levels of personalization, which include both Firefox Personas and Firefox Themes. The changes that you’d like to make to the look of your browser will determine which type of adjustment … Continued
If you’ve recently changed your browser to Mozilla Firefox, you may not quite like the way the browser looks even though you’ve decided you like the functionality of it. If this is the case, then you’ll find that you can easily customize the look of your browser with Mozilla Firefox themes. What are Firefox Themes? … Continued
Google Chrome is the most recent entrant into the browser wars. Chrome has rapidly gained market share since its release and has already found a following amongst web surfers. Through its minimalist design, which is typical of Google products, you’ll find that the web browsing experience has become even easier. Google’s Chrome browser has the … Continued
Internet Explorer is one of the oldest web browsers that is still widely used today. Because it’s been around for over a decade and continues to hold a large share of the market, you can see why it has its loyal fan base. Microsoft has also made it easy to enjoy Internet Explorer by integrating … Continued
Brand loyalty is fierce among browser users. Everyone seems to have found their favorite browser and uses them consistently, but a few people have become real fans. Some people have found that the time spent on their browser is not enough and they need to show their love for their favorite browser on their desktop … Continued
Brand Thunder is completely changing the way that you and I experience the Internet. With savvy technology and groundbreaking ideas, Brand Thunder is customizing the user experience like never before. Both users and businesses alike are flocking to this technology and the offerings of the Brand Thunder team. There are a couple of different things … Continued
The NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are in full swing and there have been some spectacular games in the Conference Quarterfinals. This is also the time where web apps see fans flock to their offerings. Pre-season is another time, but that’s when hopes are running high. In the post-season, it’s total smash mouth hockey and the … Continued
Here’s exactly what Charlie Sheen needs to get the mojo into his road show, a little blast of Tiger Blood. In this case, it’s the new Tiger Blood browser theme from Brand Thunder. If you’re like Charlie, you’re probably spending a lot of time online searching for your next Goddess – a lot more time, … Continued
It’s that time of year. The Big Dance. March Madness. The NCAA Tournament. The Lost Weekends. The fun is about to start. With the team selection complete and everyone working on their brackets, here are a few options to feed the excitement. You can keep up with the tournament, start to finish, with Brand Thunder’s … Continued
The Brand Thunder gallery for browser themes, ThunderThemes.com, has some stylish new looks for your browser. These selections are for Firefox only, so if you’re on IE and want your own – get over to our Facebook page and let us hear from you! It’s only a game. Or is it? Keep asking yourself when … Continued
Brand Thunder is just launched the Winning Browser Theme inspired by that unmitigated whirlwind of libido, Charlie Sheen. We’ve never met a band wagon we weren’t ready to jump on. Or like certain celebrities, there’s not a wagon we haven’t fallen off of. To keep up with the latest from Charlie, some people will choose … Continued
Image by brandthunder via Flickr Valentine’s is another holiday just waiting for things to go wrong. There’s a lot of hype and expectation, maybe even more than the holiday season we just went through. You see Thanksgiving and Christmas are big family days, so there’s friendly fire and collateral damage all around you. You’re not … Continued
One of the things I got to do over the holidays was dial up the strength of my passwords across the web. This was a gift that resulted from the Gawker hack. I’d been casually improving the strength of the passwords I used, but using very little variety among the passwords. I was an easy … Continued
Here’s a quick and easy add-on to your Firefox browser that’ll make all your coffee breaks a little more secure. Get the HTTPS Everywhere extension. If you were attuned to the buzz back in October, you heard a lot about Firesheep and how it made painfully clear how the practices of many popular websites puts … Continued
This is the time of year for goal setting and resolutions. That’s a lot of work to do all that planning. Now, you don’t have to cast your fate to the wind, but you can look to the stars for guidance. And Brand Thunder’s NEW Horoscopes browser theme delivers it on a daily basis. This … Continued
Image via CrunchBase Deadline is midnight tonight, so wait no longer! Download either the Firefox version of our Christmas browser theme, or the Firefox version our Classic Christmas browser theme. You’ll see a “Contest” button in the browser toolbar. When you click it, the sidebar will open with the details. All you have to enter … Continued
Image by brandthunder via Flickr Sometimes the best answers are the most obvious. When you’re sitting around wondering, “what could be better than a Christmas browser theme?” and the simple brilliance of it hits you… “TWO Christmas browser themes.” It’s like finding an amp that goes to 11. One might suggest since we have both … Continued
Image via CrunchBase At this time of giving thanks, Brand Thunder has much to celebrate. A vibrant and supportive community in central Ohio with organizations like TechColumbus and TechLifeOhio. A great channel partners like Adevia Software and Mackey Marketing, to name a few. Supportive business partners like Bing. An amazing client list that still includes … Continued
Image by brandthunder via Flickr Brand Thunder cautiously announces the release of its Medical Marijuana browser theme. This is a serious topic with serious consequences. We’re not going to ride in on our high horse and dictate the course any state, or even our country, should toke. I mean, “take.” The last thing we want … Continued
Image by brandthunder via Flickr Here’s a great Thanksgiving browser theme to add color and context to the up-coming four day weekend. We know your basement is all prepped with the Christmas lights and inflatable Santa’s, but before you go Clark Griswald – enjoy a moment of serenity with this browser theme. It honors the … Continued
Image by brandthunder via Flickr Here are a series of browser themes to interest you regardless of which coast your favorite school is on. If you like the Atlantic Coast Conference or prefer the PAC-10, there’s something here to entice you. Or, if you don’t want to commit to one school, especially given the volatility … Continued
Image by brandthunder via Flickr This could have been a REALLY Big conference overview of available browser themes, but we’ve already posted about the Big 10. Still, there’s a lot of great school themes to choose from. And before we get any angry emails… Yes, we’re still in the heart of football season but Notre … Continued
In the midst of the college football season and from the plains of the Midwest come the browser themes you crave. Whether you want to follow one of the teams of the Big Ten Conference or follow them all in the Big Ten Conference browser theme – you can do it now. They’re available for … Continued
Image by Tyler Haegele Photography via Flickr Psychologist John Gottman explored positive-to-negative ratios in marriages and defined the magic ratio of 5:1. By scoring positive and negative interactions in one 15-minute conversation between newlyweds, Gottman and his team of researchers discovered that they had predicted divorce with 94 percent accuracy. Five positive interactions for every … Continued
The oldest public university in Texas just got the newest browser theme in the Big 12. With the Texas A&M Aggie browser theme the home of the 12th man has just moved to the Internet. You’ll find everything you need to keep up with Aggie athletics. The themes are available for both Firefox and Internet … Continued
Image by brandthunder via Flickr Brand Thunder is proud to offer browser themes for eight of the 12 teams in the South East Conference. We do expect the holdouts to come around, but in the meantime – here’s the list of great schools offering an outstanding Internet app for fans. Alabama Crimson Tide browser theme … Continued
Image via Wikipedia Texas Tech fans, now you can enjoy your own part in the Texas Tech Spirit Squad, and you don’t have to be the Masked Rider or Raider Red to do it. Just download the Texas Tech Red Raiders browser theme to show your spirit and keep up to the minute with Red … Continued
Image via Wikipedia The college football season continues to roll on and so do the releases of browser themes for CBSSports.com College Network affiliated schools. Consider the Michigan State Spartans browser theme our welcome back to Coach Dantonio. The Spartans have big game this weekend with in-state rival Michigan. The browser theme is a great … Continued
Image via Wikipedia We’ve generated a lot of buzz from the college and university browser themes launched in conjunction with CBSSports.com College Network. We’ve also heard our share of comments from fans of schools that were not part of this program. While this program reached almost 60 schools, that leaves a lot of schools across … Continued
Image by brandthunder via Flickr It’s been a good week or so for discussing the merits and capabilities of the browser theme. From the development side, the Mozilla community is exploring adding new standard functionality in the browser that Brand Thunder showcased in its Personas Interactive extension. Mozilla is considering giving users the ability to … Continued
Get Ready for Fall The Autumnal equinox has passed. We can now officially stop hanging on to summer and start looking toward fall. Brand Thunder’s Halloween Browser Themes are a great way to start. Choose Your Theme You can choose from two different options Halloween-styled browser themes. You can download the Halloween Black Cat Browser … Continued
Image by brandthunder via Flickr Make sure you’re checking the athletics site of your favorite college teams. There are a host of free downloads landing at schools whose athletics web sites are run by CBSSports.com College Network. The latest Firefox and IE themes to launch include: Auburn Tigers browser themes Georgetown Hoyas browser themes Georgia … Continued
Put on your Garnet and Black, but this time put it on your browser. The Gamecocks browser theme is here. Think of it as a new media tradition for USC. And some day, in the not so distant future, you’ll reminisce about the good old days in Columbia when Cocky was your roommate, “The Fighting … Continued
Image by bobster855 via Flickr Old Spice got everybody thinking about “the man your man could smell like.” Well, you can use body wash on a pig, but… Don’t worry, though, we have browser themes that can help. Two of our recent launches can really develop the man. STACK: For The Athlete By The Athlete … Continued
Image via Wikipedia Football is here, and the college games kick off this week. Putting your favorite school in your browser is a great way to show your support. And thanks to the agreement Brand Thunder announced last week with CBSSports.com College Network, your choice of schools just got a lot more robust. Here are … Continued
I had the opportunity to speak with Owen McGab Enaohwo at Hire Your Virtual Assistant to discuss how to create an online community and how small businesses can get started using “community” to help their business. You can see the full interview and an outline of the discussion at hireyourvirtualassistant.com/blog. I don’t want to repeat … Continued
Image via Wikipedia The top trending Twitter term, as I write this, is “meteor shower tonight.” It’s a wonderful event to enjoy on a summer’s evening, and the timing this year is perfect for those of us on in the Eastern time zone. A great memory from several years back was having a pre-dawn jog … Continued
Image via Wikipedia Enough with the endless coverage of the Old Spice viral videos. Marketing is a simple game – you break through the clutter, you build awareness, you make a sale. Just like baseball is a simple game – you hit the ball, you catch the ball, you throw the ball. There’s been so … Continued
Reposted from Mike’s Musings So you may wonder why we called it Personas Interactive. If you were go to the Brand Thunder Gallery, you would see what we specialize in – creating customized browser experiences for different sports teams, websites, musicians and more. These browser experiences have evolved over the years in their design, their … Continued
Reposted from Mike’s Musings After I introduced Personas Interactive, I indicated that my next topic was going to be Enhanced Personas. As I was writing that post, though, I realized that I was putting the cart before the horse. Before I explain how we’ve enhanced Personas, I need to give more detail as to how … Continued
Image via Wikipedia Reposted from Mike’s Musings Brand Thunder released a new theme for the Goblins web comic today. While it’s a great theme and I’m excited to have it out there, I’m more excited about how we’re delivering it. Goblins is the first theme we are delivering on our new Personas Interactive platform. Personas … Continued
Image via Wikipedia If you’re a startup or a small business, celebrate your own independence along with that of the U.S.A.’s. If it helps, do like me and run Brand Thunder’s Independence Day browser theme to help get you in the spirit. I’ve had a diverse career with a range of companies from big to … Continued
Image via Wikipedia We announced this week the launch of our interactive browser theme for Sanjeev Kapoor. We love the fact that he’s a worldwide celebrity chef with an award-winning and record-setting television show. Even more relevant to us is that this is the first browser theme for one of our top geographic markets. That … Continued
Image by Getty Images via @daylife I’ve had my home on the market lately and had to live “show ready.” At a moments notice, the realtor could (and did) call saying “we’ve got a showing scheduled for today.” The house had to be ready to sell. Part of the difficulty in these moments is to … Continued
Image by Lucas_B via Flickr The kick off of the World Cup got me thinking about the marketing opportunity for companies trying to reach a multi-national audience with their product, and my own global expectations for Brand Thunder’s interactive browser themes when we were starting out. For companies that can afford it, the mega sporting … Continued
Image via Wikipedia The Breakfast of Champions is the well known slogan of Wheaties, or a Kurt Vonnegut novel, depending on the circles you swing in. Brand Thunder is laying its claim as “the Maker of Champions.” It’s an easy claim when you create your own moniker, and sounds better than reality – “the official … Continued
Image by Getty Images via Daylife I’m sure most of us with affinity marketing products look at the fantastic brands, the audience they’ve created and see the power in that connection. And I’m not going to dispute that connection, but intend to elaborate on it. So much of business is metrics driven. You want to … Continued
Image via Wikipedia The background To get to the point about product extension, I have to set the groundwork, so bear with me a moment. Brand Thunder’s core business is helping brands talk to their online consumer through our interactive browser themes. It’s an affinity marketing tool where we leverage the powerful connection an audience … Continued
Image via Wikipedia The browser theme for Ctrl+Alt+Del went into soft launch this week, but turned into big launch because of the CAD community. As a marketer, I love to see this in action. The connected community illustrates how all the new marketing methods and old methods work together in a cohesive way. Soft launch … Continued
Image via Wikipedia Last week I was directed to a blog post about the power of having fans of your brand. Teddy Anderson, the author, and I had just met and he mentioned the post and that he’d referenced Brand Thunder in it. How could I not read it? Some valid points are made about … Continued
Between Firefox Personas and Google Chrome’s Themes, browser themes are getting a lot of attention this year. Brand Thunder is pleased to be at the front with such distinguished company. While each of us helps you move beyond the dull gray of the standard Internet browser and personalize your browser with enticing visuals, Brand Thunder … Continued
Image via CrunchBase The ability to capture the voice of your consumer today is quite abundant and that’s a fantastic thing. No wonder having a virtual receptionist you can rely on is essential in addressing your consumers. Like at most businesses, Brand Thunder continuously looks at how it can improve its product. We’re thankful for … Continued
Image via CrunchBase I’m going to double dip here and talk about the same thing we issued a press release on this week — the Brand Thunder Weather Theme. I’m doing so because I think the technology behind it and the experience in front of it are simply amazing. Almost the entire background changes with … Continued
We often talk about our interactive themes as offering an immersive visual experience integrated with content and functionality. I don’t think, however, we’ve referenced the intersection of the visual theme and integrated content. Specifically, how we’ve enabled the browser chrome to be an active communication tool and not just a placeholder for the theme and … Continued
Nothing like getting recognized by the readers of one of the biggest tech networks on the Web. For the first time, About.com‘s Computing Channel ran a coordinated Reader’s Choice Award program in early 2010. During January, thousands of nominations were submitted by readers in a wide variety of categories including Best Browser Theme. Based on … Continued
Image via Wikipedia Do you feel safe downloading a program from the Internet? Do you give more thought to visiting a web site or installing a piece of software? It’s questions like these that create challenges for web applications. If you’re offering a software download, you’re already operating at a disadvantage in the mind of … Continued
The growth chart is text book. Brand Thunder’s doubling its size in half the time. It took us 18 months to reach the 500,000 download mark. Nine months later, we reached the million download mark. Four and a half months after that, we’re over two million downloads. Nice momentum. Distribution It’s easy to see the … Continued
Image via Wikipedia You probably saw our release this week for the Daytona International Speedway Firefox browser theme. We’ve also just released a revision to the NASCAR Nationwide browser theme that is pretty hot. Either one will get you in the racing spirit. Enjoy!
Image via CrunchBase PCWorld recently issued a story, by James A. Martin, on cloud computing and what small businesses should keep in mind when they think about this path, be sure to follow these 101 guide to doing your taxes. We provided a little insight for that article. Since we gathered our thoughts on the … Continued
Image via Wikipedia Tonight, Brand Thunder shares the stage with a great community of entrepreneurs, start ups, technologists, thought leaders and more. The best part is they are all our part of the local technology scene in central Ohio. Our friends at Toobla have re-envisioned the way we share and collect our information on the … Continued
Image via Wikipedia As we kick-off Super Bowl week, I thought I’d take the less than humble approach of mentioning how, yet again, a team that has chosen an interactive browser theme from Brand Thunder is vying for the championship of its sport. The AFC champion Indianapolis Colts go for it all Sunday night. We’ve … Continued
Image via Wikipedia 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 … Continued
Image by Peter Blanchard via Flickr Trust is a powerful tool in the business arsenal. It’s the enabler to the value exchange that a business seeks with its consumer. With trust, businesses can weather some pretty bad situations. Without it, you’re in a very bad situation. Fortunately, we live in an optimistic society and most … Continued
Brand Thunder has just entered UK football with its custom browser experiences and we’re doing it with the Soccer Premier League Champions Glasgow Rangers. It’s great company to have for visibility on the world stage. Fans can immediately update their Firefox browser with the markings of the Light Blues plus enjoy the rich content from … Continued
Brand Thunder’s heading to New York at the end of January to participate in a forum for leaders in the digital content industry. During the Software & Information Industry Association’s Information Summit nine start ups will be given the stage to present their capabilities. We earned our slot through a Vator.tv competition. Vator (short for … Continued
We’re excited to be attending Add-on-Con again this year, and we’re adding panel participation to our itinerary. Patrick Murphy will be participating in the Business Marketing track discussion “Using your Add-On to help publishers, OEMs, carriers, and others create value.” You’ll find other members of the team attending as well. It’s a conference focused on … Continued
Image via Wikipedia Less than a year ago we launched our first Christmas theme and kicked off a year long cycle of building a theme for many of the major holidays. It was something purely fun and it went over big. The latest can be found at www.brandthunder.com/christmas. So in the list of family, friends … Continued
A start up consumes all your time. You read that a lot. Attachment and bonding takes a lot of time. You read that a lot if you’re in the adoption community. These two conflicting needs were on a collision course when I considered joining Brand Thunder. The compromise was that I would care for my … Continued
An article over on Adweek this week discussed engagement and its misuse in advertising circles. Since Brand Thunder’s Booms! have engagement as a core value proposition, I immediately found myself on the opposing view side. To be fair, some of the points made have merit – but it’s not necessarily a problem with engagement. Our … Continued
You’re only as good as the company that you keep, as the saying goes, and today we’re taking steps at being better. We announced some great additions to our advisory board. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to read the press release here. Three highly regarded people have agreed to join our advisory board … Continued
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 … Continued
You always want to avoid single points of failure. A variation on this theme was raised on “This Week in Startups,” a live show and podcast where serial entrepreneur Jason Calacanis brings on accomplished guests to discuss and help startups. (I’m referencing Episode 15 with Roelof Botha.) A caller was seeking advice since his Facebook … Continued
Cover of Roxanne 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 … Continued
Image via CrunchBase We talk a lot about the power of a browser in staying connected to your consumer and fan base. It should come as no surprise that a company able to define the standard of using social media to support its members would gravitate toward offering a Brand Thunder Boom! to its users … Continued
Image via CrunchBase A lot of time and money is spent on developing a company website. Even more is spent attracting users to that site. Yet, we find a surprising number of sites that missed the critical questions of “Is my content accessible and is it distributable?” Make it Accessible There are too many options … Continued
Last week, Kendall Allen discussed remaining innovative with marketing in tough economic times. See her post “Relationships And The Progressive Digital Mix” on MediaPost’s Online Spin. Andrew Chen, who supplies supporting analysis with most of his posts, covered part one of his thoughts on “How desktop apps beat websites at building large active userbases” in … Continued
Image via CrunchBase Brand Thunder received some nice coverage over at Folio Magazine yesterday. The story focused on our latest release for the Columbus Dispatch and some technical benefits we added behind the scenes to make the product more useful to Dispatch readers and ultimately The Dispatch itself. I encourage you to read the Folio … Continued
I wish I could offer all the advice you need in this one post. Fortunately, the “How to” portion is only a click away. Copyblogger has a great series titled “How to Write Magnetic Headlines” and it’s worth your time to study. If you’re really feeling time pressed, then check out Stuart Brown’s “How to … Continued
Brand Thunder prides itself on the immersive visual experience our browser Booms! deliver – but sometimes less is more. For those times, Brand Thunder built a Small Boom! (toolbar only) view of our Booms!. It’s as simple as clicking on the B/T button in the toolbar and choosing the Small Boom! option. That’s it. The … Continued
Image via CrunchBase If you’re like us, you like to keep up with companies, news and opinions across the web. And, we’re probably like you in that we offer different ways of communicating what’s going on and what we deem as relevant. To help you sift through the delivery vehicles, I’m providing an overview of … Continued
Image via CrunchBase Brand Thunder is a proud member of the Mozilla community, so you can imagine the honor we felt when they asked us to do work for them. In its support of the UKs CyberMentors program, Mozilla had Brand Thunder deliver an Add-on featuring a custom theme and an integrated toolbar allowing users … Continued
Image via Wikipedia Customer Loyalty: How to Earn It is a commentary over at MediaPost. Guy Maser gives some simple and straightforward ideas to help you better serve your existing customer. The fundamentals often aren’t that complex. His suggestions are geared for a certain type of business, but his premise is applicable anywhere – do … Continued
Marketers are perpetually trying to break through the clutter and gain the attention of their audience. Consumers, on the other hand, are getting more adept at tuning out the noise. If you’re in online marketing, you know they’re blind to it as well. It’s creating that blindness we want to avoid. Visitors to your site … Continued
Image via Wikipedia Congratulations to the Mozilla community on the launch of Firefox 3.5 today. It’s an outstanding product that can be found at www.getfirefox.com. If you’re using one of Brand Thunder’s newer browser Booms!, you’re most likely enjoying a seamless transition. If you’re using one of our older browser customizations or an older Boom!, … Continued
Image via Wikipedia “Not invented here” has long held a negative connotation. I’ve been involved in my share of corporate development efforts that ignore marketplace solutions and pursue an internal one only to see the project stagger and fall. I’ve also used it as an excuse for obstacles encountered when dealing with other companies. In … Continued
We’re continuing our progress with NHL teams with our latest launch – the browser Boom! for the Atlanta Thrashers. First, you have to check out the design. As we head into the heat of summer, this is one Boom! that will provide a little chill. Take a look at the screen shot in our Gallery … Continued
It’s part of why we call it a Boom!. The headline says it all – 8x improvement in site visits. This isn’t just a boost to any site, it was the Huffington Post, one of the most active and engaging news sites on the web. This is the type of information our prospects continually request, … Continued
Image via Wikipedia We’re thrilled that our clients, the Pittsburgh Penguins, have won the Stanley Cup. If you want to join us in celebrating, customize with your browser with the Pittsburgh Penguins browser Boom!, which you can download here. If you want to relive the highlights of the historic 7-game series, click the Media button … Continued
Almost two weeks ago, we launched “Canvas” Brand Thunder’s latest browser Boom! – a tool that gives you a totally personal look to your browser when you add any photo or image to it. It’s a completely unique experience when it comes to browsers. Yet like every other “brilliant” idea on the web, now comes … Continued
We hit a great milestone today – our millionth download. That’s a big number for a small company, and a lot of factors go into these kinds of accomplishments. Here are three top ones for us, and they’re at the top because they go back to day one: Brand affinity, leveraging the bond between brand … Continued
Image via Wikipedia You’d think a team heading to the NBA Finals would have only one thing on their mind. That may be true of the players and coaches, but the front office is still thinking about the fans in this stellar 20th season for the Magic. That’s why, starting today, you can download the … Continued
The word “venerable” isn’t used to describe many web sites, but it certainly fits Cool Site of the Day. They’ve been surfacing a cool site on the Web every day since August 1994, which means they’ve look at a lot of sites for a long time. That made it all the more thrilling to find … Continued
Image via Wikipedia Today, Brand Thunder announced Canvas our latest Boom! and a major step forward in Internet Browser visual style flexibility. You can read the press release here, but in a nutshell, you can make any photo, or any image on a web page, your browser theme. This is a totally new experience in … Continued
Brand Thunder will be at the Soccerex London Forum on Wednesday. Boyd Butler, KAM Sports International, will be representing us. Contact us if you want to meet with Boyd. This is an advantage of working with channel partners that are experts in their markets. By having a partner in the UK, and one that is … Continued
Blind Ferret Entertainment’s Looking For Group was a fun project for us, and not just because it marks our first comic-focused Boom! (custom browser). It’s a great example of the visual styling that can take place within the browser (more on that below). The Blind Ferret team did a fantastic job with it. If you’re … Continued
Image via CrunchBase For a young company, early success can define you as much as it can ensure your immediate survival. The question is whether staying with that success is good, in the long run, for the company. Brand Thunder has been fortunate selling its custom branded browsers early on to major teams in major … Continued
You may not associate laughing and having fun with athletic prowess and skill, but that’s the appealing mix when it comes to the game of dodgeball. The National Dodgeball League’s Browser Boom! (branded browser) is no different. It’s a clean and stylish design for a browser that keeps you in and around the dodgeball world. … Continued
A conference session at the upcoming Soccerex London Forum is titled “Fans – Interacting with footballs’ number one stakeholder.” Since this topic hits directly in the market Brand Thunder serves with it Booms (branded browsers), I thought we should offer our take. Also, Brand Thunder will have a representative, Boyd Butler, at the Forum. If … Continued
It’s true. Ninety percent of the NHL teams that have signed with Brand Thunder are heading to the playoffs. Only 35% of the other teams get to make that claim. Coincidence? I think not. I think it’s the result of the immersive experience and the positive energy that the team/fan connection creates… OK, I realize … Continued
Fantasy Phenoms has partnered with Brand Thunder to launch the first Boom (branded browser) to serve the fantasy sports market. And “serve” is what Fantasy Phenoms does. Where Fantasy Phenoms separates itself is that it’s not the game, it’s about being better at the game. The experts and sports addicts of Fantasy Phenoms deliver to … Continued
Image via Wikipedia My career experience is diverse, with a great deal of expertise in Internet marketing, commerce and product development. Branded browsers were a natural fit to my skill set. Nothing like joining a start up for the sudden exposure to the breadth of what is unknown or needs to be relearned. Fortunately, the … Continued
Image via Wikipedia The Cleveland Cavaliers are the first NBA team to launch with a Brand Thunder Boom (branded browser) and they’re doing it with their fans in mind. The Boom has two views: one focused on the team and Cavs.com, the other focused on CavFanatic.com – the official social network of the Cavs. And … Continued
Image via Wikipedia Skittles made a daring move a couple weeks back and illustrated beautifully why, despite a strong willingness, brands can’t open themselves up from a social web standpoint. Brands are built on trust, and consumers and fans have an expectation of how that brand will treat them. It’s no different than personal relationships. … Continued
Work and Family. Family and Work. I could write about the importance of “balancing work and family” but that would be way too cliché, overdone, and well, a little boring for my taste. And I figure if I’m going to bore you along the way, I might as well do it with a new concept … Continued
Back when I worked for an ISO 9000 certified company and was feeling overwhelmed at the extensive documentation and process, I learned that writing the requirements avoided “bus-terminated projects.” If all the requirements are in the head of a product manager, there’s a huge amount of risk. Putting it all down on paper ensured the … Continued
South by Southwest 2009 starts next week. A lot of people will see a lot of cool things. The question afterward will be “what is actionable?” If you’re going there to see what next cool thing will help your business, take a quick read of an article at Online Media Daily featuring Google’s Analytics Evangelist, … Continued
With the term “Web 2.0” declared dead, and “Web 3.0” yet to be defined, where does that leave the marketers still trying to become “part of the conversation”? The same place it has always left us – making sure our value proposition connects with our target audience, and making sure our message reaches that audience. … Continued
Image via CrunchBase Do you know the event calendar that impacts your business? If not, it’s worth a good look because it can have a material impact on your business, and there are tools that can help. Sadly, Brand Thunder is not going to the Oscars. Is an entertainment-award Boom (branded browser) in our future? … Continued
First of all, if you’ve not seen the NASCAR Nationwide Series branded browser – you’ve got to check it out. It is simply a beautiful execution for a stellar brand. It feels like racing. And give Nationwide their due. Branded browsers have extensive customization and integration capabilities. It can be a tempting playground for any … Continued
If you want to clarify your message, tell it to someone and have them repeat it back to you. Hold that image, then think about email. It’s hard enough to convey a concept and have it understood when you’re looking at someone and have the full communication arsenal at hand (body language, intonation, rephrasing). When … Continued
Like any start up, we need to be cash conscious but sometimes separating the “wants” from the “needs” is not easy. We really want to be at SXSW. But in terms of it reaching the audience who buys our service (the brand marketer needing a branded browser), we don’t know if it’s the right show … Continued
Image by apenny via Flickr Maybe in space no one can hear you scream, but if you’re well connected – everyone on the Internet can. Just ask Jason Calacanis. (Sorry Jason, that made me laugh.) We’re not as well connected as Jason, but we remain impressed by the incidental reach social media provides some of … Continued
We just went through a period of disagreement here at Brand Thunder – the classic and clashing viewpoints of the suits and the geeks. I think it ended well, but if this is my last post due to a malicious crashing of my computer, I’ll reconsider. When your business is evolving this rapidly and timeframes … Continued
Brand Thunder has entered a new market with the release of a BOOM for St. Louis’s 105.7 The Point (see it here). It’s our first radio station and we’re excited to tap into a new category. In so many things, if you’re one dimensional, you’re vulnerable and this is a consideration for our business. As … Continued
Most of you probably spent a good deal of time during the last few months of 2008 submitting your budgets, projected numbers, and even goals for the fiscal year 2009. All of the figures are documented and a single forecast put together for all of the stakeholders surrounding the company. For most companies forecasting is … Continued
It would be easy to think heading to Phoenix at the end of January is a simple case of escaping the mid-west winter. That’s only partially true. Brand Thunder is attending its first trade show, the National Sports Forum, January 26 – 28, to show off our branded browsers. So, how does a startup that’s … Continued
Each hurdle you place in front of your consumer has a material impact on your business. Do you know what yours are? We’ve wrestled with this considerably. Our current business model is based on a browser with 20% market share. Sure, we can exceed that for our partners (request our Case Study here), but that’s … Continued
Or, maybe the title of this post should be: Is it an opportunity or a diversion? If an opportunity for your start-up is: 1. An extension of your current work 2. Improves product or process 3. Boosts your cash flow Go for it. For us, the launch of a browser theme focused on Barack Obama’s … Continued
In my years of being in a customer focused business I have learned a very important phrase and philosophy: eat your own dog food. Most of what I have to say this week is stepping back to the basics. But that’s where successful business processes have to begin so these points can never be over … Continued
From day one, we’ve felt like Brand Thunder was approaching a million downloads of our branded browsers. It’s just at day one; you’re still a million away. Now, we’ve passed the 500,000 mark. It feels good. We’re not at our goal, but well on our way. And, I think once you take out hard work, … Continued
For starters, I love basketball. It is hard to swallow the end of the college football season, but its good to know that college basketball is always right there to catch my fall. Although that sounds like random gab, you’ll get the picture when you’ve finished reading this blog. Business development and basketball, how could … Continued
What do you want a widget, app or branded browser to do for you? Your answer can determine your results. Over the past week, three articles from AdAge, Adweek and MediaPost have provided their take on the current state of widgets and Facebook applications. I’m inserting myself into the discussion because there’s commonality with widgets, … Continued
I had a rude awakening over Thanksgiving – my elevator pitch isn’t as polished as I thought. I think the reason has to do with my circle of friends and network. You work in technology long enough and even your non-tech friends have heard so many stories from you, they grasp the concept of what … Continued
Taking the leap from the corporate world to join a start up company can be a scary thing and create a sense of uneasiness to many people. During my process of deciding if making this change was the right move or not I weighed heavily on three major factors: proven success, ideal business model, and … Continued
We’re hoping to clear the long holiday weekend without incident. We’ve had a good run of luck with a growing client list, awards and industry recognition. Good momentum for our branded browsers. And our blog posts, while we hope are substantive and useful, tend to be rosy. Well, last week we hit our first real … Continued
If you have downloaded one of more recent theme bundles you may have noticed a new image on the far right of your browser. This new B/T button allows for quick access to personalization, FAQs and support as well as special theme features. Be sure to check it out!
We were thrilled to be listed as a finalist for Excellence in New Communications in the 3rd Annual Society of New Communications Research (SNCR) Awards. Now that we’ve actually won, we’re ecstatic. The release issued by SNCR is here and all the winning case studies are at SNCR’s publication site – New Communications Review. You … Continued
I recently sat down with Lewis Howes to discuss the ongoing challenges sports marketers face engaging the elusive sports fans. Topics we cover include how we started Brand Thunder, finding and signing clients as a start-up and uncovering funding opportunities. Read the full interview here.
Sometimes you forget what you know. In reading a blog entry called Proof of the Power of Personalization, it occurred to me that this is one of the key points we talk to our clients about but don’t recall mentioning here. We usually reference how we build custom browser themes to allow brands to connect … Continued
This feels like a basic business idea, but having seen it both practiced and not practiced – we’re weighing in. It’s worth the effort to design a mock up of our product for each prospect we present to. Here’s why we think that. Reason 1: It avoids the wrong discussion. While our product isn’t overly … Continued
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 … Continued
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 … Continued
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 … Continued
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 … Continued
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 … Continued
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…
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 … Continued
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 … Continued