“Brainfruit offers a desktop portal to advertising and data consumers want to see”

By Annette Zwald

MADISON – Joe Plasterer knows “new media.” He helped develop Sonic Foundry’s first $1 million account, MediaSite, and he hasn’t stopped thinking about other innovative ways to crack media markets.

Desktop Media Channels, Plasterer’s latest idea, may be the solution to reaching potential and current customers as segmented audiences and changing media channels pose a continually complex and ever-changing problem. According to Plasterer, Desktop Media Channels also offers communication with “the 20 percent of consumers that do 80 percent of your business, similar to a VIP pass for passionate fans at a concert.”

Traditional media markets such as radio and television can be difficult advertising mediums in today’s busy world. As technologies change within these markets, such as XM radio and the use of digital television recording devices that allow viewers to essentially skip advertisements, reaching the target audience is that much harder.

Websites are useful, but it is difficult to continually direct customers to the website with the use of spam filters in e-mail accounts.

As a result, many companies find they need to spend more in media dollars to reach the same number of customers.

A company launched by Plasterer, Brainfruit, may have a solution to this increasingly complex problem. Developed to cope with the ever-changing market, Brainfruit offers a desktop media channel, similar to iTunes. Since a customer must personally download the channel, consent is required unlike a mass e-mail that is easily deleted. This also eliminates the need for potential customers to go through the hassle of looking up a company’s website since any new information is available directly on their desktop. According to Plasterer, “it offers an escape for the consumer and a communication tool for the company.”

The Desktop Media Channel created by Brainfruit is a branded desktop application that provides functionality that will outweigh most websites. Companies want to drive traffic to their websites to increase viewership and revenue stream. This is a tool to accomplish those objectives without making customers go through the extra step of opening a browser. A Desktop Media Channel offers all sorts of content such as blogs, news, pictures, videos, sales offers, and other relevant information on demand.

Plasterer, Dan LaValley, Lars Nilsson and Tamara Bernadot head up the company, and they collectively bring more than 100 years of experience in the technology and startup sectors. Brainfruit presented during the Elevator Pitch Olympics at the 2008 Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium. This annual contest is judged by investors familiar with start-up and early-growth stages of high-tech businesses.

“If the current customer base can be captured and made aware of other services and products available through a company they already trust, sales for these companies would increase dramatically,” Plasterer said. “The team at Brainfruit understands this and with our goal of 1 million desktops, we hope to build strong relationships between brands and customers.”

Zwald is a student in the UW-Madison Department of Life Sciences Communication.

###