MorseMcFadden Communications Becomes Rolling Thunder

Kirkland, WA-based high-tech PR agency MorseMcFadden Communications has changed its name Rolling Thunder Marketing.

CEO Bob Morse also said that the company, which has clients such as Intel and Gary Larson of Far Side fame, has named Ken Harper, a 10-year Intel marketing veteran, has been appointed chairman of the agency and will oversee operations in Rolling Thunder’s new Portland, OR office.

The agency will also introduce digital storytelling capabilities at the core of its new media marketing practices, which are intended for corporate presentations, electronic collateral development and Web-based services, including community building.

To that end, Rolling Thunder said it has added the following affiliates: Dana Atchley Productions of San Francisco, for corporate digital storytelling; Crockett Design of Carlton, OR for electronic collateral and Web design; and RosenBrown Direct of Portland, OR, for direct marketing advertising in traditional and electronic media. In addition, the agency is working with the Canadian Film Centre’s New Media Linx H@bitat for rapid prototyping of new media applications.

“We are pioneering innovative forms of new media,” said Morse, “in particular digital storytelling, and applying it to the new marketing environment the Web has created.”

Rolling Thunder combines digital marketing savvy with a tradition for pushing the creative envelope, a style that began with the work they did for Far Side creator Gary Larson, the agency’s first client.

“Using creativity that can be hard to find in more traditional PR firms, we want to rattle the molars of tradition,” said Dan McFadden, president of Rolling Thunder “If we don’t make our clients’ palms sweat just a little bit, then we’re not doing our job.”

Rolling Thunder Marketing has 18 employees and $1.4 million in 1998 billings.