Abstract: A rich-media content and branding method and system enable interactive creation of an exciting environment in which branded advertising subtly influences consumers who are enjoying a high-quality, entertaining, rich-media experience. Embedded rich-media players are bordered by branding information such as identification of source and e-mail click-on buttons to facilitate communications between sponsors and consumers, contributions by consumers to the sponsors' digital storehouse, and to facilitate viral exposure of content and brands to prospective consumers through on-line social interaction and networking at widely distributed and varietal user nodes, e.g. cell phones, PDAs, notebook computers, desktop computers, television (TV) set-top adapters, etc.

Abstract: A rich-media content production and distribution system includes a rich-media content production mechanism including a one or more studio production tools for producing content including at least one of dynamic or static images, dynamic video or audio, text, HTML, mixed media presentation, Microsoft PowerPoint slides, Adobe PDF pages, etc., wherein the produced content resides on one or more proprietary servers remote from a user of the production studio, and a syndicated rich-media content distribution mechanism including one or more distribution tools for publishing such content to consumers, wherein the content production and content distribution mechanisms collectively enable two-way, end-to-end, produce-and-distribute capability. An Internet-based rich-media content production system and syndicated rich-media content production and distribution methods also are described. Finally, a website-embeddable rich-media content player apparatus is described.