Nutter welcomes Brand.com to new HQ in Center City Philadelphia

 Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter with Brand.com President Michael Zammuto. (Zack Seward/WHYY)

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter with Brand.com President Michael Zammuto. (Zack Seward/WHYY)

Want to look good online? That’s what Brand.com promises.

On Thursday, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter did his best to return the favor, welcoming the company to its new headquarters in Center City.

Nutter took the opportunity to highlight his administration’s efforts to build up the Philly tech scene.

“We are focused each and every day on companies like Brand.com and many, many others,” Nutter said, “to be in Philadelphia, to encourage their location or expansion and to do everything we can to improve the economy here in this city.”

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That includes certain tax exemptions for startups as well as initiatives like StartUp PHL.

Brand.com moved into the city from West Chester, Pa., in January, spending months deciding where to locate its corporate headquarters for keeps.

Nutter said the firm’s move is another sign that companies are cluing in to Philadelphia’s growing pool of tech talent.

“There’s a tremendous amount of talent right here in the city,” Nutter said.

Brand.com president Michael Zammuto says that was a big reason why his company chose the Curtis Center at 6th and Walnut. The company is on a veritable hiring spree, he says, looking to add 100 workers over the next 12 months, including 30-40 in the next month or so.

“I mean, we really think of Brand.com as competing not just against local employers for talent, but national employers,” Zammuto said. “We want to be, and we think we’re becoming, a place where people consider going instead of going to the Googles and the Twitters and the so on.”

Eighteen months ago, Zammuto added, the company was just four people.

He says the explosive growth is being fueled a growing awareness that billions of dollars in purchasing decisions are driven by which companies stand out in online search results. While the company does have individuals as clients, Zammuto says about 80 percent of Brand.com’s business is burnishing the online reputations of companies and organizations.

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