Brand Affinity Technologies and United Talent Agency Partner to Help Celebrities Speak Directly to Fans Whenever and Wherever Their Digital Content Appears

IRVINE, Calif., June 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Brand Affinity Technologies (BAT), the leader in celebrity-driven digital endorsement marketing, and United Talent Agency (UTA) have partnered in a bid to change the digital celebrity content landscape through the production launch of BAT's Fantapper platform. Fantapper is designed to help actors, musicians, athletes and other personalities influence, control and ultimately monetize their social media content and the skyrocketing amount of online content in which they are featured. Fantapper's unique and proprietary technology gives artists and celebrities the ability to speak directly to the people who are reading articles, looking at images, and watching videos about them, no matter where those users happen to be online.

The celebrity content market is a multi-billion dollar industry, and the evolution of social media is fueling a new generation of content consumption and distribution.  Against this backdrop, Fantapper provides an enhanced content experience to the standard online picture, text article, social post or tweet. When a consumer clicks on a photo or text reference of any celebrity, Fantapper automatically populates an expanded media window with dynamic apps, including original pictures and videos, games, popularity metrics, YouTube videos, Twitter and Facebook feeds – all specific to the pictured celebrity.  

Artists can opt to create personalized and proprietary apps that appear on top of their online content such as sharing recent pictures and videos, posting true stories behind media coverage, or linking to their favorite charities or sponsors.  In this way, Fantapper allows artists to connect to and monetize the photos, videos, articles, and social posts on the web, and to direct fans to the things that artists care about the most.   Learn more at www.Fantapper.com.  

"In most cases, when an online site features a photo or a story about a celebrity, that is a conversation limited to the website and the consumer. The celebrity is the passive subject matter," says Ryan Steelberg, co-founder and CEO of BAT.  "With Fantapper, the celebrity not only becomes part of the conversation, they can steer the conversation. UTA, like so many others in the entertainment world, understands that digital content and social media are key to opening channels of communication between celebrities and their fans."

Fantapper works in three ways; consumers can quickly download a free desktop plug-in that works with most popular web browsers, enabling the Fantapper experience on any webpage that they navigate. Alternatively, online publishers can integrate Fantapper into their website, so that any visitor – whether they have the plug-in or not – can enjoy the enhanced experience.  And lastly, Fantapper content can be accessed via popular mobile devices, including Droid and Apple iOS.

Fantapper already reaches millions of unique users every month and offers content and select Apps for over 40,000 celebrities. In addition, nearly one million users have already downloaded the Fantapper plug-in since it was first launched in beta, just five months ago.

"I'm privileged to have a social media fan base of well over one million followers, and I want to give them the best experience possible. Fantapper allows me to share personal content, and offers Apps, Pictures, Videos, and Games.  It is truly amazing and a game changer for social," said Drew Brees, Super Bowl MVP.

"Celebrities are the foundation for a multi-billion-dollar industry of online content-sharing, advertising, and merchandising; but they have surprisingly little control over most of what appears on the internet," said Brent Weinstein, head of Digital Media at UTA. "BAT gives celebrities control by allowing them to help shape the conversation around digital content where it appears, while enhancing the fan-celebrity relationship."

About Brand Affinity Technologies, Inc.  (BAT)

Founded in 2007, BAT (http://brandaffinity.net) unlocks the marketing power of celebrity through research, endorsements, and interactive experiences. Advertisers such as AT&T, Comcast, IHG, Intuit, Ford, Samsung and Sony use BAT's Endorsement Platform, which provides daily analysis of more than 45,000 celebrities and athletes, along with the ability to identify, license, and activate talent for cross-media advertising campaigns.  BAT has exclusive representation agreements with more than 4.000 athletes and celebrities. BAT also leverages its research and technology engine to engage consumers directly through Fantapper (www.fantapper.com), which brings interactive apps to celebrity content across the web. Connect with BAT on Twitter:@BAT and Facebook: www.facebook.com/BrandAffinityTech.

About United Talent Agency (UTA)

United Talent Agency is one of the entertainment industry's premier talent and literary agencies, representing many of the world's most widely-known figures in every current and emerging area of entertainment, including motion pictures, television, books, music, digital media and live entertainment.  Collectively, UTA agents represent a significant cross-section of today's most acclaimed artists and entertainers, including winners and nominees of Academy, Emmy, Grammy, Screen Actors Guild, Directors Guild, Writers Guild, Producers Guild, Golden Globe and People's Choice awards. The agency is also globally recognized in the areas of film finance, film packaging, corporate consulting, branding & licensing, endorsements and the representation of production talent.  UTA also operates New York and Los Angeles-based United Entertainment Group, a joint venture firm focusing on branded entertainment and integrated media solutions for Fortune 500 companies.

SOURCE Brand Affinity Technologies