EQAL Wins 2011 Golden Effie Award for Work on Real Women of Philadelphia

LOS ANGELES, June 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- EQAL, a leading media company that powers influencer networks around celebrities and brands, has announced that its work on Real Women of Philadelphia has been awarded the 2011 Gold Effie Award in the Best Media Idea category. 

The Golden Effie Award is a validation of EQAL's work to build and monetize online communities.  Seen as the first media company to successfully monetize video-driven properties, EQAL's unique approach is to entertain and engage audiences across multiple social media services and devices, converting fragmented audiences into passionate communities.

Combining the company's proprietary Umbrella social publishing and audience aggregation platform with community management and editorial services, EQAL has a complete solution and successful track record of converting a distributed fan base into a highly engaged community. Through the combination of its technology, celebrity influencer network and campaign management, celebrities, thought leaders and individual brands have an end-to-end solution to build, manage and extend community-based websites and applications and to reach a fan base across multiple social services including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and more.

EQAL founders Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried have a proven background in building successful online communities paving the way with lonelygirl15 and KateModern, which collectively have attracted more than 400 million views and hundreds of thousands of fans around the world.

"No matter how you spread it, the Real Women of Philadelphia campaign has been a huge success for all parties involved – the brand, the incomparable Paula Deen and the community members that participate on the site," said Greg Goodfried, president, EQAL. "Celebrity influencers drive purchase decisions, and when you run campaigns with these tastemakers and advertise to their audience, you can energize people to engage and evangelize/buy your product or service."

With season two currently wrapping and a renewal for season three, Real Women of Philadelphia has contributed to the first lift in volume for the brand in five years.  Overarching site metrics include:

• More than 24 million video views of consumer-generated recipe content both within the site and syndicated across the Web.
• More than 1 million site views, with over 30% repeat visitors.
• More than 34,000 community members through the end of August 2010.
• 36,024 comments posted through the end of August 2010.

The key to success, according to Miles Beckett, CEO, EQAL, is the creation of celebrity influencer networks that facilitate conversations between brands and highly-targeted demographic audiences.  As the leading company at the intersection of entertainment and technology, EQAL is re-imagining entertainment marketing by creating unique and powerful personalized networks for Alicia Silverstone, Alison Sweeney, Randy Jackson, Tori Spelling, Lauren Conrad and Elle and Blair Fowler, in addition to Deen, to name a few. By launching an "influencer network" that they own and control, celebrities and brands can directly connect with fans and consumers, share ideas and fuel conversation, generate revenue and build long-term value.

For further information on EQAL, its partners and overall offerings please visit www.eqal.com.

About EQAL

Headquartered in Los Angeles, EQAL (pronounced "Equal") is a leading media company that builds strong online communities around entertainment and consumer brands. EQAL combines proprietary technology with community management and editorial services to convert a distributed fan base into a highly-engaged community around a brand.  The company's Umbrella social publishing and audience aggregation platform provides an end-to-end solution for brands to build and manage community-based websites and applications and to reach a fan base across multiple social services like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and more.  EQAL runs communities for Paula Deen, Alicia Silverstone, Alison Sweeney and Anthony Zuiker, to name a few.   Formerly known as LG15 Studios/Telegraph Ave. Productions, the company paved the way for the web series industry with lonelygirl15 and KateModern.  Collectively, these two series have attracted more than 400 million views and garnered millions of fans from around the world. Through partnerships with celebrities, production companies, traditional media companies and multi-national brands, EQAL is dedicated to building online communities that engage users like never before.   For more information, visit http://www.eqal.com.

Contact: Kourtney Schepman
Rogers & Cowan
310-854-8168
[email protected]

SOURCE EQAL