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Cameo Stars: How to Make Lindsay Lohan Your Facebook Friend
A pair of entrepreneurs have developed a new app that allows people to buy online "cameos" from celebrities. Just in time for LiLo's release from rehab!
Posted 8/ 17 10 at 10:30 PM | Business Trends, Advertising & Marketing, Starting a Business, Taxes & Accounting, Online Business, Consumer Products & Services, Media, Software, Telecommunications, Inventions & Innovations
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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be "BFF" with celebrities like Lindsay Lohan, Kim Kardashian or Carmen Electra? A new social networking application provides a taste of celebrity friendship without all the drama or paparazzi -- safe from the confines of your Facebook account.Lohan, as well as sports stars like Drew Brees and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., are some of the most recent to join the ranks of celebrities working with Cameo Stars, launched this year by entrepreneurs Gene Cornfield and Daren Hornig.
Cameo Stars provides "social cameos," a term coined by Cornfield and Hornig. The application enables fans to purchase personalized video greetings to post on their own or their friends' Facebook pages for holidays, special occasions or just because, for $3 each.
Hornig, the company's president and CEO, says the idea for Cameo Stars was a natural outgrowth of tech trends he saw firsthand at home. "I have 9-year-old twins and was dividing a lot of time and money between Disney's Club Penguin for my daughter and different sports trading cards for my son," he says. "I also knew this technology that could create celebrity appearances." He devised a business model and talked to some developers and industry entrepreneurs about creating an app to bring celebrities and their fans closer together.
As he was helping to build Cameo Stars, Hornig saw an opportunity in virtual gifts and took note of the cultural fascination with celebrities. "The timing was opportune," he says. "Now we license the rights to celebrity talent and utilize our technology to create virtual goods and virtual gifts. We give some away for free on Facebook and will soon offer other types of social media and expand to other places on the Internet."
Hornig notes that celebrities have been making cameo appearances for decades. But until now, A-listers (and B-listers and C-listers) have not fully embraced the power of technology to bring them closer to their fans. "Our social cameos are not personalized by name, but they do address 'you' personally," he says. "There are customization features in the app itself, and you can write something to your friend."
From a celebrity's perspective, Hornig believes the Cameo Stars can contribute positively to image and branding. Lindsay Lohan's limited-edition social cameos -- recorded on July 13, days before she began serving jail time -- show her delivering heartfelt, personal messages to her fans. The troubled star is set to be release from rehab shortly, following her stint in jail.
According to Hornig, using available tools on the Web to connect intimately with fans can be especially valuable to stars like Lohan and Tony Romo, who have faced unfavorable media coverage in the tabloids and beyond. "People become familiar with them and their ratings go up, and they have more value," he says. "They're not in the role of a character. Tony's not playing a football game and Lindsay is not portraying someone else in a movie. They are out there talking to you as if they were right there in real life. They are lighthearted and whimsical and let their personalities shine through and are not scripted or in character. These types of appearances are the next generation of communication within social media."
To date, Cameo Stars has recorded about 50 social cameos, with another 100 in development. Hornig and his team have been actively filming the past few months and have done multiple shoots in Los Angeles, New Orleans and elsewhere. They are also working on building partnerships with sponsors to help them better utilize their signed personalities and help their respective company brands go viral.
Hornig says the most unique appearances he has recorded thus far were racing icons Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., which will be released this week. "We had Richard Petty on a tractor," he says. "These were the first ones where we were able to cross-reference profession with celebrity. We were able to focus on their identities as race car drivers and use a lot of props. In general, we work really hard to make all the appearances special. We do a lot of research on individual celebrities and try to pull out which specific qualities make them unique."
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Comments (Page 1 of 1)
yeah i do have a bit to say have any of you ever thought if i did one thing these spoiled little brats of tv and movies that you would be doing 5 to 10 in prison i know you have as i have it is just another reflection of how the rich can do as they please say what they please and they just get a little slap on the rist and a quick pardon who the hell gives to rats asses about them or their face books really is this news ? celebs can kiss my normal ass
I agree with JOSH,.. if we didn't like those spoiled stars ways... we would get 5-10 years, while they gather money at our expence....no way...wouldn't join their classy cameo shots, and don't want to see them...
The only way I would want to be her facebook friend is to ask her what the hell is she doing...What is wrong with all these rich people who have to go out...They have everything and behave like trash...They have everything going for te BUT yetthey choice to party to the point where they are out of control...If you have issues with howo you grow up well then goto counselor and figure it out what there darn problem ....They have everything going for them but yet they cant figure out what there proble is..Get it togther will you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SHES ANOTHER WASTE OF TALANT AND SHE IS AN ARRAGENT LITTLE @#$% ENOUGH OF THE POOR LINDSAY SHES A LOSER
I wish her a successful recovery. She has serious issues and that little blip of a circus court trial with a play make believe sentence joke that she wasn't there long enough to unpack, let alone reform. I think it is safe to say she has a long way to go. She hope fully will get out of the spotlight mode and really seriously rehabilitation. She needs help and I hope she gets it.
You've got to be kidding. They owe the tax payers!!!!!!!!!!!
I wish she would sit on my face
Why are all you people whining and complaining about her??? Aren't you the same people who buy the mags, watch her movies nd so on? In other words, isn't you who make it posible for people like HER to go out and do whatever they want to do? Of course it is! It's no different than some pro football player that now is making millions a year and goes out and gets thrown in jail. Last Sunday you saidnothing but great things about him but now that's he's in jail he's worthless to you! Yet, you'll STILL go and see him play when he gets out!!! LOL Keep on giving these people your hard earned money, they truly love the lifestyle made possible by YOU!!! lol
your the ones that go see her movies and buy the magazines to read of these same people you trash, so who are the actual idiots here?
I don't care about Facebook I would just like to see her get her shit together and make some more great movies
This crazy Bi&^%h should be in jail not getting out of rehab and this just making her richer and those of yopu enableing her like that even crazer mom of hers / both of them and the judge should all be in jail if i had of done the things thios spoiled no talent nut has done and all she has to do is shed a few tears please people quit buying or seeing anything that makes her more millions
Who is Lindsay? And why should I care? Does she have a last name?
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Who cares?
I will tell you who; the media cares. They get milage out of this trash. This includes the national networks.
They run this c r a p over and over when there are good stories about good people doing good things for Americans that they never report.
A good example is www.Bikefree.org Two young Americans helping the children of our fallen and wounded troops.