Animoca Brands and AID Partners launch Paris Hilton Collection within “Star Girl” mobile game
Also added to Star Girl: Paris Beach Club, yoga minigame, 150 summer fashion items, and more
Highlights:
- Animoca Brands adds Paris Hilton branded merchandise inside Star Girl mobile game (total cost for Paris Hilton items: US$ 4.99)
- Star Girl is owned by Complete Star, a subsidiary of AID Partners Capital Holdings Limited (8088.HK)
- Product release follows the signing of an agreement to license the name and likeness of global celebrity Paris Hilton, previously announced on 3 March 2015
- Animoca Brands begins commercialisation of licensing partnership with the Paris Hilton brand
- The addition of virtual Paris Hilton goods within Star Girl is the result of cooperation between Animoca Brands, AID Partners, Iconicfuture and Paris Hilton Entertainment
- The Star Girl series of games are popular among female users all over the world, with 65 million downloads to date
- The addition of Paris Hilton merchandise is expected to boost the already considerable popularity and consumer appeal of Star Girl
- Demonstrates Company’s modular development strategy and its ability to rapidly bring new products to market
- Star Girl is free to download globally on Google Play, iTunes and Amazon
Hong Kong – 11 August 2015 – Animoca Brands (ASX:AB1, “the Company”) and AID Partners Capital Holdings Limited (8088.HK) today announced the availability of Paris Hilton virtual merchandise in the existing and highly successful mobile app Star Girl, a fashion role-playing game popular with a global female audience. This marks an expansion in strategy for the Company, being the first time that Animoca Brands has introduced branded goods into an existing game instead of making a new game.
The new items, dubbed the Paris Hilton Collection, have been added to Star Girl in a service update resulting from an agreement announced on 3 March 2015 between Animoca Brands and Ms Hilton. This cooperation was made possible by Iconicfuture and gives Animoca Brands the right to utilize the name and likeness of Paris Hilton in mobile apps. Animoca Brands cooperated with AID Partners, majority owner of Complete Star and the Star Girl series, to produce and deploy the new branded items in Star Girl.
The Company expects that the introduction of virtual goods branded by one of the world’s most famous celebrities will strengthen the game’s consumer appeal. Paris Hilton is an American model, actress, singer, DJ and entrepreneur. She is one of the most recognised celebrities in the world, as well as one of the most followed on social media.
The items in the Paris Hilton Collection are part of a Star Girl game update that includes:
Paris Hilton Collection Vol. 1, consisting of five dresses, a pair of sunglasses, and a fishnet stockings and heels combo. The items are inspired by fashion choices of Ms Hilton, and are available for a total price of US$ 4.99
Paris Hilton Style, a recurring fashion competition with voting by players
a virtual version of Ms Hilton’s Paris Beach Club, which opened in 2014 in Paranaque City, the Philippines. The virtual club will be the setting for fashion contests
the new “Star Dazzle” virtual store, which offers the Paris Hilton virtual items
over 150 new, summer-themed items added to the regular in-game store
a new yoga minigame
a new Photo Frame where players can take pictures of their avatars with a variety of backdrops and share them on social media
Star Girl earns revenue from advertising and in-app purchases, and is free to download globally from Google Play, the iTunes App Store, and the Amazon Appstore, making it universally available to Apple and Android users. Apple and Android devices account for 96% of all devices worldwide (source: International Data Corporation 2014).
Star Girl is being promoted using physical advertising, online advertising and social media campaigns, including a promotional Twitter “flock to unlock” campaign that will gift about US$ 10 worth of premium in-game currency to users when the targeted number of tweets is reached.
In addition to producing dedicated branded games, Animoca Brands will continue to pursue opportunities to develop branded merchandise opportunities in various existing games. The Company’s modular development strategy is high-volume and robust, which enables it to rapidly deploy merchandise and characters into a range of games within its portfolio and in the portfolios of partner companies.
Robby Yung, CEO, Animoca Brands commented:
“We’re very excited to be the first company to develop and deploy in-app purchases using the Paris Hilton brand. By launching branded merchandise in an existing successful game, we can leapfrog the initial download growth phases and obtain valuable usage information for future branding efforts right from the start.”
Paris Hilton commented:
“Play Star Girl and try my first ever collection of virtual items, including some of my dresses, sunglasses and footwear!”
Mr. Kelvin Wu, Chief Executive Officer of AID Partners said:
“We are excited about the crossover between Star Girl and Paris Hilton. Through AID Partners’ “Pan-entertainment” platform, fans of Star Girl and Paris Hilton are now able to enjoy the fun blending mobile games, fashion, toys, and other trending merchandises in an ecosystem. We believe that Star Girl is not simply a mobile game appealing to female players, but also a highly expandable concept that fosters dialogue between social media, celebrities and businesses across platforms and generations.”
Star Girl download links:
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/app/star-girl/id541835159
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.animoca.google.starGirl
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A9NXGAO
Star Girl website and social media:
Star Girl website: http://stargirl.animoca.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StarGirlCommunity
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StarGirlApp
Google +: https://plus.google.com/110710298193286827295/posts
About AID Partners Capital Holdings Limited
AID Partners Capital Holdings Limited is an independent asset management and strategic investment company listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. It has been investing in the lifestyle, entertainment and internet-related sectors, including, but not limited to, O2O lifestyle and e-commerce businesses by way of acquisitions and collaborations. It aims to utilize global intellectual properties via its own channels, namely its music, games, lifestyle and TV and film channels to create a ‘Pan-entertainment” platform. For more information, please visit www.aid8088.com.
About Complete Star Limited
Complete Star Limited is co-owned by AID Partners Capital Holdings Limited (8088.HK), a leading Hong Kong independent asset management and strategic investment company, and Animoca (Outblaze Ventures Holdings Limited). Complete Star publishes and operates Star Girl games, a series of fashion role-playing games in which players create a virtual female celebrity and determine her career, appearance and social life while interacting with the game world and other players. The Star Girl series has been downloaded 65 million times and includes Star Girl, Star Girl: Beauty Queen, Star Girl: Colors of Spring, Star Girl: Moda Italia, Star Girl: Valentine Hearts, Star Girl: Spooky Styles, and other titles.
About Iconicfuture
Iconicfuture increases engagement, retention and monetization in any game or app by delivering the most suitable branded content to developers and making licensing fast, simple and cost-effective. Millions of branded items have already been sold through Iconicfuture resulting in a significant increase in game and app downloads.
At the heart of the 360 degree service sits a proprietary platform that has been developed by a team of IT specialists. By maximizing efficiencies in the licensing process Iconicfuture takes the time and complexity out of securing branded digital content.
For more information, please visit www.iconicfuture.com.
About Animoca Brands
Animoca Brands Corporation Ltd. (ASX: AB1) publishes globally a broad portfolio of mobile games, including several games based on popular intellectual properties such as Garfield, Ultraman, and Doraemon. The company’s games have been downloaded over 140 million times. Animoca Brands is based in Hong Kong. For more information visit www.animocabrands.com.
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