Meez Launches Animated 3D Avatars on AOL's AIM

Business Wire, Nov 7, 2007

Meez Delivers Fun, Interactive Experience for AIM Users and Brand Engagement for Advertisers

SAN FRANCISCO -- Meez, the leading consumer avatar service, today announced it has partnered with AOL's AIM to enable users of the most popular instant messaging service in the U.S. to custom-create animated 3D avatars for use on the AIM service1. By partnering with AIM, one of the Web's leading social communities, Meez continues to expand the creative user applications for its avatars and the promotional opportunities for brand advertisers.

AIM[R] users can create their own personal Meez[TM] avatar at http://aim.meez.com and make it their buddy icon with the push of a button. The 3D avatars will appear in the AIM chat window performing animations that users have chosen and can be viewed by the AIM user and the AIM buddies with whom the user is chatting. In addition, AIM users can change their avatar's animation on the fly by typing in simple text triggers. Typing "hi" will result in a hand wave, "zzz" will put the Meez avatar to sleep and "brb" will send the avatar off screen for a moment.

"AIM is a perfect destination for Meez avatars. Users are going to have a ton of fun using our 3D animations to enhance their chat experience," noted Sean Ryan, CEO of Meez. "We're also seeing considerable interest from advertisers who see the potential to engage young people by bringing their brands together with Meez avatars in an interactive environment like AIM."

Meez offers advertiser packages designed to connect brands with young people in the 13-25 demographic. Built around branded virtual items and custom animations, these packages provide a much more immersive brand experience than traditional online media. As a result of the Meez / AIM offering, advertisers will now have access to even more brand engagement opportunities, including branded text triggers. With a branded trigger, a user could type in the name of a soft drink manufacturer, causing his or her Meez avatar to take a drink from a virtual soda bottle.

"By integrating Meez avatar-building tools, we continue to enhance the AIM experience for users who demand greater personalization and interaction," said David Liu, Senior Vice President, AOL. "Meez offers many customization options for unique self-expression, as well as 3D animations that increase user engagement."

With Meez's avatar-building tools, available at http://aim.meez.com, AIM users can personalize their unique 3D avatars by choosing from over 4,000 digital assets, including virtual clothing, accessories, hairstyles, tattoos, piercings, physical attributes and backgrounds. Meez avatars can also be animated with the click of a button. Meez offers more than 300 different animation moves for users to choose from, including Samba dancing, riding a flying carpet and lounging on a couch.

About Meez

Meez provides sophisticated avatar services for the mainstream. At Meez.com, users can create and animate highly-customized 3D avatars that express their personal style and passions. Meez avatars can then be exported and used all over the Internet as a 3D I.D. The company has secured strategic partnerships with leading consumer and social media sites who have integrated Meez's avatar-building tools and services directly into their sites, including AOL, Glam.com, CBS Sportsline, PalTalk, and Photobucket. Based in San Francisco, CA, and developed by Donnerwood Media, Meez is backed by Battery Ventures, Transcosmos Partners, Allen & Co., and other individual investors. For more information, visit: www.meez.com.

1 AIM version 6.0 or newer