HOLLYWOOD, CA, Sept. 30, 2009 – BUZZMEDIA, the largest publisher of pop culture sites on the Internet, today announced the launch of BUZZMEDIA Talent Services. The new division will identify unique online programming opportunities for musicians and celebrities to work with major advertisers.
BUZZMEDIA Talent Services will be headed by Craig Bland, who has been promoted to Vice President, Celebrity Programming and Development. Bland has been instrumental in developing strategic partnerships for BUZZMEDIA since joining the company in 2006. During this time, he has worked closely with talent and their management to create and implement online media strategies.
In this new role, Bland will leverage his cutting edge work at BUZZMEDIA developing celebrity-driven programming to significantly expand that portion of BUZZMEDIA’s business.
“Our initial forays indicate that we have only begun to scratch the surface of this opportunity,” said Doug Rohrer, BUZZMEDIA’s Chief Revenue Officer. “With both our extensive celebrity programming and relationships, and category leading pop culture web properties, we’re uniquely qualified to play in this arena.”
BUZZMEDIA manages Websites on behalf of leading musicians and celebrities, including Britney Spears, Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian, Nicole Richie, Whitney Port and Kendra Wilkinson. The company also operates leading celebrity properties such as The Superficial, Celebuzz, Just Jared, Socialite’s Life, WWTDD, and popular music properties such as Buzznet, Stereogum, Absolute Punk and Idolator.
BUZZMEDIA Talent Services has already been engaged with celebrity-driven programming campaigns for major brands like JCPenney and IKEA US. The company recently launched “Get Schooled in Style with Whitney Port” together with JCPenney, which provided fans the chance to win a shopping spree with MTV’s star of The Hills and The City, Whitney Port as their stylist, and also star in a video with her. “Dash Across IKEA” featured videos of E! stars Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian at IKEA Burbank designing the perfect dorm room, and gave fans the opportunity to win autographed furniture. Both campaigns received extensive distribution across BUZZMEDIA’s Websites.
In addition to developing sponsored programming, the company will also focus on ways celebrities can better utilize the Internet to promote their own careers and causes.
“This is an exciting time for BUZZMEDIA and I am proud to lead this new division,” said Bland. “The opportunity to leverage the power of celebrity-based programming to drive engagement affords brands a truly unique opportunity to cut through media clutter and inject direct participation of their brand into the lively conversations already happening between celebrities and their fans on the web and beyond.”
With more than 15 years experience in online advertising and production, Bland began his career with Cox Interactive managing clients such as Prodigy, Sportsline, Hollywood.com, Tripod and The Spot. As National Account Manager to Microsoft’s Advertising Business Unit, he broke numerous new categories and sold the first integrated sponsorship on MSNBC, Carpoint and Slate. Relocating to Los Angeles, Bland was Regional Director at Buena Vista Internet Group where he developed Mattel’s first-ever online ad campaign for the launch of the Barbie Digital Camera. He has also consulted for Hollywood studios such as DreamWorks and Revolution, and served as producer on more than 80 hours of reality television.
About BUZZMEDIA:
BUZZMEDIA is a leading social media publisher operating over thirty of the top pop-culture sites on the Web. The company powers communities in entertainment and music that bring together professional editorial, expert opinion, user-generated content and highly customized sponsorships to create the most timely, deep and engaging entertainment experience on the web. The company’s portfolio includes some of the biggest online music and celebrity brands such as Buzznet, Celebuzz, OKmagazine.com, Absolute Punk, GoFugYourself, JustJared, Stereogum, TheSuperficial, WWTDD, Socialite Life, Idolator and the official sites for celebrities like Britney Spears, Kim Kardashian, Nicole Richie and others. For more information, please visit buzz-media.com.