Stan Lee Goes Digital

POW! Entertainment, the media and entertainment company founded by comic legend Stan Lee, announced its business expansion into the digital content production and distribution industry, with Google’s YouTube and EQAL deals among the first to be confirmed. The initiative signals Stan Lee and POW! Entertainment’s move towards a direct-to-consumer business model and investment in building a prominent multi-media presence across key platforms to ensure enhanced engagement with audiences worldwide. As a result it will open up new licensing and revenue opportunities for the company alongside its franchise developments for its motion pictures in live action and animation, television programming, merchandising and video game divisions.

POW! Entertainment recently announced its joint venture with Michael Eisner’s digital studio Vuguru to produce and distribute studio quality films, episodic series and digital content across multiple platforms. The first project from this partnership will be ‘Stan Lee’s World of Heroes,’ a new original channel distributed by YouTube. YouTube’s partnership with POW! Entertainment and Vuguru will see the channel launch exclusive programming next year based on the company’s stories around amazing characters and extraordinary individuals. POW! Entertainment and Vuguru are currently in development, with production and distribution slated for 2012.

POW! Entertainment will also ramp up Stan Lee’s online community engagement through the launch of a new branded consumer website called ‘TheRealStanLee.com’ in partnership with EQAL, the media company known for building influencer networks around celebrities and brands. Officially launching in early 2012, the destination site will act as a hub for “all things Stan Lee” and will be a fully operational news, content and social network that is integrated into the beloved artist’s Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms. Currently ‘The Real Stan Lee’ has a splash page with a special message from Stan and an email capture to notify all registrants when the site goes live.

Gill Champion, president/CEO of POW! Entertainment, said: “The company’s rapid expansion in digital entertainment solidifies our brand vision and multimedia strategy to engage with a whole new generation of Stan Lee and superhero fans globally. As we expand our company with these digital initiatives, we are thrilled to be working with world-class industry leaders such as Michael Eisner’s Vuguru studio, YouTube and EQAL, and continue to extend our brand’s portfolio of much-loved and new franchises to wider audiences worldwide.”

POW! Entertainment’s digital strategy and subsequent partnerships have been developed and brokered with the help of Scott Nocas, a seasoned digital strategist who formerly held executive positions at Microsoft Xbox and Sony Network Entertainment. He will continue to help the companies cultivate these opportunities into 2012, and beyond.

Miles Beckett, the co-founder and CEO of EQAL, added, “As a lifelong fan, it makes it that much more exciting to be in business with Stan Lee. He is a legend and we are thrilled to be able to work together to create a digital property for him to communicate directly with his fans and for the Stan Lee community to gather, interact and get all of their information on Stan and what he is up to.” Added Greg Goodfried, co-founder and president of EQAL, “Stan Lee is an important brand and we are especially happy to bring all of the tools EQAL has to further his expansion in the digital and entertainment realms.”

Stan Lee is known to millions as the man whose Super Heroes propelled Marvel to its preeminent position in the comic book industry, Stan Lee’s co-creations include Spider-Man™, The Incredible Hulk™, X-Men™, The Fantastic Four™, Iron Man™, Daredevil™, Silver Surfer™ and Dr. Strange™. In 1977, he introduced Spider-Man as a syndicated newspaper strip that became the most successful of all syndicated adventure strips and now appears in more than 500 newspapers worldwide — making it the longest-running of all Super Hero strips. In November 2001 he founded POW! Entertainment and serves as the Chairman and Chief Creative Officer.