Holiday-Themed Animation Stories Feature Narration from Milo Ventimiglia, Lil' Jon, Kristen Bell, Pete Wentz and Adrianne Palicki
December 04, 2007
PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) today announced the debut of the latest original content series from 77E, "AE Winter Tales." Written and directed by award-winning writer and director Adam Green ("Hatchet"), the stop motion animation series consists of five holiday-themed stories, which are narrated by popular actors and musicians. Milo Ventimiglia ("Heroes") and Russ Cundiff, co-founders of Divide Pictures, produced "AE Winter Tales" following their first collaboration with American Eagle and 77E, "It's a Mall World."
"AE Winter Tales captures the spirit of classic animated holiday favorites while adding a healthy dose of irreverence and wit," said Kathy Savitt, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. "It's great to be working with Divide Pictures and some of today's brightest young stars to introduce a fresh and innovative content experience for 77E on ae.com."
"We wanted to do something slightly different for the holidays, while maintaining a familiar jumping-off point for the viewer," said Ventimiglia. "I grew up loving the classic animated tales, and the opportunity to partner with American Eagle again and explore an alternate world to a magical winter wonderland, provided a lot of twisted scenarios."
Today, customers can watch the first two episodes: "Home for the Holidays" narrated by Milo Ventimiglia, which is based on one of his real-life traveling experiences, and "Devil's Peak" narrated by Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy). Customers can also view behind-the-scenes footage from the set of the series and download the exclusive "AE Winter Tales" track, "Holiday Radio." The final three episodes – narrated by Adrianne Palicki ("Friday Night Lights"), Lil' Jon (hip-hop star) and Kristen Bell ("Veronica Mars") – will be available on December 11.
The full three- to five-minute episodes will be available exclusively on 77E, American Eagle Outfitters' entertainment channel on ae.com. In addition, Virgin Mobile USA is featuring the "AE Winter Tales" content to its entertainment-savvy customers who are signed onto Sugar Mama®, Virgin Mobile's innovative opt-in mobile advertising program.
For more information about "AE Winter Tales," visit www.ae.com/web/77e/winter-tales/.
About American Eagle Outfitters:
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) is a leading retailer that operates under the American Eagle Outfitters® and MARTIN + OSA™ brands.
American Eagle Outfitters designs, markets and sells its own brand of laidback, current clothing targeting 15 to 25 year-olds, providing high-quality merchandise at affordable prices. The original collection includes standards like jeans and graphic Ts as well as essentials like accessories, outerwear, footwear, basics and swimwear. American Eagle currently operates 855 stores in 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and 75 AE stores in Canada. American Eagle also operates ae.com®, which offers additional sizes and styles of favorite AE® merchandise and ships to more than forty countries around the world. The American Eagle® brand also includes a Dormwear® collection, aerie™, which is available in 38 standalone stores, American Eagle stores and at aerie.com. The collection includes bras, undies, camis, hoodies, robes, boxers, sweats and leggings for the AE girl. Designed to be sweetly sexy, comfortable and cozy, the aerie brand offers AE customers a new way to express their personal style everyday, from the dormroom to the coffee shop to the classroom. 77E, a new multi-channel entertainment platform, features original and user-generated content on ae.com, in AE stores, on television, and on Web sites such as Youtube, MySpace and Facebook.
MARTIN + OSA, a concept targeting 28 to 40 year-old women and men, offers refined casual clothing and accessories, designed to be valuable, irresistible, inspiring, authentic and adventurous. MARTIN + OSA currently operates 17 stores. For additional information and updates, visit www.martinandosa.com.
Divide Pictures
Divide Pictures was formed in 2003 by actor/director Milo Ventimiglia ("Heroes") and producer Russ Cundiff. An independent production company, Divide specializes in film and television development and the creation of original digital content for the Internet and wireless space.
Prior to starting Divide, Ventimiglia starred in the television series "Gilmore Girls" and "American Dreams," as well as the feature film "Cursed," directed by Wes Craven. Most recently, he starred alongside Sylvester Stallone in "Rocky Balboa," the sixth installment of the "Rocky" movie franchise. Ventimiglia will soon be seen starring in the thriller "Pathology" for Lakeshore. The film will be released in February 2008.
Before forming Divide, Cundiff worked in entertainment public relations, serving as Media Relations Manager at the prestigious William Morris Agency. Prior to William Morris, Cundiff was a publicity executive at Bragman Nyman Cafarelli (BNC) Public Relations, a marketing communications firm specializing in entertainment and lifestyle/pop culture. He began his career as a management trainee at Industry Entertainment, a leading artist management and film-television production company.
Divide is represented by CAA and Jeffrey Frankel at Colden, McKuin and Frankel.
Contacts
American Eagle Outfitters
Beth Barney, 412-432-3424
barney@ae.com
or
Beck Media & Marketing (for Divide Pictures)
Todd Beck/Steve Spignese, 310-689-7363
todd@beckmedia.com
steve@beckmedia.com
