MGA Entertainment, Inc, one of the world’s fastest growing and largest privately held toy and entertainment companies, and creator of global sensation L.O.L. Surprise!, has partnered with Aquifer, an instant animation technology startup, to launch L.O.L. Surprise! Shoutouts, personalized, animated video shorts from fan-favorite characters for anyone to experience. To celebrate the launch, the site will offer special Valentine’s Day video shoutouts shorts for a limited time to customize for friends, schoolmates, and family.
Aquifer is a technology platform that empowers anyone to make cinematic animated videos. To help brands connect with consumers in a new way, they have introduced Shoutouts, a digital, 3D video creation platform with a shoppable storefront, offering consumers deeply personalized, expressive video stories from animated characters. L.O.L. Surprise! is the very first brand that Aquifer is partnering with to introduce the Shoutouts product and technology, acting as an extension of the L.O.L. Surprise! world for fans to interact with. L.O.L. Surprise! will be the only brand featured in partnership with Aquifer’s Shoutouts during the first three months of its launch.
“L.O.L. Surprise! Shoutouts aligns with our strategy to directly engage with fans through extended storytelling across the L.O.L. Surprise! franchise,” said Anne Parducci, Chief Content Officer for MGA Entertainment. “We are excited to celebrate this launch with limited-time, Valentine’s Day themed Shoutouts shorts – perfect for families, classrooms and friend groups looking for gifts that celebrate love and friendship.”
L.O.L. Surprise! Shoutouts allows users to undergo a full shopping experience from creation to receipt of the video shorts. Following simple prompts within the platform, friends and family members can customize the messages, and will receive the video short within 48 hours via email. Kids will be delighted to view and interact with their favorite L.O.L. Surprise! Tots characters, including Queen Bee, Neon QT, Diva and M.C. Swag, and they can keep their special video forever! The videos range from 30 seconds to five minutes long and feature cinematic quality with detailed backgrounds from each character’s world, rich scripted storytelling, customization, multiple camera angles and viewable in widescreen format.
Available at the L.O.L. Surprise! Shoutouts Shop, the Valentine’s Day L.O.L. Surprise! Shoutouts shorts will be available from January 19 through February 14, 2023, and come in packages of one, three and five, priced at $8, $19 and $31, respectively. Each video short will include up to four unique customizations and will feature a choice of four L.O.L. Surprise! Tots, all in a Valentine’s Day-themed message that is true to the brand’s theme of friendship and love. The L.O.L. Surprise! Shoutouts storefront also offers non-Valentine’s Day options year-round, starting at $12 each, for parents, caregivers, or friends to customize any message for occasions like birthdays, holidays, thank yous, or simply just because.
“Aquifer is on a mission to make customized storytelling easy and accessible to more consumers and their favorite brands,” said Chen Zhang, Founder and CEO of Aquifer. “With the launch of the new, innovative Shoutouts platform – the first of its kind – we’re enabling brands to create highly customized and engaging shopping experiences via animated shorts for fans. We see Valentine’s Day as a great initial example of how we can expand product categories, choice and storytelling within the platform.”
How does it work? Aquifer’s system instantly creates one-of-a-kind fully animated scenes from audio. To draft each original script using AI technology, the consumer fills out unique details in response to prompts, such as the recipient’s name (and pronunciation), favorite activities, or why they are loved. The platform’s technology then creates a detailed script. To enhance the shorts, real human fulfillers read the original scripts in their own voices with correct sentence structure and pronunciation, giving the Shoutouts shorts a more authentic, expressive feel and sound than similar products on the market. The platform then packages the audio as the voices of L.O.L. Surprise! Tots characters, communicating with the recipient in a fully customized, animated scene.
L.O.L. Surprise! Shoutouts joins the L.O.L. Surprise! franchise as yet another way for fans to interact with the brand. Not only is Shoutouts an extension of the popular doll line, animated series and movies, but it also signifies the launch of a brand-new category of digital licensed products that supports the continual expansion of MGA brands into the virtual future where fans can see themselves within the characters’ stories. L.O.L. Surprise! Shoutouts gives the gift of roleplay where kids can become a part of the L.O.L. Surprise! world they love so much.