NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ IAC Consumer Applications and Portals) - IAC Consumer Applications and Portals, a wholly-owned business of IAC/InterActiveCorp (Nasdaq: IACI), today announced that
Kelly Rowland, Scott Ian, Lil Mama, Hinder, Teddy Geiger, and Jordan McCoy will serve as celebrity hosts at "Stage-Z" - a full-day concert to be held July 7th in its virtual world, Zwinktopia. Environmental reporters Amy Sedaris, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler, and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog will also be participating. Stage-Z will raise awareness of the global warming epidemic and need for climate control reform.
"Global warming is an issue that we need to confront, and I am proud to do my part to help today's teens understand the dire consequences of inaction on this issue," said Kelly Rowland. "Hosting at Stage-Z in Zwinktopia is an innovative way for me to spread this message to the online community."
In conjunction with The Alliance For Climate Protection, Stage Z will broadcast in Zwinktopia (https://blog.zwinky.com), a virtual world for the more than seven million Zwinky avatars worldwide. Stage-Z will feature a 24-hour block of music videos, interviews, comedy, short films, and exclusive programming from today's top hip-hop, rock, pop, electronic, and metal artists as well as celebrity DJ's, comedians and actors.
The event will coincide with Live Earth, a 24-hour, 7-continent series of 9 concerts taking place on July 7th that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis.
"An Inconvenient Truth and other events have made people aware of the problem," Brian Reich, director of New Media for the Alliance for Climate Protection said. "LiveEarth will be a major step in raising public awareness, and we are excited to work with Zwinky because it will serve as a good platform to continue introducing both the urgency of the climate crisis and the solvability of the issue,"
"What better place than Zwinktopia - a virtual world free of environmental concerns - to host an event aimed at helping all of us take the first steps toward improving our own environment," said Scott Garell, CEO of IAC CAP. "By combining entertainment and technology, we have a unique opportunity to allow artists to connect with their fans while helping to improve the global climate crisis."
The Stage-Z Concert will be held in the new outdoor amphitheatre in Zwinktopia (https://blog.zwinky.com) built especially for the event. Along with Rowland, the artist line-up consists of celebrity hosts including: Lil Mama, Teddy Geiger, and Vh1's celebrity superstar Scott Ian of Anthrax. The artists will be appearing on Stage-Z to introduce their music and share tips on how we can all cut down on our energy use and contribute to a better environment.
"It's time for us all to take a serious look at what we're doing to the environment and figure out how we're going to fix it," Teddy Geiger agrees. "Stage Z is a way to bring people together and start talking about things we can do to change the world. This is a great start. I am honored to virtually host this amazing event from Toronto where I am currently filming 'The Rocker.'"
"Rock has always been about rebellion," says Hinder frontman Austin Winkler. "We're going out there to fight the complacency and apathy people have about what's going on in the world and offer them some options on what they can do to change it."
Zwinktopia is a virtual world for the 7 million people who have created Zwinky avatars, virtual personas that serve as a user's online alter ego. Zwinktopia consists of over 30 unique locations and dozens of games and activities that let users shop, chat with friends, play games, participate in events and hang out in their dorm. Users can also earn Zbucks, a virtual currency that allows Zwinkies to virtually shop at one of many boutiques for clothes, accessories, and other products.
To bring together the entertainment community with Zwinktopia, IAC CAP is partnering with Buddylube, a wholly owned business of YouCast Corporation. Buddylube is a digital marketing agency leading social media marketing by linking its clients' 200 million registered users with today's top celebrities.
Zwinky and Zwinktopia are features of the MyWebSearch Toolbar and are easily accessible from a web browser. For more information or to download the toolbar to access Zwinky, visit https://blog.zwinky.com. The toolbar also provides users with other popular free products including Smiley Central, Webfetti, Popular Screensavers, MyFunCards, Cursor Mania, and many more personalized content products.
