NEW YORK: Facebank Group, Inc., a leading digital human technology company focused on the development, protection and activation of digital likeness assets for celebrities and consumers, and Authentic Brands Group (ABG), a global brand development, marketing and entertainment company, Tuesday announced a joint business development agreement “to pursue and share revenue opportunities from the digital likenesses of ABG-owned icons, including Muhammad Ali, Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe”.
Under the agreement, Facebank and ABG will collaborate to identify opportunities to license Facebank’s photo and hyper-realistic, computer-generated technology to third-parties and bring ABG’s intellectual properties to life.
As an aside, it is worth noting that ABG was in the news last May after it acquired Sports Illustrated for $110 million.
“Partnering with ABG provides us with a unique opportunity to show how we can drive new revenue streams for the estates of icons like Ali, Marilyn and Elvis, but also a new world of possibilities for living celebrities to leverage their digital likenesses for commercial and creative opportunities,” said John Textor, CEO of Facebank. “Ultimately, our goal is to demonstrate that everyone in today’s ‘selfie-driven culture’ – not just celebrities – can have fun with their faces across the dozens of uses in personal productivity, games and social media. This collaboration with ABG helps advance the mission of Facebank.”
“For many years ABG has admired Facebank’s leadership team for their ability to look towards emerging digital trends and we are excited to collaborate with them with some of the most recognizable icons of all time,” said Dan Dienst, executive vice chairman of ABG.
Facebank’s computer generated assets can be distributed across the full spectrum of traditional media and emerging display technologies, including live entertainment, virtual reality, augmented reality, mobile, interactive and artificial intelligence applications.
