BOB CROWLEY AND DAVID LAVALLEE ANNOUNCE THE FORMATION OF GAMEFACE MEDIA
Gameface uses the stickiest content in the world, a photo, to connect brands with customers like never before.
Boston (December 14, 2012) – Technology business executives and endurance athletes Bob Crowley and David Lavallee today launched Gameface Media LLC, a social media platform enabling brands to reach amateur athletes. Gameface has reinvented the way brands connect with these athletes, who have traditionally been overcharged for photos of themselves taken during competitions.
Gameface enables brands to make a deep connection with sporting event participants by providing free photos of them participating in obstacle races, triathlons, running races, golf, skiing and youth sports. The company’s social media technology drives participants to an advertiser’s website or Facebook page where they may be greeted with customized offers aimed at converting them to customers. The photos, branded with the company’s logo, may be downloaded, saved and shared on social media outlets for free.
“We aren’t just tweaking the existing sports photography model, we are revolutionizing it,” said Chairman and Co-founder Crowley. “Our goal is literally to give away several hundred million dollars’ worth of photos to amateur athletes.”
Gameface provides all of the technology and services necessary to deliver these photos to participants flawlessly. The company uses the best photographers in the industry to capture 6 to 10 high-resolution photos of every participant in a typical athletic event. Gameface uses custom software developed on the Ruby on Rails platform, which identifies and “tags” as many athletes as possible so they can easily find and retrieve their photos. Within days, not weeks, email alerts are sent out to notify participants that their free, high-quality photos are ready for viewing, downloading, and instant sharing through the Gameface application, all bearing the sponsor’s and race event’s logos. In this way, sponsors get the opportunity to offer select deals to event participants who have the potential to become new, loyal customers.
“We love this business because everyone benefits from our new model,” said CEO and Co-founder Lavallee. “Participants are ecstatic to receive free photos, event owners see millions of online endorsements of their races as the photos are shared and advertisers connect with participants in a deeply emotional way.”
About Bob Crowley
As an entrepreneur, investor and athlete, Bob’s career spans across a multitude of platforms, including, private equity investor, business executive and technology entrepreneur in multiple categories: sports, media, cable television, telecommunications, software, e-commerce, consumer products, and distribution. Throughout his formative years, Bob began in cable television at American Cablesystems in Boston; the billing software company, CableData, in Sacramento, Calif.; and the enterprise software firm, Kenan Systems, in Cambridge, Mass.. All three entities experienced outstanding growth and subsequently had initial public stock offerings and/or were sold to strategic partners. Bob then went on to became CEO of two technology pioneers in XML and Web services, Arbortext and Bowstreet; both selling to Fortune 100 companies. Besides recently co-founding Gameface, Bob is managing partner of The Mustang Group, a Boston-based private equity firm, which he co-founded in 2003. Bob has received numerous awards, including Entrepreneur of the Year, Young President’s Award, Information Week Top 10 Executive, Red Herring’s Top 100 Technology Leaders, and Info World’s Rainmaker of the Year, while also being featured both inside and on the covers of numerous business and technology media outlets.
As an endurance athlete, Bob is an avid ultra distance trail runner, having completed more than 60 ultra events including the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run and the Hardrock 100 in the mountains of Colorado. He is the co-founder of the Trail Animals Running Club, which is one of the largest trail running clubs in the country, hosting over a dozen trail running events each year.
About David Lavallee
Before co-founding Gameface Media, David worked as an investment banker, working with Credit Suisse First Boston Technology Group in New York and Boston, as well as co-founding Revolution Partners in 2001, a boutique investment bank that served clients in high-growth technology sectors. During his investment-banking career, David helped his technology clients raise more than 11 billion in growth capital and complete more than 15 billion in M&A transactions. David also served as a corporate attorney for Testa, Hurwitz, and Thibeault, working on technology venture capital financings, IPOs and mergers and acquisitions.
Before obtaining his law degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center, David served as the press secretary for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, one of the largest media events in Senate history.
As a lifelong, endurance athlete, David was a member of the ski team during his undergraduate years attending Brown University and continues to be an avid golfer, skier, runner, triathlete and obstacle race participant. He is also active in coaching youth lacrosse.
About Gameface Media
Gameface enables brands to make a deep connection with sporting event participants by providing free photos of them participating in obstacle races, triathlons, running races, golf and skiing. Our social media technology drives participants to an advertiser’s website or Facebook page where they may be greeted with customized offers aimed at converting them into customers. The photos, branded with the company’s logo, may be downloaded, saved and shared on social media outlets for free. Because Gameface provides all of the technology and professional photography services that enable this experience, the brand company is not required to send printed promotional materials, tents, staff or samples to the event site.