Hop-on, Inc. (OTC:HPNN,) an international leader in the development and manufacture of electronics, software and telecommunications hardware, has announced its intention to acquire Vertuoso, an entertainment industry company specializing in vertical story-telling, ad-tech and content development. Vertuoso’s clients have included Nickelodeon, Viacom, BET, MTV and Wonderama. Hop-on is making the acquisition so as to integrate Vertuoso’s expertise into Digitalage, Hop-on’s decentralized social media, entertainment, and journalism platform. Peter Michaels, CEO, Hop-on, Inc., and Curt Doty, Founder, Vertuoso, jointly made today’s announcement.
According to Michaels and Doty, Hop-on’s acquisition of Vertuoso will provide Hop-on with a suite of capabilities by which to further Digitalage’s expertise with a “mobile-first” focus on premium ads – these ads will be designed to deliver interactive and immersive experiences that will pave the way towards advertising in AR and VR (Immersive Advertising). Vertuoso’s capabilities will be deeply integrated within Digitalage to provide greater services, drive better personalization, provide retargeting, and to offer a new suite of innovative ad units to Digitalage viewers, thus powering the platform’s unique support of its content creators.
As a result of this acquisition, Digitalage will benefit from the strategies and R&D that Vertuoso has been developing since that company’s start in 2017. From AR activations to Storyworld strategies, Vertuoso has been a thought leader in mobile-first initiatives – its founder, Curt Doty, has spoken at many mobile conventions, including the Mobile Growth Summit, the Mobile World Congress and the App Growth Summit. Doty has been an innovator in interactive content for the last twenty years, starting with R&D projects on behalf of clients such as Toshiba and Universal, continuing with Microsoft, and launching Paramount’s first interactive movies on smartphones. Doty also performed pioneering work on iAds and eBooks for Apple. To date, he has launched over 20 mobile apps.
Regarding today’s announcement, Peter Michaels, CEO of Hop-on, said, "This acquisition of Vertuoso will provide our users, advertisers, publishers, and other content providers with the tools they need to place and create innovative ads through self-service and innovate trending tech into a new user experience. This is key in our ongoing efforts to evolve content, tech and advertising into Web 3.0 and the Creator Economy, and thus creating a new, online middle class.”
“As Vertuoso becomes the umbrella advertising brand for Digitalage, Digitalage will also offer a ‘First Look Deal’ to Vertuoso’s stable of content creators with IP that Vertuoso has already co-developed during the last four years. This will give Vertuoso a jump in its development slate for original, immersive content that we can integrate into our Digitalage platform,” Michaels adds.
Curt Doty, Vertuoso Founder, stated, “We are very excited about the future of Digitalage and its promise of decentralization, along with a fair and equitable economy. I have been extremely impressed by their futuristic understanding of how technology will lift up and democratize content creation and distribution. I personally have a great deal of experience living at the edge of innovation, and I thrive when the worlds of content, design and tech collide into new points of innovation. To me, Digitalage is sure to become that new world.”
About Vertuoso
Founded by Curt Doty in 2017, Vertuoso is a content marketing agency that delivers innovative multi-platform strategies to support and enhance its clients’ goals with a mobile-first focus. For content strategies, the company launches brands, shows, documentaries and networks on all of the established and emerging social and streaming channels. Vertuoso’s clients have included Nickelodeon, Viacom, BET, MTV and Wonderama.
Award-winning creative executive Doty was an early evangelist of vertical storytelling. He has built up Vertuoso’s expertise in verticalizing shows for MTV and BET and has helped distribute vertical content on Snapchat and IGTV. Vertuoso evolved its content distribution arm and recently placed six shows on ClixTV®.
About Hop-on, Inc.
Hop-on, Inc. (OTC: HPNN) is a U.S.-based international leader in the development and manufacture of electronics, distributed software, and telecommunications hardware and services, capitalizing on its secured essential license agreements for mobile and computing technologies. Since 1993, the company has a proven record of innovation and market development. From developing the world's first CDMA disposable cell phone to the upcoming Digitalage decentralized social media platform promoting data portability and free speech and engineering essential tools for content protection and royalty management across social platforms and devices, the company works closely with inventors and patent holders to bring the latest technologies to demanding markets. To contact CEO Peter Michaels, please email: contact@hop-on.com or phone: 949-756-9008. See: www.hop-on.com www.twitter.com/hpnn
About Digitalage
The mission behind Digitalage is to lead the social media industry through combatting content piracy and empower publishers, influencers and contributors by providing a one-stop-shop for content creation and management so those contributors can reach their full potential. For publishers, influencers and contributors, Digitalage is revolutionizing the creator economy by supporting the next generation of marketers and influencers through its engagement platform of digital rights management tools that will empower users to connect, upload and share content, while compensating rights holders through utilizing decentralized Web 3.0 blockchain technologies.
Hop-on, Inc.: Forward-Looking Statements: https://www.hop-on.com/forward-looking-statements
Certain statements in this news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and are subject to Rule 3B-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. All statements, other than statements of fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential future plans and objectives of the Company, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and other results and further events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Future events and actual results could differ materially from those set forth in, contemplated by, or underlying the forward-looking statements.
