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To: Ron who wrote (27622)	12/14/1998 11:19:00 AM
From: AV8R	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 119973

SEVL News: Monday December 14, 7:56 am Eastern Time Company Press Release New England Patriots Use Animated Mascot To Announce Revenue Sharing "Fanware" Pact With 7th Level Applications Will Enable Fans To Lip Synch Animated Fan Characters For Email, Personal Websites & Desktop Applications FOXBORO, MA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 14, 1998-- The New England Patriots announced a revenue sharing agreement with 7th Level, Inc. (NASDAQ NMS: SEVL - news) to develop custom versions of its Agent 7 technology for use and distribution on the Patriots official web site. In addition to the animated Patriot Mascot Agent, 7th Level will create male and female ''New England Fan Agents'' that will enable online fans to synchronize their own voice or synthesized speech to the animation. Fans can choose to email an unlimited number of the character animations over the Internet, feature them on personal websites, or use them to enliven Windows 95/98 desktop applications. The ''fanware'' partnership kicks off this Sunday with the debut of the animated Patriot ''Mascot Agent'' as an official greeter on the Patriots official website. The animated mascot will be used to announce new additions to the site as well as draw attention to particular sections and offers available in the online ProShop. Soon after, the website will offer a new FanAgent application enabling fans to synchronize their own voice or synthesized speech to the animation of the ''NE Fan Agents.'' These agents can then be used for personal websites and desktop presentations. Its sibling application, FanMail, will enable fans to email the animations as self-executing files that can be played and replayed on the Windows desktop. The agents will also offer to escort users back to personal web sites or the Patriot's ProShop. Both will be available directly from www.patriots.com. ''The Patriots are always looking for ways to enhance the multimedia experience for online fans. We aggressively strive to embrace technology that is not only on the cutting edge, but also exploits the nature of communication on the net,'' said Trent Adams, New Media Producer for the Patriots. No stranger to new technology, Adams produces the groundbreaking Cyber Sideline daily video show for the Patriots web site. ''Our animated mascot helps us communicate on the site and the new fan agents will take that one step further by literally giving voice to the fans. Anyone with a microphone attached to their computer will be able to use these characters, it's that easy.'' ''We salute the Patriots for being the first professional sports team to take fandom and branding into the age of personalized electronic communications,'' said Richard Merrick, CEO of 7th Level. Merrick said today's agreement is a further extension of the Company's strategy to expand use of its enhanced communications technology to support branding and loyalty within web communities of all types, portals and other sites with substantial constituencies. ''The high profile of the Patriot's site, together with the traditional fan loyalty attached to sports teams makes this a special opportunity for us,'' he said. ''Our technology is particularly well suited for converting sports mascots and logos into interactive animated characters that can help teams use the Internet to enhance brand equity and marketing communications,'' Merrick explained. ''Our technology also is well suited for helping web communities with product differentiation now that our characters can be used in email and will soon be available for instant messaging.'' The Patriots are one of the most aggressive NFL teams in terms of building its franchise and using new media to enhance its brand equity. In addition to Cyber Sideline, the Patriots were the first to introduce live video postgame shows and live daily press conferences to the net. Also on their web site users find interactive trading cards and a place to share their opinions on bulletin boards and hosted fan pages. ''As our fan base grows more Internet-savvy, it is exciting to include 7th Level's agent technology in our multimedia portfolio,'' said Fred Kirsch, the Director of Interactive Content for the Patriots. ''We are building a unique online community of fan-oriented digital collectibles, and the Fan Agents fit right in.'' About 7th Level 7th Level, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, is the leading provider of enhanced communications applications for creating interactive, talking animated characters to expand the effectiveness and reduce the cost of media-rich webpages, emails and presentations for a wide variety of online and desktop uses. For professional developers and consumers who want to increase the effectiveness and reduce the cost of media rich presentations and communications, 7th Level technology and applications have become the industry standard for quickly and inexpensively producing broadcast quality, interactive, talking animated characters for Internet and Windows 95/98 applications. Unlike costly and time-consuming traditional methods of producing frame-based animation, 7th Level's voice-activated characters can be used to create an unlimited number of interactive, animated sequences in seconds. For more information about 7th Level, visit its website at www.7thlevel.com