Articles A Message From The Stars by DJ Forrest

Congratulations to Sandra Beistle, winner of our Personalised Video Message from Gareth David-Lloyd competition!

What a fantastic introduction to an article about a website allowing celebrity’s closer contact with their fans by sending them personalised video messages.  Who’d have thought it? All those times sitting in your room daydreaming of hearing the voice of your favourite idol talking to you personally and now a website offers you that opportunity.  Of course we had to check it out!

Angus Lancaster is the brainchild behind this idea.  He had been involved with the One Direction Music Video ‘Live While We’re Young’ with his other company www.waterwalkerz.com  He found the group to be ”really nice guys who wanted to connect with their fans,” but as he says, “there was no easy or fair way” for them to do this.

“We’ve been working on the technology for a while but have only been live for a few months, gradually adding more celebrities on a daily basis, (many lined up – but not on the site yet).”

We spoke to Angus about the site and he told us more about the fantastic opportunity for a celebrity to reach out to their masses of adoring fans, and with more celebrities being added to their list, the chance of receiving a video message from even more stars of Torchwood and Doctor Who was definitely not something to be sniffed at.  We can hardly wait to see who else is going to appear on this website.

At the moment you can receive a message from Gareth David-Lloyd that can be between 10 – 15 seconds in length.  And believe me there’s a lot you can say in 15 seconds!  “Although if a celebrity wants to they can record up to 2 minutes if they have enough to say.”  Imagine that, 2 whole minutes of Gareth!!!

So how can you receive a personalised video message from Gareth, or indeed anyone listed on the website currently and soon to be?

Well first of all you need to locate the website http://www.celebvm.com/video/21YtcQ then follow the easy online instructions. You have to upload a photo which allows Gareth (or other) to form a personal connection with the lucky person receiving the message.  You have also up to 300 characters to write as much info about yourself, which will be uploaded with the photo. 

Each celebrity has a different fee, with Gareth its £10 with others it’s anything above and beyond. The reasons behind this can be down to how much time they currently have and how much they think their fans can afford.

“The celebrity can record and upload their message on their iPhone, iPad or desktop computer and it’s often quicker than sending a tweet or answering fanmail!

Most videos are done within a few days but where the Celebrity might be unable to record a request within 28 days, the request is cancelled.  When the Celebrity has more time and able to record their video, the fan will be contacted by email, if the request was cancelled AFTER 28 days.”  Angus tells us.

Payment for the videos is set up through Paypal.  The transaction goes through only when the video message has been sent to the fan. 

We all know how busy our idols work so there may be times when the Celebrity is absolutely inundated with requests that they simply cannot handle them all, so will do what they can.  “Requests are displayed to them in a random order from the site, giving every fan a fair and equal and affordable chance to get a video.”

You can request a video more than once, which if you weren’t successful in the first instance, then there’s every opportunity of requesting again.  Or you may wish to order a request for a friend, for whatever reason, such as birthday, wedding greeting, passing a driving test, or exams, wedding anniversary, etc.

As all good researchers do, we sought out the fans who couldn’t thank the website enough for their video messages that can be located on Youtube on the CelebVM Page http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyQcSTnzuWpqpTR6Qksks5A

There are messages from not just Gareth, but Shane Richie, Christopher Daniels, Warwick Davies, Rikishi and many more.

We spoke with Missi Parker from Twitter who had requested a video message from Gareth for her brother’s anniversary.  She explained that the whole set up on the site was “A comfortable/friendly experience, not intimidating (like some celebrity contact options).”  It was definitely a site she would use again, and her brother and spouse really loved the video they received from Gareth. 

See their video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEboRpsFZPQ

It was nice to discover that there were no negative feelings about the website, every comment back was a plus.  It clearly is all about the fans and how much the Celebrity can reach out to them, and when many of us can’t make it to Conventions or gigs, this definitely makes up for it.  

We can’t wait for the day that we can receive a video message from someone we really admire too. 

And when that happens we will share it with you all!

Although we’ve said it tons of times already we want to say a BIG THANK YOU to CelebVM for donating the competition prize of a FREE personalised video message from Gareth David-Lloyd. 

We also want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to Gareth David-Lloyd for many things but especially for the RETWEET that brought more fans into the competition. 

Also THANK YOU to Angus and Tom who went out of their way to help us throughout the competition, offering up loads of tips and also helpful advice towards our article. 

Thank you also to Missi Parker on Twitter and to all the fans who have used the site and gave their opinions to us over the last week or so and those who also entered the competition. 

Thank you one and all. 

Photos: Courtesy of CelebVM