Sports Illustrated Partners with cYclops and MemBrain to Introduce dop!™, Launch First-Ever Swimsuit Issue Soundtrack

New York, NY – Feb. 2007 – Time Inc.’s Sports Illustrated releases its first-ever music-themed swimsuit issue today with an edition that’s tied to the sounds of Brazil, Memphis and Miami. The effort will be backed by the release of a series of revolutionary pre-loaded portable digital music players called dop!™ The dop!™ players contain over two hours of music inspired by the issue’s lush and sexy photo spreads. In addition, the player will feature-tracks from a music-themed Sports Illustrated Swimsuit TV special that will air on cable network TNT on Feb. 17, 2007.

The S.I. dop!™ music player and production of the cable special are the re-sult of a partnership between cYclops LLC, which has been tasked with ex-tending SI’s brand and its print assets into all areas of sight, sound and mo-tion, and MemBrain LLC, an L.A. based entertainment and marketing firm.

Heading up the cYclops effort is CEO and Executive Producer Mike Jurkovac and Executive Producer/Partner Sheri Howell. Working with them on the S.I. assignment is Ernest Lupinacci, an award-winning advertising creative direc-tor and President of Ernest Industries.

This team partnered with MemBrain LLC, which developed the dop!™ player in collaboration with Findaway World LLC, makers of the Playaway® Digital Audio player, and orchestrated all of the deals with the record labels and the artists for the music that’s included on the soundtracks.

Each dop!™ player comes equipped with a AAA battery and is preloaded with a selection of music tracks to accompany each segment of the swimsuit is-sue. The first release of dop!™ players are available with soundtracks with the rhythm and blues overtones of Memphis, the hot Latin sounds of Miami and the sexy, samba-infused songs of Brazil. Sales of the player, which will retail for under $20, will be supported by an integrated ad campaign includ-ing print and online ads created by Jurkovac and Lupinacci.

This unique series will include tracks produced by Black Eyed Peas’ front man and producer will.i.am, who serves as co-host of the TNT special. Much of the music loaded on the dop!™! players will be highlighted during the program, and includes tracks from a wide range of artist representing a diverse range of music genres.

dop!™ players will be available starting February 14 on the Sports Illustrated web site (www.si.com) and on the new entertainment broadband site just launched by Anheuser-Busch, www.Bud.tv. In addition, consumers can order the dop!™ player by calling a special toll-free number, 877-893-0808.

The TNT special includes songs from such artists as Elvis Presley, Fergie and the recent collaboration between bosa nova legend Sergio Mendes and will.i.am of the BEP. In addition, the soundtrack that accompanies the is-sue’s swimsuit photos with the famed Grambling and USC marching bands, titled “Drumline,” includes the first-ever mash-up of music from the late James Brown by renown mash-up artist and DJ JUS KE.

“It was a huge effort to get all the artists, the labels, the publishers, the models and the brands partnering on a project of this complexity, but we think it was well worth it,” says Jurkovac, who credits S.I. editor Terry McDonell for providing the overall vision for the soundtrack and TV special. “In the process we’ve created a real branded content platform that not only provides consumers with a new entertainment channel, but also generates revenue. We think this has great application for a wide range of marketers in all sorts of product categories.”

New York-based cYclops LLC works with ad agencies and their clients to help con-nect the dots between artists and brands. Among the agencies it has collaborated with are BBDO, Fallon Worldwide, TBWA Chiat/ Day and others. It partnered with Mad River Post on the production of the TNT special.

MemBrain LLC, founded by entertainment attorneys Ken Hertz and Fred Goldring, is an industry leader in the development of branding, marketing and new media strate-gies for global entertainment and consumer brands. Among its clients are McDon-ald’s and Hasbro.

Findaway World, a privately held company based in Cleveland, is dedicated to de-livering simple and immediate access to content consumers want or need. Their lat-est product, Playaway, is the first digital audio player of its kind, coming pre-loaded with premier content from leading publishers, authors, record labels, and artists. Learn more about the company and the product at www.playawaydigital.com

Media Contacts:

Mike Jurkovac,
cYclops LLC
917-699-6791
jurk@cyclopsnyc.com

Anthony Vagnoni
AVagnoni Communications
973-493-8736
Anthony@avagnoni.com

Jennifer Fader
Terpin Communications
310-821-6100, ext. 112 (o)
310-922-7507 direct/mobile
jfader@terpin.com