By: The Pet Times
New York, NY April 30, 2007 – American Idol meets the Westminster Dog Show with the launch of Worldwide Fido, the innovative user-generated online competition where popular breeds and mutts compete snout-to-snout to be crowned America’s next top dog. Developed by Worldwide Biggies, Inc., a multi-platform content company founded by former Nickelodeon and Spike TV President Albie Hecht, Worldwide Fido (www.worldwidefido.com) serves as the online video community destination for dog owners and lovers to share and experience in the ultimate “What Can Your Doggie Do” contest. This is the first Biggies online community game to come to market.
With dog video clips being one of the most viewed user-generated videos on the internet, proud dog owners across the country can now enter their favorite pooch into the monthly competition by uploading their cutest pictures and funniest home videos for fabulous prizes and most importantly the title of Worldwide Fido for each one of the four categories: Cutest Dog, Best Trick, Best Friend and Most Outrageous.
“With the rise in popularity of user-generated video clips, we are very excited to be launching such an innovative project as Worldwide Fido,” says Albie Hecht, CEO and Founder of Worldwide Bigges. “Dog lovers everywhere now have a high quality environment to show off the talents of their favorite canine superstar while participating in a community dedicated to sharing. We’re really looking forward to seeing the range of creativity and originality that shines through these videos and images.”
In addition to the online competition, Worldwide Fido has launched an Adopt Me! initiative with animal rescue shelters across the country. The page allows shelters to submit full motion videos rather than traditional photo stills of great dogs looking for loving homes across the country. Visitors can simply search by state for a new best friend and find out how to meet them. With the infrastructure in place to support user-generated videos, Adopt Me! gives adoptable dogs national exposure and provides users with a unique way to search for a new dog.
Worldwide Fido also features Fido’s Toy Box and Fido’s Dog House. The Toy Box includes an array of Fido-approved treats including monthly Doggiescopes, desktop wallpapers, Myspace badges and AIM icons. In the Dog House you’ll find Fido’s personal blog on doggie news of the day or Fido’s special wishes to other dogs on their press worthy accomplishments as well as the Worldwide Fido Show, a weekly countdown of the best of dog videos and news from around the web.
Albie Hecht, Worldwide Biggies Inc.
Worldwide Biggies Inc. is helmed by family-entertainment maven and former President of Nickelodeon and Spike TV, Albie Hecht. Biggies, with offices in New York and Los Angeles, is a new multi-platform content company with a goal to create content that cuts across all the traditional and emerging distribution platforms – from developing and producing animated features; hi-definition (HD) movies and television series; direct to DVD series; and broadband and mobile content aimed at the family entertainment audience. Worldwide Biggies launched its first multi-platform hit on Nickelodeon and Nick.com earlier this year with The Naked Brothers Band and has produced the Video Game Awards on Spike TV, which Hecht created during his tenure as the network’s president. The company also has a number of projects in production including the CGI feature film entitled Planet One, written by the Oscar nominated screenwriter of Shrek, Joe Stillman.
Before Worldwide Biggies, Hecht oversaw the development and production of SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Blue’s Clues, and the long running live action hit All That at Nickelodeon. He co-created Nickelodeon’s Kids Choice Awards as the founding principal and executive producer for Chauncey Street Productions. Hecht produced some of Paramount’s biggest films of the last five years, most recently, Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events, which received four Academy Award nominations, and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Hecht was nominated for an Oscar as the Producer of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, which was also a Golden Globe Nominee, and he was the executive producer of The Rugrats Movie, which was the first non-Disney animated feature to cross the hundred million dollar mark.
