Venice-based JibJab — the service famed for combining the schmaltz of Top 40 and holiday songs, frenetically dancing bodies, and your loved ones’ cropped and enlarged heads in e-cards — is transitioning into a new frontier.
The company has released a new app, JibJab Messages, which enables users to incorporate customizable GIFs and JibJab-created animations into their texts, Facebook and Twitter posts, emails, and links. It is free to download in the App Store for iOS devices.
"We're basically taking what we've done on e-cards and creating content and tools that are great for messages," CEO Gregg Spiridellis told USA Today.
Unlike their e-card brethren, JibJab messages lack sound or movie inserts (like a standard GIF, appropriately enough). However, users will be glad to find a robust library of static and dynamic illustrations. The app includes meme-based GIFs; GIFs using “Starring You” technology, in which a face from a user’s photo is inserted into the GIF; and Stickers, or custom animations that also operate on the “Starring You” platform; as well as categories of hashtagged social media expressions evocative of popular sentiment, such as #Trending and #WTF.
Stock GIFs include scenes from "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," Beyonce's "Single Ladies" music video, and "Power Rangers."
JibJab Messages also arrives complete with image filtering capabilities, and the app’s “Snap and Store” and “Favorites” features allow users to quickly save GIFs and faces they’ve uploaded.
The first 10 messages sent through the app are free; after that, each message runs a user 99 cents. Subscribers (who pay $18 annually) are given free access to the service for a year.
The app launch marks a celebratory time for JibJab, which observes its 15th anniversary this year. Founded in 1999 by brothers Gregg and Evan Spiridellis, the company was originally conceived to create humorous video ads and satirical animated shorts. Since its foray into e-card production in 2004, JibJab has amassed $16.9 million in financing and a healthy following, with over 30 million registered users and over 100 million people visiting each year.
