[Techtaffy Newsdesk]

Talking Tom is wearing virtual-branded merchandise. Working with Iconicfuture and Digital Artists, Outfit7, the company behind the popular Talking Friends,  enters the digital marketplace with the integration of virtual-branded merchandise from six of the world’s most popular soccer clubs in Spain, Italy, England, France and Portugal.

Paul Baldwin (CMO, Outfit7): In the same way app networks are becoming the new studio system where beloved characters are born, in-app branding is the new form of strategic product placement.

As of this month, soccer fans will be able to dress Talking Tom in team-branded gear to show support for some of the world’s premier soccer clubs including Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, AC Milan, Arsenal FC, Olympique de Marseille and SL Benfica. The six teams have won a combined total of 130 National Championships and over 30 European Championships.

Outfit7, the company behind the popular talking cat app, said that Talking Tom Cat, one of the 14 Talking Friends characters, has surpassed 100 million downloads since first launching in July 2010.  Talking Friends characters have reached more than 90 million monthly active users worldwide, says the company.

Talking Friends averages over 25 million downloads per month, with more than 500,000 videos being uploaded to YouTube, Facebook and sent by email and MMS.