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St. Louis Cardinals' and World Series MVP David Freese Named November's Top Rising Sports Star

IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- St. Louis Cardinals' third baseman David Freese has earned the top spot on Brand Affinity Technologies' monthly ranking of Rising Sports Stars with an 84 percent popularity gain. Hitting the game-winning home run in Game 6 of the World Series, Freese secured a Cardinals win and forced Game 7 of the World Series in arguably one of the most exciting baseball games in history. Freese continued his great performance into Game 7 with two RBI's, leading the Cardinals to their 11th World Series championship and earning him the World Series and league championship MVP honors.

Kansas City Chiefs' Steve Breaston is feeling more comfortable with his new team and beginning to catch the eye of both Fantasy and Chiefs' fans as a new wide receiver to devote their attention to. Breaston has continued to improve throughout the season and has played an intricate part in the Chiefs' turnaround from a rough early season start. John Axford rounds out the top three Rising Sports Stars after being named the Brewers' most valuable pitcher and setting a franchise record with 46 saves during his first full season as a closer - helping the Brewers reach the NLCS. The full list of Rising Sports Stars and additional details are available at: www.brandaffinity.net/RisingStars/November2011.

"Hometown hero David Freese's popularity has soared an outstanding 84 percent over the past month, claiming the attention of many marketers and baseball fans," said Ryan Steelberg, CEO of Brand Affinity Technologies. "Many of the pros on this list are underutilized as advertising partners and are positioned to deliver strong results through social and online as well as traditional campaigns."

Brand Affinity Technologies (BAT) calculates daily consumer affinity based on a proprietary combination of media exposure, performance, awards, popularity, engagement, and fan base, among other indicators, for more than 45,000 athletes and celebrities. The list identifies sports stars with the greatest leap in popularity over the prior 30 days. A meteoric rise may indicate a standout on-the-field performance, off-the-field achievement, or emergence from utility player to celebrity.

November Rising Sports Stars

(Details at: www.brandaffinity.net/RisingStars/November2011)

    1.    David Freese                (St. Louis Cardinals)
    2.    Steve Breaston              (Kansas City Chiefs)
    3.    John Axford                 (Milwaukee Brewers)
    4.    Jaime Garcia                (St. Louis Cardinals)
    5.    Colby Lewis                 (Texas Rangers)
    6.    Brandon Pettigrew           (Detroit Lions)
    7.    Eric Decker                 (Denver Broncos)
    8.    Mike Napoli                 (Texas Rangers)
    9.    Kari Lehtonen               (Dallas Stars)
    10.   Thomas Vanek                (Buffalo Sabres)

Rising Sports Stars lists go live at the start of each month; subscribe to BAT's Twitter feed at @BAT to learn when new lists are posted.

About Brand Affinity Technologies, Inc. (BAT)

Founded in 2007, BAT (http://brandaffinity.net) unlocks the marketing power of celebrity through research, endorsements, and interactive experiences. Advertisers such as AT&T, Comcast, IHG, Intuit, Ford, Samsung and Sony use BAT's Endorsement Platform, which provides daily analysis of more than 45,000 celebrities and athletes, along with the ability to identify, license, and activate talent for cross-media advertising campaigns. BAT has exclusive representation agreements with more than 4,000 athletes and celebrities. BAT also leverages its research and technology engine to engage consumers directly through Fantapper (www.fantapper.com), which brings interactive apps to celebrity content across the web. Connect with BAT on Twitter:@BAT and Facebook: www.facebook.com/BrandAffinityTech.

SOURCE Brand Affinity Technologies