“The new autograph:” Fans can buy video celebrity shout outs through Chicago-based company

CHICAGO (CBS 58) – There’s a new way to send someone a personalized gift.

Instead of telling someone “Happy Birthday” you can one of their favorite celebrities to say it through Cameo.

“We started thinking about this idea of a selfie being the new autograph,” Steven Galanis, CEO said.

The Chicago-based company launched their site back in February 2017 and now there are about 3,700 talents to choose from including Lance Bass, Packers Ty Montgomery and Hall of Famer Brett Favre.

“I’ve done twenty or thirty. It’s a fun and really neat idea,” Favre said.

Galanis’ co-founder Martin Blencoe was a former NFL agent. The idea started when he sent a video from former Seattle Seahawks player Cassius Marsh to a friend.

Once you pick the talent, you can provide more information about the recipient to personalize the message.

“We always encourage people to be as personalized as possible the real magic of cameo is that these people are saying your friend’s names and they are mentioning that inside joke. That classic tidbit that shows how you know the recipient but how this person that they love can acknowledge them and understand their life,” Galanis said.

There are other sites out there like Celebrity Video Messages with a similar concept where you can connect with hundreds of other celebrities.

The videos are about 30 seconds long and each celebrity or talent has a different price for the videos. For example, a shoutout from Brett Favre will cost $750 while Lance Bass will cost $150.

But it’s the surprised reactions from the recipients that are priceless.