• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, July 24, 2007

Aspiring community site Stardoll.com has named Glenn Ginsburg senior vice president of advertising sales. Ginsburg helped build the digital sales effort at Comedy Central/MTV Networks as vice president of interactive sales.

Stardoll--where girls dress up digital dolls and exult in youth celebrity--is presently shining in a market teeming with tween and teen community sites. The 3-year-old site has more than 7 million members, is adding some 20,000 new members daily, and attracts roughly 5.5 million unique visitors monthly.

Having achieved scale, Ginsburg is coming on to oversee the creation and implementation of Stardoll's ad strategy, part of which will involve structuring sponsorship and integrated branding initiatives. He will also establish sales operations in New York and Los Angeles.

Prior to joining Comedy Central in 2001, Ginsburg was the president and chief operating officer of Visionary Media, a new media entertainment company.

"He will play a crucial role in not only driving our sales and partnership opportunities, but also in continuing to build a world class entertainment brand," Matt Palmer, Stardoll executive vice president and general manager, said of Ginsburg.

Along with its advertising and sponsorship deals, Stardoll does a business in virtual clothing, which members buy with currency known as "star dollars." First-time members get 25 star dollars to buy virtual accessories, which range in cost from 1 to 35 star dollars. A real U.S. dollar buys 10 additional star dollars.

Members can also choose from a large collection of celebrity dolls to dress up. Endorsing the site, popular teen singer/actor Hilary Duff recently joined the Stardoll community--the financial and promotional terms of which were not disclosed.

In typical e-community fashion, members get their own pages with guest books, blog diaries, friend connections, and albums.

Stardoll's popularity with users has translated into venture capital and executive talent. Along with Ginsburg, the site recently scored Matt Palmer, former executive vice president of marketing for Disney's Kids Network, to lead its North American advance.

Early last year, Stardoll received $4 million in series-A funding from Index Ventures, followed soon after by $6 million in a series-B round lead by Sequoia.

While further U.S. expansion is a top priority, Stardoll's ambitions are clearly global. The site, which has a team of 40 based in Stockholm, already supports a number of different languages--including French, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, Polish, and German. About 30% of its traffic presently comes from the United States, while just over 50% comes from the European Union.