Fans of women’s tennis can now pit their own racket skills against top seeds such as Maria Sharapova and Jelena Jankovic in a user-generated content (UGC) contest launched by the Sony Ericsson Woman’s Tennis Association Tour.
Would-be contenders can create an account at www.ChallengeYourHero.com, choose one of four current woman tennis stars—Sharapova, Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Dinara Sarafina—and upload footage of their own courtside performance.
Using clips provided at the site and a video mixer on the Eyespot video publishing platform, they can intercut serves from their star of choice with their own return shots and create videos that look as if they’re playing that pro, complete with special effect and audio overlays.
The UGC clips can be shared with friends or embedded on social profile pages. They are also added to the site’s public gallery and serve as entry submissions to a contest to win travel, lodging and VIP access at the Sony Ericsson WTA Championships in Doha, Qatar, in December.
The ChallengeYourHero.com site is part of a larger “Looking for a Hero?” global marketing campaign that launched the week prior to Wimbledon in June. The ad effort features 40 of the top-ranked players in TV, print and online ads. The UGC contest, which runs through Oct. 15, was conceived and created by WPP interactive agency Schematic.
“We’re excited about bringing the ‘Looking for a Hero?’ campaign to life online with ChallengeYourHero.com,” Michael Rowe, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour television and digital media vice president, said in a statement. “Our fans are not only passionate about women’s tennis, but so many of them are avid players themselves. The site is an innovative way to engage young fans with creative and great user-generated content.”
Winners will be determined by judges named by the WTA and chosen based on creativity, originality, entertainment value and editing expertise. The grand prize is a pair of round-trip tickets to Qatar for the Sony Ericsson semifinals and finals, with a three-night hotel stay. Second prize is one of the five Sony Ericsson mobile phone models featured during the tour. Winners will be posted to the Web site after Oct. 20.
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