• December 18, 2007

Freestyle has signed on as the latest advertiser to launch a branded community within the Loop'd Network. As part of the launch, the sports watch manufacturer is hosting a 12-week contest, called "Are You Next?," to find the next action, endurance or water sports star.

Contestants enter by submitting videos and photos of themselves in action. Freestyle will choose one winner each week. Weekly winners get a Freestyle prize pack (a watch, T-shirt and other merchandise), while the grand prize winner will receive a one-year sponsorship and a spot on Freestyle's flow team.

Users that sign up to be part of Freestyle's community automatically gain access to all of the Loop'd Network communities, including properties hosted by PacSun, Monster Energy and Oakley, among others. San Diego-based Loop'd Network is an expansion of SponsorHouse, a social network that helps amateur and semi-pro extreme sports athletes find commercial sponsors.

Although the network's base of over 225,000 members is dwarfed by the millions of MySpace and Facebook, brands have turned to Loop'd to connect with the tightly targeted demo of action sports enthusiasts.

"Loop'd Network allows us to instantly reach a targeted youth demographic passionate about action sports throughout the country," said Chad Labass, marketing director at Freestyle.

With more than 1,100 entrants and 1,500 pictures and videos uploaded in the first week alone, the contest "is exceeding our expectations so far," he added.

--Tameka Kee