• by Karl Greenberg , August 10, 2007

Canon U.S.A. will use look-alikes of tennis star Maria Sharapova to tout its PowerShot line of cameras and its "Face Detection Technology," a feature that directs the camera to keep up to nine faces in focus no matter where they are in the picture field.

The effort, centered on the world's largest tennis tournament, touts the company's latest line of PowerShot cameras with grassroots efforts, a launch event that's also a fashion show of sorts and promotional and ad efforts intended to drive traffic to powershot.com.

The Lake Success, N.Y.-based company signed Sharapova to a three-year deal as spokesperson for the PowerShot line in 2004. That year, the company launched its "Make every shot a Power Shot" tag, with ads featuring the tennis star.

For the launch event this month, players Mary Joe Fernandez and Patrick McEnroe will serve as emcees at the fashion/launch show in Manhattan's Greeley Square on Aug. 27. There, the Sharapova look-alikes will stroll a catwalk with the new cameras, while consumers can also try the products and play interactive tennis with Fernandez or McEnroe.

The dozen or so "Maria Sharapovas" will also pop up in different New York City spots, part of a street-team effort in which consumers in the Big Apple can pose for pictures with the faux tennis stars. The models will be accompanied by so-called "photo boys" wearing large LCD screens over their heads, who will take the shots. As consumers pose with the Sharapovas, the photo boys' LCD screens show consumers the image from the camera's viewfinder, thereby proffering a visual demonstration of Canon Face Detection Technology at work.

The effort includes a sweepstakes component in which fans can visit powershot.com from Aug. 27 to Sept. 9 to find out where the "Marias" will be and enter for the chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to see Sharapova play anywhere in the world.

An outdoor component of the campaign will include billboards on both the Long Island and Major Deegan expressways and bus-wrap ads on CitySights NY tour buses through mid-September. Through Clear Channel, Canon has done a media buy on New York's Z-100 station for on-air, and guerrilla efforts tied to station events in Manhattan and Queens, where the U.S. Open is held.

Michelle Fernandez, senior manager for camera marketing at Canon, says although the campaign is local, physically, it is meant to have national reach, because of Sharapova's status as U.S. Open champion.

TV ads - the current creative launched in May this year, featuring Sharapova off the court--will run during USA Network and CBS coverage of the match; print ads will run in September issues of Shape, Smash and Tennis. Canon will also sponsor USA Today's Aug. 27 U.S. Open bonus section. Through Clear Channel, Canon is also running an online banner-ad campaign promoting PowerShot, the U.S. Open tie-in and driving traffic to powershot.com.

"It's really a New York event because Sharapova is defending champion of the U.S. Open, the launch event is going to be here, and if you think about impact, this time of year there are going to be a lot of tourists coming into Manhattan interfacing with the look-alikes," Fernandez says.

She says Canon will also reach out to registered Canon users as well via Canon's national database.