• by Karl Greenberg , August 13, 2008

Canon is backing its pro tennis/football ad campaigns, as reported here on May 20, for its EOS Rebel and PowerShot cameras with grassroots efforts, contests and sweepstakes dangling everything from a collection of diamond-encrusted Canon Elph cameras to a trip for four to the next Super Bowl.

The new TV spot for Canon PowerShot, featuring tennis star Maria Sharapova and her dog Dolce, shows fans with Elph cameras approaching the player and asking to take a picture. Unfortunately, the picture they want (to her growing chagrin) is of her dog, Dolce.

The ad had been slated to launch this spring. However, per Michelle Fernandez, senior marketing manager at the Lake Success, N.Y. company, the TV launch was postponed to time with the U.S. Open and a New York City event, "Canon Center Court."

The TV spot will break on the first day of the Aug. 25-Sept. 7 tournament and run for its duration on USA Network and CBS. And the tennis star will unveil five diamond-encrusted Canon PowerShot Elph cameras during an invitation-only event at "Canon Center Court" on Aug. 20 at South Street Seaport.

The five cameras, in each of the colors in which the camera is offered, are worth around $12,000 each, per Fernandez. They will be prizes in a national sweepstakes, running from Aug. 20 to Oct. 20 at Powershot.com. Fernandez says online banner ads on lifestyle sites will support.

The company will run local radio, print and outdoor ads in New York to promote the "Canon Center Court" program and the range of Elph cameras in different hues.

Canon is also reprising pro football promotions it has run for several years. Ex-NFL quarterback Archie Manning will promote Canon's "Pro Football Hall of Fame's 'Why Do You Love Football?'" photo challenge. The Web-based promotion dangles a trip for four to Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, Fla. The prize goes to an amateur shutterbug whose photo of youth football games is deemed the best. Manning, father of NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli, will be one of the judges.

Says Rob Altman, manager of camera marketing for Canon: "He's great for this because the whole idea centers on parents taking pictures of their kids; Archie, with two of his children playing in the NFL, is a natural for that."

The winner also gets his/her winning photo in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The effort is centered at USA.Canon.com/NFL.