Black Tennis Pros

Landmark multi-million dollar "Looking for a Hero?" campaign to be rolled out across 75 countries over next 18 months and feature over 30 players

LONDON, UK - The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has unveiled the television and print creative for its landmark global advertising campaign to the international media at an exclusive screening at the Charlotte Street Hotel in London.

The 60- and 30-second television advertisements are the pinnacle of the Tour's multi-million dollar, pioneering global marketing campaign which will also include print and digital advertising, along with viral and community generated elements. In all, the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour expects to invest $15 million in the campaign over the course of the next three years. Over thirty players took part in the film and photographic shoot for the campaign which took place at various locations in Rome, Italy, at the start of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia tournament in May 2008.

In this single largest commitment to promote the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour players in the history of the Tour, a world-class creative team was assembled and led by WPP Group (Grey, Schematic, GCI Group) and renowned commercial director Matthieu Mantovani. The advertisements ask the question 'Looking for a Hero?' and bills the Tour's players as superheroes both on and off the court. The focus of the first round of the creative is to both elevate the star power of the Tour's athletes and to drive awareness of the Tour's end of season Sony Ericsson Championships, in Doha, Qatar, where the top eight singles players and top four doubles teams in the world compete for one of the most prized crowns in the sport.

Larry Scott, CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour said: "This is a thrilling moment in the history of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Never before have we planned, created and invested in a marketing campaign of this magnitude. The multi-platform campaign in many ways crystallizes how far we have come as a sport over the past five years, and everything we mean when we speak about the star power of our athletes and the excitement of women's professional tennis. I'm delighted and proud of the way the players have bought into the campaign. It's a huge testament to their professionalism and commitment to the growth of the game."

Serena Williams, one of 10 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour stars who appears in the television commercial said: 'Women's tennis is a premier sport for all women athletes, and I think it was a great opportunity to have the best athletes, female athletes, get together and be a part of such a wonderful advertisement. I was really happy to have an opportunity to be in it. I was more than excited to do it."

Commercial Director, Mantovani said: "Once I first received the brief my inspiration was to demonstrate the energy and high-intensity lives of these modern, successful, professional women. They possess amazing physical gifts on the court, but equally so off the court in lives that are provocative, glamorous and aspirational in so many ways. It is perhaps simple to point to features from the film world which helped shape and grow that vision but, for me, stylistically, elements of 'Charlie's Angels', 'Ocean's 11" and ' Mission Impossible' are reflected in this campaign."

Aldo Liguori, Sony Ericsson Corporate VP and Head of Global Communications & PR, said: "The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has made considerable developments since we partnered with the Tour in 2005 and this is one of the most ambitious and dynamic. We at Sony Ericsson have supported the campaign since its conception and are delighted to see the vision and hard work finally come together in such a creative manner."

The first phase of the campaign, including TV, print and digital elements, will begin to run globally beginning at the end of August 2008 through the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships - Doha 2008 in November. The campaign's second phase will launch at the start of 2009 and continue throughout the season.