Canon Launches Camera Line with Sharapova Imposters

Canon USA will field a team of Maria Sharapova look-alikes to cruise Manhattan streets and promote its new PowerShot line during the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament next week.

The 10 look-alikes will start out by strolling a catwalk, carrying the new cameras in a fashion show on Aug. 27 and 28 in Manhattan’s Greeley Square, coinciding with the start of the U.S. Open. Sharapova is Canon’s spokesperson, and while she’s playing to defend her Open crown, her 10 imposters will invite passers-by to pose for photos with them and tryout the new PowerShots.

Former tennis pros Mary Joe Fernandez and Patrick McEnroe will be on hand to emcee the event and play a virtual game of tennis onstage.

After Tuesday, the Sharapova imposters will stroll though Manhattan with a team of “photo boys” wearing harnesses with LCD displays on their backs. The photo boys will take pictures of people who want to pose with the Sharapovas, with the shots appearing on the LCD screens. They’ll also take consumers’ e-mail addresses and send them e-mail links to their picture online.

“It’s a really fun way to engage the consumers,” said Michelle Fernandez, senior manager for Canon’s camera marketing group. It’s part of the third guerrilla marketing campaign Canon has conducted around the U.S. Open, and a way to push new products and support Sharapova, she said.

The street tour will enable the “photo boys” to demonstrate Canon’s face detection technology, which ensures focused shots with up to nine faces in the frame.

Along with the multiple Marias, Canon also plans to push the new camera line and its sponsorship of Sharapova with a multimedia barrage of TV ads on CBS and USA Network during the Open, from Aug. 27 to September 9.

Mobile marketing activities are planned in a promotion with New York’s Z-100 radio station. And New Yorkers will hardly be able to escape Sharapova’s image with billboards along two New York City highways also in Canon’s marketing picture.

For more stories on event marketing