Sep 11, 2006 6:04 AM, PROMO Xtra, By Andrew Scott

Canon USA, Inc. has tapped former NFL quarterback Archie Manning and sent an e-mail blast to more than 2 million Canon loyalists as part of a campaign that dangles a trip for four to next year's Super Bowl as a grand prize.

Canon promo sends consumers shooting youth football photos for
Super Bowl prize

The Canon and NFL Hall of Fame Why do You Love Football Photo Challenge will award the prize to two consumers who capture the fun, passion and excitement of youth football in photographs—bringing more value to those cute pictures of Junior in his mud-splattered football uniform.

The amateur photo contest features two entry categories: Action and Feature. The Action category focuses on images that capture football action during game play, while the Feature category comprises of football imagery outside of game action on the field. Consumers can submit up to 10 images to USA.Canan.com/NFL. The contest ends Nov. 27.

Lake Success, NY-based Canon tapped Manning to serve as a judge and spokesperson to promote the initiative. He joins Peter Read Miller, Sports Illustrated; Mark Duncan, The Associated Press; Craig Melvin, U.S. Presswire; John Reid III, Cleveland Browns team photographer and Tony Tomsic, freelance photographer, as judges. Judges will determine 14 finalists (seven from each category). Fans will then view the shots at USA.Canon.com/NFL and vote on first-, second- and third-place winners and a grand-prize winner for both categories in early January. Winners receive a digital camera and printer from Canon and a gift certificate for the Hall of Fame Museum store.

The grand prize winner will receive a trip for four to attend next year's Super Bowl XLI in South Florida and will have his or her photo displayed in The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH. Additionally, the winner will earn a trip for four to the 2007 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Celebration in August 2007.

The promotion, in its second year, "needed to be much more aggressive," said Rob Altman, assistant manager of camera marketing at Canon. "In using a spokesperson like Archie Manning, we feel we'll increase awareness and the number of entries."

Last year's campaign drew more than 2,000 entries but restricted entries to photographs of organized youth football leagues only.

"We wanted to open it up this year so now we can have kids dressed up in their favorite team colors," playing catch in their backyard, or in action with their high school football sports team, Altman said.

The promotion is used to leverage Canon's title as the Official Camera of the NFL it has held more than 20 years and to promote its Digital Rebel XTi camera. Online materials at CanonUSA.com, print ads and email-blasts to NFL fans support.

Separately, the camera maker is in its third year of a Shoot Like A Pro promotion. Nine NFL teams give fans a chance to shoot their game from the sideline like professional photographers do. Consumers enter on their team's Web site and each team selects one winner each week to take the photographs. The winner is provided with a Canon camera, gets airtime on the stadium Jumbotron, and has the photos featured on the gallery section of the team's Web site. The New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, Seattle Seahawks and Cleveland Browns are a few of the participating teams.

"What all our promotions are about is to encourage consumers to try our cameras and to put them in their hands so they can see how easy [they are] to use," Altman said.

To that end, the camera maker also has a Canon National Park Photo Contest where consumers enter photos in Landscape and Wildlife categories at PhotoWorkshop.com/canon. The contest ends Sept. 30. Grand prize winners in each category receive a Canon digital camera and photo printer and a five-day/four-night trip for two to a national park. The contest is promoted in America Park Network's visitor guide magazines. So far, it has garnered 4,500 entries since its June 1 launch.

Ion Marketing, New York City, handles the campaigns. Edelman Public Relations, New York City, handles p.r.

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