Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Unveils New Fan-Friendly Tennis Website

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour officially unveiled its new fan-friendly website this week.

The site also debuts digital elements of the Tour’s “Looking for a Hero?” campaign, including the “Hero Chronicles” documentary film series, viral videos and Hero Powercards game.

“I think the Tour’s new website presents women’s tennis in a really cool way and promotes players better than ever before,” said world No.7 Svetlana Kuznetsova. “For teenagers and younger fans in particular, the new site offers so much more.

Video Focus
At the core of the Tour’s new website is a commitment to promoting players, tournaments and the sport – and engaging fans – through video. The Tour’s Video on Demand platform, presented by Dubai Duty Free, will be featured throughout the website including through more than 400 new and archival videos of match highlights, interviews and off-court color features in the News, Tournaments and Players sections.

Attracting Casual Fans with Off-Court Content
The new website will offer fans a chance to get closer to their favorite Tour stars through a new Off-Court section, featuring news, video and photos highlighting the players’ personalities, off-court activities and hobbies.

Customized Personal “My Locker” Section
Fans will be able to register and personalize www.sonyericssonwtatour.com and create a customized Newsfeed based on their favorite players and tournaments. In the near future fans will also be able to upload and share their videos and photos including an ability to post links on various social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Twitter.

Live Scoring and TennisTV.com
The redesigned website will offer fans such features as Live Scoring and a soon-to-be expanded statistics section for the avid sports fans, enabling them to delve deeper into match results and rankings.

The website will also offer fans access to TennisTV.com, the official live streaming website of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and the ATP World Tour that provides fans with unique access to live top level tennis from a total of 37 top men’s and women’s tennis events.

Digital Marketing Campaign – “Hero Chronicles” Documentary Films, Viral Videos and Hero Powercards Gaming
The redesigned website will debut the digital leg of the Tour’s global marketing campaign “Looking for a Hero?” with the launch of “Hero Chronicles”, a series of online documentary films and viral videos, featuring the Tour’s stars of today and tomorrow.

The three films, titled “Becoming a Hero”, “Being a Hero”, and “The Future of Heroes” will feature 16 of the Tour’s global superstars and next generation players such as Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Elena Dementieva, Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva, Nadia Petrova, Marion Bartoli, Alona Bondarenko, Patty Schnyder, Dominika Cibulkova, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Peng Shuai, Sania Mirza, Aleksandra Wozniak and the doubles team of Kveta Peschke and Lisa Raymond.

The “Hero Chronicles” online film series consists of short films based on the lives of the Tour’s brightest stars who are superheroes in their own right, and gives fans a unique glimpse into their lives – from their beginnings playing tennis at an early age (including rarely seen childhood video footage) to becoming international tennis superstars, with all the glory and struggles that come along with the journey.

In addition, the site features a brand new virtual “Hero Powercards” online game, an online tennis competition where fans are able to compete against one another using interactive player cards of the Tour’s current roster of stars. The grand prize winner of the online game will be awarded an all-expenses paid trip to the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships – Doha 2009 in Qatar.