Serena and Scott join forces in launching WTA Tour's "Looking for a Hero?" campaign

Serena Williams joined WTA Tour CEO Larry Scott in London for the launch of their 3 year $15 million "Looking for a Hero?" marketing campaign, the largest in the Tour's history and in women's sports, including the premiere of the infamous Superheroes ad. The campaign will be comprised of a print/digital advertising, and viral/social community based initiatives.


Speaking at the press conference, Scott was enthusiastic about the launch saying,

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.

ReRe, along with 30 other ballers, stars in the Tour's campaign and believes it's a huge step for women's tennis:

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.

The director of the spots, Matthieu Mantovani, was also on hand for the ad's launch and said he was inspired by the women's ability to balance the demands of their professional on-court lives with their personal responsibilities saying,

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.

The first phase of the campaign, which will be comprised of TV, print, and digital, begins at the end of August and runs through to the WTA Championships in November. The second phase will launch at the start of the 2009 season and continue throughout the year.

Here is the 60 second commercial followed by two 30 second spots, with a bonus behind-the-scenes video at the end:






(images via Getty, WTATour.com)