(24 March 2008 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: In order to push its upcomoing event Wrestlemania, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has announced a partnership with Habbo, the virtual community with more than eight million unique users in 31 countries around the world.

The campaign called The Road to WrestleMania XXIV will kick-off today. It will challenge participants in Habbo to have their personal avatars compete against each other based on the themes of five anticipated WrestleMania matches, including The World Heavyweight Championship: Edge vs. The Undertaker and "The Biggest Battles The Best," which pits WWE's Big Show against welterweight boxing legend, Floyd 'Money' Mayweather.

WWE executive VP, marketing Geof Rochester says, "WWE's fanbase is young, tech-savvy and hyper-social – the ideal target for the rich, multilayered campaigns we are executing with Habbo. These promotions are proving to be the perfect conduit for expanding our brand and digital footprint to the virtual world."

The Road to WrestleMania XXIV is a complex virtual maze of seven themed rooms, including one for each of the five title matches, a No Way Out room and a WrestleMania XXIV-themed room in Habbo. Habbos compete to earn points on behalf of their favourite Superstar by completing the daily maze.

The campaign will be promoted via a variety of Group Pages created within Habbo featuring alerts about daily race start times and locations, exclusive WWE videos, and free virtual swag, including WWE-branded badges and wallpapers.