Degree® Launches the 'Bracket Gap Challenge,' One of the Largest Women's Bracket Promotions in the History of March Madness®, to Help Raise Awareness for the 2022 NCAA® Division I Women's Basketball Championship; Winner Scores $25K and a Women's Athletic Program of Their Choice Will Receive a $75K Donation from Degree®

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., March 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- This March Madness®, Degree® - the world's #1 antiperspirant brand - is launching the 'Bracket Gap Challenge,' one of the largest women's basketball bracket promotions in history, to help raise awareness for the NCAA® Women's tournament. Following a recent study from Degree® showing that only 12% of people filled out an NCAA® Women's tournament bracket last year,* the Brand is encouraging fans to fill out a women's bracket and follow the games, aiming to give the women's tournament the recognition it deserves.

While society continues to make strides in elevating women's athletics, the goal of the Bracket Gap Challenge is to draw more attention to the women's game and in turn, help drive even more promotion, attendance, and funding.

As part of the brand's efforts, Degree® has partnered with two-time WNBA Champion and two-time NCAA® Champion, Candace Parker, a well-known voice in sports equity. Candace will encourage fans to fill out a Women's March Madness® Tournament bracket at BracketGapChallenge.com, which will be live following the release of the women's tournament schedule on Selection Sunday® (March 13) and will close before the start of the first game on Friday, March 18.

"As a longtime advocate of equitable investment, I've seen that opportunity is a key driver to equality – and there is no opportunity without visibility," said Candace Parker, two-time WNBA Champion and two-time NCAA® Champion. "I'm proud to team up with Degree® for the Bracket Gap Challenge to give women's college basketball that increased visibility by urging fans to fill out a women's bracket and follow this year's tournament. Together, we'll drive conversation and hype that will ultimately help level the playing field when it comes to sports."

Candace stars in an energizing female-directed video, "Brackets 101," that sheds light on the issue of gender equity in college basketball and encourages fans to get involved by participating in Degree's challenge. Within, Parker says, "There's no such thing as a 'bracket' anymore, this March Madness®, there's only 'brackets.'" The video can be viewed here.

"Investment in women's athletics has come a long way over the last few years, but we're not done advocating for equity yet," said Desi Okeke, Director of Degree® NA. "We know that more-engaged fans ultimately leads to more recognition for the athletes, and the hope is that the Degree® Bracket Gap Challenge will help raise awareness for the next generation of women's college basketball players and motivate girls across the country to stay in the game."

To incentivize participation, a winner will be randomly selected from the top 10% of entrants, and will receive $25,000 for themselves and a $75,000 donation in their name, funded by Degree®, to the women's athletic program of their choice.** The donation will support the women's team in securing necessary resources to expand their program, and can be used for equipment, facilities, training or however else that program sees fit.

The 'Bracket Gap Challenge' campaign is part of Degree's larger brand mission to inspire the confidence to break barriers. Degree® has committed more than $5 million over the next five years to inspire more people to move beyond their limits as part of its broader global Breaking Limits program. This program supports those who face the biggest barriers to being active – whether those barriers are due to race, sexual orientation, ability level, gender, age and more - and provides them access to coaches and mentors, along with safe spaces to move. The program is meant to support the brand's long-term commitment to help millions of young people transform their lives through the power of movement by 2030.

Unilever, parent company of Degree®, is an official corporate partner of March Madness®.

Visit BracketGapChallenge.com to help support gender equity in sports, one bracket at a time. To learn more, view the campaign film here and follow #BracketGapChallenge on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

* Study conducted by Edelman Data & Intelligence in February 2022 among 2,000 members of US population representative across age, gender and region who were aware of March Madness®.

** NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to legal residents of the 50 United States (D.C.), 18 years of age and older. Void where prohibited. The Degree® Bracket Gap Challenge begins 10:30 p.m. ET on 3/13/22 and ends 10:00 a.m. ET on 3/18/22. For Official Rules, prize descriptions and odds disclosure, visit BracketGapChallenge.com. Prize will be awarded in the form of a check.

PRESS CONTACT    

Thea Nagle
[email protected] 

About Degree®

Degree® deodorants and antiperspirants are designed to inspire the confidence in everyone to move more. We make it our business to know more about sweat, and what we learn informs every product innovation to help you keep moving. As a brand designed for and dedicated to promoting movement, Degree® has always believed in the power of movement to enhance our wellbeing. Yet, we know that the opportunity to move is not distributed equally, which is why we have made a commitment to ensure everyone has the freedom to move and help youth transform their lives through the power of movement. We are bringing this commitment to life through a variety of ongoing partnerships and programs that strive to help everyone find the confidence to move beyond limits.

Visit www.degreedeodorant.com and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to learn more.

About Unilever North America

Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of Beauty & Personal Care, Home Care, and Foods & Refreshment products, with sales in over 190 countries and products used by 3.4 billion people every day. We have 148,000 employees and generated sales of €52.4 billion in 2021. Over half of our footprint is in developing and emerging markets. We have around 400 brands found in homes all over the world – including iconic brands like Dove, Knorr, Hellmann's, Magnum, Axe, Ben & Jerry's, Degree, Seventh Generation, St. Ives, Suave, TRESemmé, and Vaseline.

Our vision is to be the global leader in sustainable business and to demonstrate how our purpose-led, future-fit business model drives superior performance. We have a long tradition of being a progressive, responsible business. It goes back to the days of our founder William Lever, who launched the world's first purposeful brand, Sunlight Soap, more than 100 years ago, and it's at the heart of how we run our company today.

The Unilever Compass, our sustainable business strategy, is set out to help us deliver superior performance and drive sustainable and responsible growth, while:

- improving the health of the planet;

- improving people's health, confidence and wellbeing; and

- contributing to a fairer and more socially inclusive world.

While there is still more to do, in the past year we're proud to have achieved sector leadership in S&P's Dow Jones Sustainability Index, 'Triple A' status in CDP's Climate, Water and Forest benchmarks and to be named as the top ranked company in the GlobeScan/SustainAbility Sustainability Leaders survey, for the eleventh consecutive year.

For more information about Unilever and our brands, please visit www.unilever.com. 

About the NCAA®

The NCAA® is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletic opportunities for nearly half a million student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year more than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA® championships in Divisions I, II and III sports. Visit NCAA.org and NCAA.com for more details about the Association, its goals and members and corporate partnerships that help support programs for student-athletes. 

SOURCE Degree