USA TODAY Sports Launches "College Football Fan Index" Presented by Degree®

MCLEAN, Va., Aug. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- USA TODAY Sports today launched the College Football Fan Index presented by Degree®, the only digital index that combines social media activity and online fan voting to determine the ultimate college football fan base.

The College Football Fan Index presented by Degree^® is an in-depth ranking of the top college football fan bases as determined through social chatter aggregation and online fan voting across weekly editorial fan-driven themes such as best tailgates and best traditions. The index is measured based on the social activity of each school's fan base, including sharing photos and videos, as well as the voting results of weekly themed polls that ask fans to determine which schools offer the best fan experience.

"College football fan bases are the most passionate and rabid in all of sports," said Dave Morgan, President, USA TODAY Sports Media Group. "The Fan Index is designed to actually quantify the passion each school's fan base generates beyond the games themselves, as well as to determine which traditions and fan experiences resonate the most with fans around the country.  We're excited to partner with Degree^® on our inaugural launch as we believe their brand embodies the energy and physical attitude of some of the best college football fan bases in the country."

As the presenting sponsor, Degree® will help motivate fans across the country to DO:MORE to support their favorite college football team so they can improve and win throughout the season. Degree® with improved MOTIONSENSE® gives fans the protection they need to give their all for their team, whether they're cheering in the stands, showing team spirit by posting on Twitter from the pre-game tailgate, or rallying their friends to participate in the weekly-themed USA TODAY Fan Index vote.

There is no limit to the amount of times a fan can vote for their favorite team. Beyond voting on a weekly basis, fans will be encouraged to DO:MORE supporting their favorite schools and be as creative with their social media posts to achieve a high social ranking as part of the Fan Index chart by using the hashtag #fanindex on social media.  The Fan Index has created direct alignment with more than 100 NCAA FBS schools and their social media networks (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, etc.).

The social activity will be tracked weekly, with rankings released each Thursday at the end of the voting period for each week's poll theme. 

"The Degree^® brand is extremely excited to partner with the USA TODAY Sports Media Group as they continue to find unique and engaging ways to tap into the passions of College Football fans across the country," said Matthew McCarthy, Unilever Brand Director, Deodorants. "The Degree^® DO:MORE campaign celebrates those individuals who continually push themselves so they can improve and now, with the College Football Fan Index, we will be able to acknowledge those who DO:MORE for their favorite college football teams on a weekly basis." 

Degree^® will support the USA TODAY Fan Index with weekly content on the brand's Twitter (@DegreeMen) and Facebook channels (Facebook.com/DegreeMen) that highlights user participation and celebrates Fan Index poll winners from across the country.  The results will then be added up into a final cumulative Fan Index at the end of the season.

Weekly Fan Index voting themes for the upcoming season are as follows:

About the USA TODAY Sports Media Group
The USA TODAY Sports Media Group encompasses all sports initiatives across USA TODAY Sports and Gannett's more than 120 well-known local media brands. It also includes the sports photography wire service USA TODAY Sports Images; leading high school sports destination USA TODAY High School Sports; Sports On Earth, a joint venture with MLB Advanced Media dedicated to great sports writing in all its forms; the social news hub For The Win, and the hundreds of sites within USA TODAY Sports Digital Properties such as TheBigLead.com and mixed martial arts site MMAJunkie.com, among others. USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).                        

About Unilever North America
Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of Food, Home and Personal Care products with sales in more than 190 countries. Working to create a better future every day, we help people feel good, look good and get more out of life. In the United States and Canada, the portfolio includes brand icons such as: Axe, Becel, Ben & Jerry's, Breyers, Caress, Clear Scalp & Hair Therapy, Consort For Men, Country Crock, Degree, Dove personal care products, Fruttare, Good Humor, Hellmann's, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, Just for Me!, Klondike, Knorr, Lever 2000, Lipton, Magnum, Motions, Nexxus, Noxzema, Pond's, Popsicle, Promise, Q-tips, Simple, St. Ives, Suave, TIGI, TONI&GUY Hair Meet Wardrobe, TRESemmé and Vaseline. All of the preceding brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Unilever Group of Companies. Our ambition is to double the size of our business, while reducing our overall environmental footprint (including sourcing, consumer use and disposal) and increasing our positive social impact. We are committed to helping more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being, sourcing all our agricultural raw materials sustainably by 2020, and decoupling our growth from our environmental impact. Supporting our three big goals, we have defined seven pillars, underpinned by targets encompassing social, environmental and economic areas. See more on the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan at http://www.unileverusa.com/sustainable-living/ or http://www.unilever.ca/sustainable-living/.

Unilever employs approximately 11,500 people across North America – generating more than $10 billion in sales in 2013. For more information, visit www.unileverusa.com or www.unilever.ca.

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SOURCE USA TODAY