Degree® Deodorant to Study Fan Movement at NCAA® Men's Final Four® with First-of-its-Kind In-Stadium Technology Integration

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., March 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The NCAA Men's Final Four is unmatched in excitement and anticipation.  With every moment of every game deciding if a team and its fans experience triumph or tragedy, players and fans alike are constantly moving.  To showcase the impact that these high-stake moments have on spectators – both emotionally and physically – Degree Deodorant, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA and the world's first deodorant activated by movement, is teaming up with the NCAA to conduct a series of real-time fan movement studies at the 2016 Final Four in Houston.

Degree will use Lightwave, a groundbreaking bioanalytics technology, to measure and analyze everything from the reaction of a buzzer beater to the results of the crowd moving in unison during "The Wave," at the National Semifinals on Saturday, April 2 and the National Championship Game on Monday, April 4. The biometric data obtained will provide Degree further insight into human motion, allowing it to remain the most progressive and science-driven deodorant available.

To capture the high-intensity physical and emotional responses during the games, Lightwave will deploy connected sensor devices throughout NRG Stadium, as well as equip select fans with sophisticated wearable devices. Data will be captured in real-time as attendees react to the most exciting moments of the biggest games of the season.

"The energy at the Final Four is unlike anything in sports. The win or go home nature of the tournament creates an unrivaled level of excitement that gets fans moving more than ever," said Matthew McCarthy, senior director of men's grooming for Unilever. "As a brand that is dedicated to studying human movement to continue to improve our products our partnership with the NCAA gives us an amazing opportunity to use a premier sporting event like the Final Four to learn how we truly react during high energy moments."

As an official partner of the NCAA, Degree will bring a new element to the NCAA Tournament, marking the first study of its kind to take place in-stadium.

"College basketball fans are without a doubt some of the most dedicated and passionate in all of sports," said Matt Wolfert, Director of NCAA Corporate Relations. "Degree's commitment to the study of movement is sure to unveil some fascinating and insightful data about crowd motion and the collective energy during the most important games of the year. This is another great example of how an NCAA corporate partner, like Unilever, gets involved and energized with our championship."

To gain insight into how much athletes, performers and fans move on a daily basis, the Degree MotionSense Lab was launched in February with an exclusive content series featuring an analysis of Stephen Curry's on-court maneuvers. Degree's study at the Final Four will be the latest addition to the online hub. Follow @DegreeMen during the Final Four for real-time, exclusive content and use the hashtag #EveryMoveCounts to join in the movement conversation.

Degree Deodorant features MotionSense Technology which reacts directly to movement, releasing extra bursts of fragrance as you move, so the more you move the more it works. For more information on Degree Deodorant visit DegreeDeodorant.com.

About Unilever United States, Inc.

Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of Food, Refreshments, Home and Personal Care products with sales in more than 190 countries and reaching 2 billion consumers a day. In the United States, the portfolio includes brand icons such as: Axe, Ben & Jerry's, Breyers, Caress, Clear Scalp & Hair Therapy, Country Crock, Degree, Dove personal care products, Fruttare, Good Humor, Hellmann's, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, Klondike, Knorr, Lever 2000, Lipton, Magnum, Nexxus, Noxzema, Pond's, Popsicle, Promise, Q-tips, Simple, St. Ives, Suave, Talenti Gelato & Sorbetto, 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.

Unilever employs approximately 8,000 people in the United States – generating more than $8.5 billion in sales in 2015.

Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) commits to:

• Decoupling growth from environmental impact.
• Helping more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being.
• Enhancing the livelihoods of millions of people by 2020.

Unilever ranked number one in its sector on the 2015 Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

The entire Unilever global factory network, as well as its U.S. non-manufacturing facilities, have achieved zero non-hazardous waste to landfill status.

For more information on Unilever U.S. and its brands visit: www.unileverusa.com

To connect with Unilever U.S. via Facebook visit: www.facebook.com/unileverusa

To connect with Unilever U.S. via Twitter follow: @unileverusa

About the NCAAThe NCAA® is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletic opportunities for more than 460,000 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 www.ncaa.org and www.ncaa.com for more details about the Association, its goals and members and corporate partnerships that help support programs for student-athletes.

The NCAA is proud to have the following elite companies as official Corporate Champions—AT&T, Capital One and Coca-Cola—and the following elite companies as official Corporate Partners—Allstate, Bing (Microsoft), Buffalo Wild Wings, Buick (General Motors), Burger King, Enterprise, Infiniti, Kindle (Amazon), LG, Lowe's, Nabisco (Mondelez), Northwestern Mutual, Reese's (Hershey's), Unilever and UPS.

NCAA and NCAA Basketball are trademarks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

About Lightwave:

Lightwave is a pioneering bioanalytics technology company that gathers and processes biometric data to measure emotional engagement through the use of wearable and sensor-based devices. Lightwave's platform has analyzed over one billion biometric data points and is the leader in physiological and emotional sentiment analysis. This data is used to better understand physical and emotional responses to experiences -- ranging from films, concerts, behavioral research and sporting events. Lightwave was established in 2012 and is based in San Francisco, with offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Sydney. To learn more about Lightwave, visit www.lightwave.io or on Twitter @LightwaveInc and Facebook.

Contact: Ben Paradossi  [email protected]  [314-552-6713]

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SOURCE Unilever