USA TODAY Sports Launches "For The Win" -- The First-Ever Sports Media Property Dedicated Exclusively To Social News

MCLEAN, Va., April 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- USA TODAY Sports today launched For The Win (ftw.usatoday.com), the first mainstream sports media property focused exclusively on "social news," with a steady stream of stories that fans are, or will be, talking about right now.

Right Guard® deodorant and antiperspirant (Facebook.com/rightguard) is the exclusive launch partner of For The Win, which will focus on delivering content designed specifically to resonate on social networks and non-traditional media channels and platforms. For The Win is the first property incubated and launched by the USA TODAY Sports Media Group Digital Properties unit, and was conceived of, and is managed by, Mark Pesavento and Jamie Mottram, who created Yahoo! Sports' blog network. Mottram was also the creator of AOL's popular Fanhouse network that originally served as the backbone of AOL Sports.

"Sports are about more than wins and losses," said Dave Morgan, SVP, Content and Editor-in-Chief for the USA TODAY Sports Media Group. "They're also about the interesting moments and intriguing stories that fans share with each other. 'For The Win' puts fans in the center of the conversation with their friends and colleagues, especially online via social networks and mobile devices."

For The Win (@forthewin on Twitter) will feature a newly formed content team staffed by some of the top editorial talent in the industry, each of whom migrated to USA TODAY Sports from leading news and digital outlets that include Buzzfeed, The New York Times, ESPN and Yahoo! Sports, among other outlets.

The team includes Chris Chase, Paul Myerberg, Chris Strauss, Nick Schwartz, Laken Litman, Ted Berg, and Sean Highkin, with Mike Foss serving as editor. Dan Shanoff, a veteran sports media content developer who founded the news curation and recommendation hub Quickish and, previously, helped create the popular "Daily Quickie" column for ESPN.com, will also contribute regularly to For The Win, as will other USA TODAY Sports staff members.

"Right Guard® provides high performance antiperspirant and deodorant protection, with a deep rooted sports heritage that makes this partnership a seamless fit. This is the space where brands and advertisers want to be, where they can engage directly with sports fans in real time," said Sami Myohanen, Director of Marketing for Right Guard. "For The Win will provide fans with the most interesting and shareable content when they want it and wherever they want it, and Right Guard® will be right there with them."

The USA TODAY Sports Media Group encompasses all sports initiatives across USA TODAY, as well as Gannett Co. Inc.'s 81 community newspaper properties and 23 broadcast television stations. It also includes the sports photography service USA TODAY Sports Images, USA TODAY High School Sports and USA TODAY Sports Digital Properties. USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).

About Henkel
Henkel operates worldwide with leading brands and technologies in three business areas:
Laundry & Home Care, Beauty Care and Adhesive Technologies. Founded in 1876, Henkel holds globally leading market positions both in the consumer and industrial businesses with well-known brands such as Persil, Schwarzkopf and Loctite. Henkel employs about 47,000 people and reported sales of $21.13 billion and adjusted operating profit of $2.98 billion in fiscal 2012. Henkel's preferred shares are listed in the German stock index DAX.

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SOURCE USA TODAY Sports Media Group