Dove Men+Care Asks Fans To Change March Madness To March Kindness
NYSJ Sports-Entertainment Business News Service
March 9, 2019: It’s March, and college basketball Madness is upon us, but a marketing campaign from NCAA partner Unilever brand Dove Men+Care may drive some people wild — it wants fans of such long-time rivals as Duke and North Carolina to play nice.
In a multi-media effort, “Rep the Rivalry,” Dove Men+Care has joined with menswear designer Don C. to create limited-edition jerseys “that pay homage to the three biggest rivalries in basketball.”
First up is the Duke and North Carolina rivalry. Two additional rivalry jerseys designed by Don C., and inspired by team history, will be dropped this month.
Dove Men+Care will also partner with such former college hoops players as former Duke star Jay Williams and UNC standout Antawn Jamison ”to inspire fans everywhere to come together and #ReptheRivalry this season.
Dove Men+Care explains that it “understands rivalries define college basketball fan culture, but they're often seen as divisive . . . rival teams and fans share more than what is initially presumed. In fact, rivalries are created because of evenly matched technical skills, geographical proximity, and shared histories.
“These similarities drive unity between rival teams and fan bases . . . By creating jerseys that unify fans in a clear way, Dove Men+Care aims to celebrate what brings fans together, rather than what keeps them apart,” according to Dove Men+Care.
Via the campaign’s social media effort, people can find information on which rivalries the jerseys represent and drop information on a dedicated Web site or by searching #ReptheRivalry on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
According to Williams, who won a NCAA title with Duke in 2001 and is now an ESPN college hoops analyst, ”The energy and passion we all channeled into playing against our opponent knew no bounds.
”Rivalries in sports are what drive us to come back to the courts again and again. It's what we all have in common . . . I hope to see you donning your jersey in celebration of unity this season."
The Men’s Final Four will take place in U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, April 6 and April 8.
NCAA official corporate champions include AT&T, Capital One and Coca-Cola.
Corporate partners include Buffalo Wild Wings, Buick, Geico, Google Cloud, Infinit, Intel, Lowe’s Marriott, Nabisco, Pizza Hut, Reese’s Unilever and Wendy’s.
March Madness
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