ACE Brand Partners with Ryan Sutter and FIRST DESCENTS to Launch the ACE Brand Champion Challenge

Nationwide Sweepstakes Encourages America’s Everyday Champions to Share Stories for a Chance to Win Prizes

ACE Brand Partners with Ryan Sutter and FIRST DESCENTS to Launch the ACE Brand Champion Challenge (Photo: 3M)

ST. PAUL, Minn.--()--ACE™ Brand from 3M Company is partnering with reality star and weekend warrior, Ryan Sutter, to launch the ACE Brand Champion Challenge, asking people nationwide, “what makes you a champion?” Beginning today, through Monday, August 19, 2013, the ACE Brand is encouraging participants to share stories and photographs on ACEBrand.com/Champions that showcase what makes them or someone they know a champion.

The first 10,000 participants to submit their champion stories will receive a free ACE Elastic Bandage in black, a limited-edition color available exclusively through the Champion Challenge. Additionally, everyone who participates will be entered for a chance to win the grand prize of a $2,500 gift card that can be used toward their next adventure. The grand prize winner and other prize winners will be selected at random and notified in early September.

“The ACE Brand Champion Challenge allows us to celebrate the everyday triumphs and accomplishments of champions across America,” said Scott Erickson, brand manager, ACE Brand Products, Consumer Health Care Division. “With nearly 100 years of expertise and real world experience, the ACE Brand is dedicated to providing performance when it counts to those committed to staying active and healthy. This is how we define champions.”

This year, the ACE Brand Champion Challenge will benefit FIRST DESCENTS, a non-profit organization that offers young adult cancer fighters and survivors outdoor adventure experiences, designed to empower through physical activity to help them defy their cancer, reclaim their lives and connect with others who are doing the same. Each story shared through the ACE Brand Champion Challenge will support FIRST DESCENTS.

“I am inspired by the work of FIRST DESCENTS, and the champions who participate and assist in their programs,” said Ryan Sutter. “It is motivation for me to embrace being a champion in my daily routine by always staying active so I never have to miss out on an opportunity, whether this means running a race on behalf of FIRST DESCENTS, or playing with my kids in the backyard.”

Trista Sutter is also teaming up with ACE Brand and FIRST DESCENTS for this year’s ACE Brand Champion Challenge. Trista’s dedication to her family, friends, career, health and wellness also represents what it means to be a champion.

“I think it’s important to feel like a champion everyday. This feeling plays a big role in our lives and our household,” said Trista Sutter. “The ACE Brand Champion Challenge is a way to recognize everyday accomplishments and reiterate that being a champion means much more than being the first to cross the finish line.”

“Our goal at FIRST DESCENTS is to change the lives of young adults with cancer and empower them to climb, paddle and surf beyond their diagnosis, so they too feel like champions,” said Brad Ludden, founder and CEO, FIRST DESCENTS. “Ryan and Trista Sutter have been so supportive of our mission, so we are excited to work with them and ACE Brand to continue spreading the enjoyment and celebrating the feeling that being a champion brings.”

For more information about the ACE Brand Champion Challenge and ACE Brand Products, visit www.ACEBrand.com or www.facebook.com/ACEBrand.

About 3M
3M captures the spark of new ideas and transforms them into thousands of ingenious products. Our culture of creative collaboration inspires a never-ending stream of powerful technologies that make life better. 3M is the innovation company that never stops inventing. With $30 billion in sales, 3M employs 88,000 people worldwide and has operations in more than 70 countries. For more information, visit www.3M.com or follow @3MNews on Twitter.

About FIRST DESCENTS
FIRST DESCENTS is a non-profit organization offering young adults with cancer a free outdoor adventure experience designed to empower them to climb, paddle and surf beyond their diagnosis, defy their cancer, reclaim their lives and connect with others doing the same. For more information, visit www.firstdescents.org.

3M and ACE are trademarks of 3M.
©3M 2013

Contacts

LaForce + Stevens
GraceMarie Thomas, 212-242-9353
gthomas@laforce-stevens.com
or
Shauna Solum, 212-242-9353
ssolum@laforce-stevens.com
or
3M Public Relations and Corporate Communications
Robert Brittain, 651-733-7034
rbrittain@mmm.com

Contacts

LaForce + Stevens
GraceMarie Thomas, 212-242-9353
gthomas@laforce-stevens.com
or
Shauna Solum, 212-242-9353
ssolum@laforce-stevens.com
or
3M Public Relations and Corporate Communications
Robert Brittain, 651-733-7034
rbrittain@mmm.com